Tomlin not ready to rule out Rashard Mendenhall for Sunday night

TOMLIN ON DENVER BRONCOS: “Peyton Manning, he needs no endorsement from me, ” Tomlin said. “His resume is his resume. Guys like Peyton Manning make their reputation by rising up in moments like this. We anticipate him being his very best. We have to deal with him but we also recognize they {Denver Broncos} were a playoff football team without him.”

Receiver Group: “Looks like he’s quickly establishing a repertoire with {Eric} Decker at wide receiver. He’s a big guy who plays big, creates space for himself.”

“At X position they have Demaryis Thomas who has been issues for us in the past. His run after catch is exceptional, utilizes stiff arms, has good leg strength, tough to tackle.

{On Defense} “The first guy you mention is Von Miller, ” Tomlin said. “Extremely talented, great rush skills. Can utilize speed, can utilize power….. Front, very talented group, run as many as six people deep.”

An interesting player Tomlin mentioned on defense was rookie Derek Wolfe who will start at defensive end for the Broncos and was a player the Steelers were high on at the draft. “Talented, high motor end, ” Tomlin said.

Ruled Out: Ryan Clark, David DeCastro and Stevenson Sylvester have all been ruled out.

Mendenhall Not Ruled Out: For Sunday’s game, Tomlin won’t rule out James Harrison (knee), Jason Worilds (hand), Isaac Redman (ankle) and Rashard Mendenhall (knee) who all worked in some capacity yesterday. “We’re going to leave the door open to all of those men and see where the week takes us, ” Tomlin said. “A lot of their availability will depend on how they respond to a workload. We provided them a workload yesterday.”

The surprising name of the group is Rashard Mendenhall who was used in the running back rotation on Monday and while Mendenhall is ahead of schedule, it’s still hard to imagine him playing.

Meanwhile, Tomlin was pleased with how Harrison and Jason Worilds looked yesterday.

“I thought they were relatively sharp from an assignment standpoint, ” Tomlin said of Harrison and Worilds.

The injury to watch is Isaac Redman who’s dealing with an ankle injury.