Injuries: Roethlisberger said he is not sure when he will test shoulder
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said he didn’t know when --- or even if --- he’d test his injured shoulder with a few passes in practice ahead of Sunday’s divisional-round game against the Denver Broncos.
"We'll take it day by day, hour by hour," Roethlisberger told reporters on Wednesday morning.
Roethlisberger sprained the AC joint and tore some ligaments in his right (throwing) shoulder in Saturday’s 18-16 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Roethlisberger was injured in the second half as he was sacked by Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict.
Roethlisberger left on a cart after the hit, but returned to lead the Steelers’ game-winning drive.
In other injury news Wednesday:
— The Seattle Seahawks were without Marshawn Lynch last week, but the team is optimistic that he’ll be available when the team faces off against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“Yes, he’s going (to practice),” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday from the team’s facility. “We’re going to go day-to-day, that’s how we’ll do this. We’ll evaluate the next day and we’ll see how it goes. But I feel that he’s encouraged and he’ll go for it again to see if we can get it done.”
Lynch missed last week’s 10-9 victory against the Minnesota Vikings in the wild-card round. Counting the postseason, Lynch, 29, has missed the last eight games as he is recovering from sports hernia surgery. He also sat out two games in October with a hamstring issue.
Lynch practiced all of last week in the lead-up to the Vikings game, but was declared inactive after he didn’t feel comfortable playing after warming up. On Monday, Carroll stressed Lynch hadn’t suffered a setback.
“He looks good. I can’t judge each and every day, but it was probably one of the best days he had out here today," said offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell after practice. "He’s in there, he’s moving around. He’s making more cuts, probably a little more tempo to it as well. We’ll just continue to go day-to-day with it.”
— Carolina Panthers RB Jonathan Stewart and WR Ted Ginn Jr. both were full participants in practice after suffering injuries late in the regular season.
“It’s nice having everybody ready to roll," said coach Ron Rivera said. “I feel really good about everybody.”
Stewart, who led Carolina with 989 rushing yards, missed the last three games of the regular season with a sprained foot. Ginn, who had 10 touchdown catches this season and also returns punts, missed the regular season finale with a knee injury.
“The bye treated us well,” Ginn said. “We went out and fought for the bye. We are happy to be able to get ourselves together.”
— The Denver Broncos are once again dealing with injury questions at quarterback. But this time, it’s about backup Brock Osweiler’s knee and not Peyton Manning’s foot.
Osweiler, who suffered a sprained knee in Week 17 before he was pulled in the third quarter, did not practice Wednesday, though coach Gary Kubiak said he was hoping Osweiler could do more work later this week.
Still, Kubiak is concerned enough about Osweiler’s status that he’s considering dressing three quarterbacks (Manning, Osweiler and rookie Trevor Siemian) on Sunday against the Steelers. The Broncos have only had two quarterbacks on the game day roster for every previous game this year.
— The Green Bay Packers have several key players banged up. CB Sam Shields is expected to be on the practice field as he continues to work his way back from a concussion. LT David Bakhtiari’s (ankle) is also likely to participate in some form. WR Davante Adams (knee sprain), as expected, will be a spectator.
Contributing: Paste BN Sports' Lorenzo Reyes from Renton, Wash., Paste BN Sports' Eric Prisbell from Charlotte, Paste BN Sports' Lindsay H. Jones from Englewood, Colo. and Paste BN NETWORK's Ryan Wood from Green Bay, Wis.