Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin addressed the media on Tuesday afternoon and he confirmed starting quarterback Kenny Picket has avoided a major injury, labeling it "a bone bruise."
The news should put him at least in place to give Week 5 a run, and Tomlin in fact added that Pickett is "scheduled to practice tomorrow," Wednesday, Oct. 4, as quoted by Joe Rutter of TribLIVE.com.
Tomlin on Kenny Pickett. He has a bone bruise and is scheduled to participate tomorrow and the Steelers will evaluate him from there. "The more comfortable and functional is, the more work he'll get."
— Joe Rutter (@tribjoerutter) October 3, 2023
The problem, of course, is that Pittsburgh is not quite in a position to risk their quarterback of the present and, one assumes, their future.
Even more, the Steelers are Steelers are hosting the Ravens in Week 5 before entering theyir Bye week, which would give Pickett nearly three weeks of recovery time since he suffered his injury last Sunday until the team plays again in Week 7.
On Monday, Clifton Brown of BaltimoreRavens.com echoed the news reported by Mike Garofolo of ESPN that ruled out an ACL injury to the Steelers starter's knee.
"Mitch Trubisky is expected to start Sunday," Brown wrote, wittingly pointing out that if that's the case, then the Ravens would face a third backup quarterback in as many games after going against Gardner Minshew in Week 2 and Dorian Thompson-Robinson in Week 3.
Last week, the Browns tried to sell everybody starting QB Deshaun Watson had barely practiced only as a precautionary measure, with the franchise and the passer surely expected to start Week 4 against Baltimore. It didn't happen, with the final call going down to a game-time decision.
We have yet to watch Pickett in practice starting tomorrow, but his injury looked much worse like any problem Watson was nursing through his own problematic week.
The Browns, coincidentally, were also facing the Ravens before entering their Bye week, and they erred on the safe side of things by scratching Watson in favor of their rookie, backup quarterback.
Trubisky has played two games (1-1) against Baltimore, one in 2017 with the Bears (a win) and another already in Pittsburgh (a loss) completing a combined 30 passes on 46 attempts for 389 total yards and two touchdowns against three interceptions.