The Pittsburgh Steelers are starting to gain the attention of the national NFL media. Prior to the bye week, they held the Baltimore Ravens to just 10 points in the win. In Week 7, they won their second straight game as underdogs -- this time on the road against Matthew Stafford and the Rams.
Now Pittsburgh is trying to make it three in a row against an up-and-coming Jacksonville Jaguars team that sits on an impressive 5-2 record entering Week 8. During their current four-game winning streak, this Trevor Lawrence-led offense has scored 29.0 points per game.
This contest was going to be tough enough for the Steelers today. Unfortunately, Mike Tomlin's squad had some surprise players pop up on the injury report on Thursday. Here are the Steelers inactives today for their Week 8 home game against the Jaguars.
Steelers inactives list vs. Jaguars in Week 8:
- No. 2 QB Mason Rudolph (3rd QB)
- No. 29 CB Levi Wallace
- No. 60 T Dylan Cook
- No. 96 NT Breiden Fehoko
The Steelers had three cornerbacks show up on their injury report this week (Patrick Peterson, Levi Wallace, and Joey Porter Jr.); however, it looks like two of the three will be ready to suit up for today's game. As usual, Mason Rudolph will be inactive and will serve as the team's emergency third quarterback in the event that both Kenny Pickett and Mitch Trubisky suffer injuries in this contest.
The Steelers will be without Levi Wallace today. This comes as a bit of a surprise. Though Wallace was on the injury report this week, he was able to log limited participation on both Thursday and Friday. Wallace has struggled this year, so there's a chance this could be addition by subtraction against Trevor Lawrence and a solid passing offense today. It's unknown if his inactive status is directly because of the foot injury, his unspectacular play, or a combination of both.
The good news is that Cameron Heyward appears to be on the mend and practiced for the first time since the groin injury that landed him on IR after Week 1. Pittsburgh is also getting Anthony McFarland back. He was previously on IR with a knee injury.
Meanwhile, the Jaguars had eight players on their injury report and seven of them were limited throughout the week. They take a big roster hit today as CB Tyson Campbell, S Andre Cisco, and WR Zay Jones will all be out today with injuries.
Today's Steelers vs. Jaguars game will feature two young quarterbacks looking to build on their reputations early in their playing careers. Kenny Pickett will have his work cut out for him if he wants to go toe-to-toe with Trevor Lawrence today. With both squads mostly at full strength, this could shape up to be a good one in Pittsburgh this afternoon.