Steelers/NFL
Afternoon Tidbits
Wallace says he’ll be ready for week 1: Former all-pro wide receivers Jerry Rice and Chris Carter have been among the prominent former players who are in the corner that they don’t believe Mike Wallace will be able to have an early impact due to Wallace missing all of training camp and more. Last week Carter said that to get into football shape is different than training on your own. “It is very difficult if you miss all that work regardless of how hard you train, and I’m very, very familiar with this, and you can’t get into the type of team football shape unless you have people grabbing you with equipment on in the dog days of summer, ” Carter said last week on NFL live. Wallace will be eligible to start practicing on Monday but practices during the regular season are pretty much just a step above walk-throughs. This week Jerry Rice has gone out and said that he feels Wallace won’t be able to make an impact until four or five games due to his lengthy holdout. Wallace to no surprise, doesn’t see it that way.
Wallace today insisted to reporters that he’s in great shape and is ready to go for the week 1 opener. “I’m just really here to play football, ” Wallace said. “I’m not really worried about no contracts or nothing like that. That’s in the past, business side and I’m here to play football. “Main thing I really fell like I missed my teammates and I’m not worried about everything else.”
Wallace said today that “he has no regrets” about his decision to holdout but that he never considered holding out into the regular season.
Batch to play a ton vs Carolina: With the Steelers possibly carrying two or three extra players who won’t be ready for week 1, some believe the team’s hands are going to be forced to cut Charlie Batch and therefore keep two QB’s in Ben Roethlisberger, Byron Leftiwch and place Jerrod Johnson on the practice squad. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said today that Batch will play a “bunch” against Carolina..
Hampton could see first action: NT Casey Hampton has performed above expectations in practice this week which could garner his first action of the preseason Thursday night. “He’s represented himself well in practice this week, ” Tomlin said. Hampton is progressing that he could be active vs Denver, although his elbow injury has been concerning.
TIDBITS
— Isaac Redman won’t play in the preseason finale, but Tomlin insists Redman will be ready for the regular season opener.
— Jonathan Dwyer will start at running back and has provided a splash play in every preseason game. He’s put himself in good position to get a lot of playing time early on in the season
— Jerricho Cotchery is expected to sit out Thursday’s game as he’s still dealing with a back injury.
