Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin addressed the injury concerns surrounding the Steelers on Wednesday in one of his weekly press conferences. The Steelers have a long list of guys dinged up right now including safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
But according to Tomlin, Fitzpatrick is pushing toward possibly playing this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. This would be just one week after having an appendectomy. Word was Fitzpatrick was at the facilities on Saturday before his appendicitis and was at the game the next day saying he wanted to play.
For the sake of precedent, back in 2006, former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had to have an emergency appendectomy just before the season opener. He played again 14 days later. Fitzpatrick playing just seven later would be unheard of.
Fitzpatrick didn’t practice on Wednesday and we will continue to track his participation. In the meantime, Damontae Kazee, who just came off IR will continue to fill in as the starting free safety next to Terrell Edmunds. Kazee had a strong season debut last week after missing all season with a broken arm.