The status for Sunday’s game of slot cornerback Mike Hilton remains up in the air after he was a limited participant at Pittsburgh Steelers practice for the second consecutive day Thursday. Also, a player newly promoted to the starting lineup missed Thursday’s session entirely.
Hilton has missed the past two games because of a shoulder injury. Coach Mike Tomlin indicated reasonable hope Hilton could return to play in Sunday’s game at the Dallas Cowboys. His status might be clearer after the final practice of the week Friday.
Cameron Sutton is more than an adequate replacement for Hilton in the slot, but Hilton’s lack of availability creates a cascading effect in other subpackages because Sutton typically plays dime hybrid linebacker.
Defensive lineman Isaiah Buggs was the “next man up” after the knee injury suffered by Tyson Alualu during this past Sunday’s win at the Baltimore Ravens. Alualu is expected to miss at least one game, and Buggs would serve as the No. 3 defensive lineman in his stead. Buggs, though, has an ankle injury and did not practice Thursday after being limited Wednesday.
Buggs played a career-high 34 snaps against the Ravens. After standout starters Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, if Buggs cannot play the only defensive linemen on the Steelers’ 53-man roster are rookie seventh-round pick Carlos Davis and recent signing from the practice squad Henry Mondeaux. Undrafted rookie Calvin Taylor is also on the practice squad.
Luckily for the Steelers, Heyward continued to seem OK after twice going down with lower-body injuries late in Sunday’s game. He has been a full participant in both practices so far this week.
So has special-teams captain Jordan Dangerfield, who missed the Baltimore game because of a quadriceps injury.
Veteran offensive lineman Stefen Wisniewski continued to sit out practice, as he did Wednesday when he was activated off of injured reserve. The Steelers were required to activate Wisniewski on Wednesday or they would have lost him for the season.
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