After playing without several key members of their defense a week ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers defense will be closer to full strength against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
T.J. Watt did not have an injury designation in the final practice report. Minkah Fitzpatrick is good to go after a 10-day stay on the reserve list. Joe Haden missed the game and is questionable.
"I'm very happy about it," said the defensive coach. The possibility of getting the other guys back also helps. We were down a couple of people when we played them. It means a lot to us when those guys come back and play. It means a lot to the people who are on the field because they are used to playing with each other.
Watt hurt his knee and hip in the fourth quarter of the Detroit Lions game, while Haden injured his foot in the same game.
Watt said that his knee felt a little unstable when he got rolled up. When I got up, I realized that I had a lot of pain in my hip, and I couldn't really reach overhead or anything.
I feel a lot better this week, because it wasn't serious.
Watt and Haden were both full participants in Friday's practice after being limited all week. Fitzpatrick practiced Thursday.
"When you're not able to work out, you think you're not in great shape, but I came back yesterday for my first practice and I felt fine," Fitzpatrick said. There were no issues with running, breathing, or anything like that. I feel good.
It was a rare occurrence for Fitzpatrick to miss Sunday's game.
It was his first missed game since he joined the league, and it was an important game for us, so it was very different.
They leaned on each other in a group chat while they stayed at home to watch the game.
Watt didn't play and said it was "sucks". It's hard to text Minkah and Joe when you see how much they are trying to spark the team with guys like Cam and Cam. It's bad when you know you can help, but I wasn't healthy enough to help. It's a helpless feeling, but at the same time, it's more motivation to get back and get healthy as quickly as possible so I can start impacting games again.
