The Steelers injury report is clean. This is something we don’t see too often.
The Steelers have a clean injury report despite some players not practicing during the week. The whole roster is probable and that makes for a good matchup on Sunday. The miraculous thing is that the Browns also do not have injury designations on their roster as well; so, both teams are going to be able to use their roster on Sunday.
Steelers missing
The Steelers do still have Joe Haden on the Covid-19 list and that leads me to believe that the Steelers will be without one of their starting corners. I would imagine that Cameron Sutton will start at corner opposite of Steven Nelson.
There were some players who might be concerns for the week. Chris Boswell was limited on Friday and that raises some concerns over him this weekend. My best guess is if he practiced fully on Thursday and was limited on Friday that it was just a precaution to rest him for the week. If Boswell is unable to go, then Matthew Wright will get the start.
Browns on the Reserve/Covid List
There is one thing to consider when considering the injury situation and that is the number of Browns players on the Reserve/Covid list. At this point, they have key players like Denzel Ward, Ronnie Harrison, and Joel Bitonio on the Covid list.
The full list of players out for the Browns on the covid list is long and includes:
OG Joel Bitonio
TE Harrison Bryant
S Ronnie Harrison Jr.
WR KhaDarel Hodge
CB Kevin Johnson
S Jovante Moffat
LB Malcolm Smith
CB Denzel Ward
I think this list hurts the team in a lot of ways. The first thing I can think of is in the running game. A big reason the Browns are in the playoffs is their running game and losing a guard like Bitonio is a blow to that. I will say the Browns are still strong on the right side of the line if they want to run the ball that way.
The Browns are hurting at the cornerback position where they are missing Denzel Ward. This could be a field day for guys like Chase Claypool, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and Diontae Johnson. I give the Steelers the edge in the passing game because the Browns are missing Ward.
This is a lot of players to have out and this could give the Steelers the edge. I like Pittsburgh’s odds of winning on Sunday because they almost beat the Browns last week without their best. The Steelers will have T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, and Ben Roethlisberger back this week which should put them over the top against the Browns.