After a late scratch in their Week 14 win over the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to be without George Pickens again.
While head coach Mike Tomlin said there is an “outside chance” of Pickens playing against the Philadelphia Eagles, the hamstring injury wide receiver is dealing with is “a little more significant” than the team initially thought.
“Right now we’re just planning on getting him healthy as quickly as possible,” Tomlin said. “There’s potential for this week, but it’s an outside opportunity. If you pressed me, I’d probably say he’s out or could be characterized as questionably as we sit here, but again, as we always do, we will continue.” In the normal procedure, we let participation be our guideline when it comes to the availability and of course the quality of that participation.”
Pickens has recorded a team-high 850 receiving yards on 55 catches with three touchdowns.
Knee injury is still an issue for Jets’ Breece Hall
The 3-10 New York Jets have little to play for, so it won’t be a surprise to see Breece Hall miss a second straight game on Sunday when they visit the Jacksonville Jaguars.
The second-year running back had to sit through last week’s loss to the Miami Dolphins with a knee injury and has yet to practice this week. Hall suffered an ACL injury to the same knee in 2022.
“He’s a guy who has proven to be a great teammate this year and his commitment to this game has gone to another place,” interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said of Hall on Wednesday. “His process had gone to a different place, and he played with a little bit of pain and fought his way through that. But it’s something that might not improve as much as he would like at this point. So we’ll see how it goes this week goes.”
Should Hall, who has 692 rushing yards and four touchdowns along with 401 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns, be unable to go, Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis will return to work. The starting running backs have produced, with Allen rushing for 43 yards while also catching four balls last week and Davis picking up 40 rushing yards and a touchdown along with three receptions for 27 yards against.
Saints’ David Carr remains in the concussion protocol
Jake Haener is in line for his first NFL start if New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Washington Commanders, according to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo.
Carr has a concussion and is also dealing with a fracture in his non-throwing hand suffered in their Week 14 win over the New York Giants.
Spencer Rattler also has a chance to start in Carr’s place, but interim head coach Darren Rizzi said this week he wanted to evaluate both backups in practice before deciding on a starter.
Kenneth Walker III remains out of Seahawks practice
After missing last week’s win over the Arizona Cardinals, running back Kenneth Walker III missed practice on Thursday. He is suffering from an ankle injury and has not been participating since last Wednesday.
The injury is not a long-term concern according to head coach Mike Macdonald, but Walker’s status for this week remains questionable.
“He’s still going every day now,” Macdonald said. “It got more and more complicated as the week went on, so that’s why we had to do some more tests and stuff, but right now there are positive signs. So we’ll just take it day by day, I think that’s fair, but it is not for the long term.”
Zach Charbonnet filled in for Walker last week and ran for 134 yards and two touchdowns on 22 carries.
Here’s the rest of the Week 15 injury report (players will be added after teams release their reports.)
KANSAS CITY LEADERS
CLEVELAND BROWN
CINCINNATI BENGALS
TENNESSEE TITANS
WASHINGTON COMMANDERS
NEW ORLEANS SAINT
BALTIMORE RAVEN
GIANTS OF NEW YORK
DALLAS COWBOYS
CAROLINA PANTERS
NEW YORK JETS
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
DOLPHINS OF MIAMI
HOUSTON TEXAN
INDIANAPOLIS KOLTS
-
WR Ashton Dulin (single): out
-
T Braden Smith (persona): out
-
LB Jaylon Carlies (fibula, shoulder): Questionable
-
WR Josh Downs (shoulder): Questionable
-
C Ryan Kelly (knee): Questionable
