January 31 2011 Last updated at 05:40 PM ET
FORT WORTH, Texas -- It was hardly an inspirational sight, the shot of inured Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey hobbling off the Steelers' team plane on crutches. And with various reports over the past couple of days indicating that Pouncey won't play in the Super Bowl on Sunday, it looked especially bleak. But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said Monday that the Steelers have been treating Pouncey's high ankle sprain aggressively, and that he wasn't ready to rule his rookie center out just yet."He's not on a running clock, in my mind, until Wednesday," Tomlin said. "So we're going to continue to be as aggressive as we can and give him every opportunity to get into this football game."
If Pouncey can't go, he would be replaced by backup center Doug Legursky, who filled in and did a solid job against the Jets after Pouncey was injured early in the AFC championship game. Legursky's challenge would be to contain red-hot Packers nose tackle B.J. Raji and help anchor an offensive line that has played most of the season with two backups at the tackle spots.
"I don't think it's going to affect us at all, personally," left tackle Flozell Adams said. "We have a lot of guys on this team and on this offensive line that can step up if one of the starters goes down. I have no doubt that Doug is as good as, if not better than Pouncey."
Tomlin was asked about reports that Pouncey had a fracture in the ankle in addition to the sprain, and he said that was certainly possible but that the sprain was the injury that needs to improve in order for Pouncey to have a chance to play.
More from NFL.com:
No comments:
Post a Comment