Harrison, Ward won’t be at full strength for Sunday’s showdown

The 7-7 Pittsburgh Steelers head into Sunday’s game as a much more confident team than we’ve seen the past couple weeks after last Sunday’s thrilling 37-36 victory over the Green Bay Packers.

The Steelers have a “pulse” according to head coach Mike Tomlin and this week the team appeared to have a little bit of their swagger back. It was a much looser team in the locker room.

In a must win situation against Baltimore, Pittsburgh will not be close to being at full strength and the same can be said for the 8-6 Baltimore Ravens

Strong safety Troy Polamalu will miss his 10th game of the season and starting guard Chris Kemoeatu had a minor setback and will miss his second consecutive game. For the Steelers, their concern is with James Harrison and Hines Ward.

Harrison has a biceps injury that could limit him on Sunday. All indications are Harrison will play but the injury caused him to miss practice on Friday as Andre Frazier took first team reps at OLB.

If Harrison doesn’t play or is limited, the Steelers will use Lawrence Timmons in plenty of situations at ROLB.

On the offensive side of the ball, Steelers wide receiver position is a concern. The Ravens secondary is banged up but so is the Steelers wide receiver corps.

Hines Ward had a very bad week of practice. He’s struggling to get off of the line of scrimmage and he practiced like he did the week of the Cleveland game when he hurt the Steelers by playing.

Mike Wallace has a bum knee but did practice well on Friday. Joey Galloway was the 5th receiver all week and is not expected to be active.

Steelers official Injury Report

Troy Polamalu (knee), Chris Kemoeatu (knee, wrist) and Keenan Lewis have been ruled out.

James Harrison (biceps) is questionable.

Defensive end Brett Keisel (neck), running back Willie Parker (knee), wide receiver Hines Ward (hamstring), running back Rashard Mendenhall (hip) and wide receiver Mike Wallace (knee) all are listed as probable.

Ravens Official Injury

* Like Pittsburgh the Ravens are hampered by injuries going into Sunday’s showdown. Two {Polamalu, Reed} of the games top safeties will not be available Sunday afternoon as the Ravens Ed Reed is also not expected to play. Reed ran on the side at practice on Friday but did not participate fully.

The Ravens have three starters, safety Ed Reed (groin), offensive tackle Jared Gaither (foot) and linebacker Tavares Gooden (groin) who are listed as doubtful for Sunday’s game at Pittsburgh. Don’t expect to see any of the three active on Sunday.

Defensive tackle Justin Bannan (illness), wide receiver Mark Clayton (knee), defensive tackle Kelly Talavou (knee), tight end Edgar Jones (back) and long snapper Matt Katula (forearm) have been ruled as questionable.

Wide receiver Demetrius Williams (knee), linebacker Jarret Johnson (knee), center Matt Birk (neck), wide receiver Justin Harper (foot), tight end Todd Heap (chest), defensive tackle Haloti Ngata (ankle), tight end L.J. Smith (ankle) and wide receiver Kelley Washington (ankle) are listed as probable.