Steelers’ Pat Freiermuth out after aggravating hamstring injury
PITTSBURGH — Despite coming off a bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t have a full complement of offensive players against the Los Angeles Rams.
After aggravating his hamstring injury in Thursday’s practice, tight end Pat Freiermuth has been ruled out for Sunday’s game.
“It’s tough,” rookie tight end Darnell Washington said of Freiermuth’s injury. “He just recently got back. … Things like that happen, but it’s tough for the team.”
Freiermuth missed Pittsburgh’s Week 5 win against the Baltimore Ravens after initially suffering the hamstring injury in a Week 4 loss to the Houston Texans. But he appeared on track to return after the bye week and was a full participant in Wednesday’s practice.
He was downgraded to limited Thursday and didn’t practice Friday.
Without Freiermuth against the Ravens, Washington played 45 offensive snaps, a significant increase from his 25 a week earlier against the Texans.
“I feel like each week is an opportunity,” said Washington, who has one reception for 10 yards on three targets. “I feel like with just the amount I got on my plate — I feel like it’s a decent amount — I’ll just say each week is opportunity for me to play.”
Linebacker T.J. Watt, who popped up on Thursday’s injury report with a heel issue, was a full participant Friday and not listed on the day’s injury report.
“[It’s] minor,” Watt said of the injury. “I feel great. I had a good day at practice today.”
Browns QB Deshaun Watson full-go in practice, status uncertain.
BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson took a big step toward returning Friday, going through his first full practice since Sept. 22.
Watson has missed Cleveland’s past two games with a rotator cuff strain in his right throwing shoulder.
Browns coach Kevin Stefanski wouldn’t say whether Watson would start Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts. But Stefanski said Watson, who is listed as questionable, looked like himself again while taking the first-team snaps during Friday’s practice.
“I want to see how he responds over the next 48 hours based on that full workload that he just got,” Stefanski said, “but he looked good today.”
On Wednesday, Watson said he couldn’t “put a timeline” on when he might play again. But Watson returned to practice on a limited basis Thursday then took almost all the snaps during the 20-minute portion of Friday’s practice open to the media.
“Just got to continue to take it day-to-day,” Watson said Wednesday. “I’m not going to put the team in jeopardy if I can’t do certain things that is going to allow us to be handicapped in certain situations. That’s the reason why I haven’t been able to step on the field.”
Watson injured the shoulder on a run during the Browns’ victory over the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 24.
He missed Cleveland’s Week 4 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. After the Week 5 bye, he didn’t practice leading up to Cleveland’s 19-17 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. PJ Walker started in Watson’s place against the 49ers and led the Browns on a drive that ended with a field goal to win it.
Stefanski said Walker would start Sunday if Watson is ruled out.
Watson ranks 21st in the NFL in QBR (46.7). He has completed 63.7% of his passes for 678 yards with four touchdown throws and two interceptions.
