BREAKING: Steelers make CRUCIAL move... Multiple Injury Updates | Pittsburgh Steelers News

Some huge news to go over today is the Pittsburgh Steelers have just made an absolutely crucial move and ahead of a very important game this upcoming Sunday against the Bengals, they just made a move that has huge implications going forward, not only on Sunday, but the rest of the year as well. We're going to break that down as well as a ton of updates from today's practice, including some very notable news involving some injuries to Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson. There's a lot to discuss today. Let's dive into the move. Derek. Herman, for the first time in six weeks today, was back on the practice field, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have officially opened his 21-day window, and the first game he could play is the rematch Sunday night in Cincinnati. Folks, this is fantastic news. Of course, we know both teams are 6-2, but getting him back right now might be the best news we've got surrounding the defense all season. Mike McCarthy made it official today. Herman is practicing, but he is still on injured reserve. But of course, again, his 21 day window is now open. which means Pittsburgh can activate him any day inside the next 21. And if they don't, his season is over. Now, 21 days from today runs out on December 2nd, which is the week after the Thanksgiving game against Denver. But for Sunday, I think the real deadline here is this upcoming Sunday. To play in Cincinnati, he has to be activated by 4 p.m. this Saturday, and somebody has to lose a roster spot. Now, Marc Cabaly reported that Harmon will start to ramp up today and could potentially play this Sunday, which is huge news. Because usually when someone Someone gets activated or the 21-day window gets activated. Now, there's usually a little bit of time between then and him actually playing. But for the Steelers, they know how important this game is. Sunday, and I saw some practice footage today. Let me tell you, Derek Harmon looks ready to go. And Mike McCarthy went as far as to say on Monday that Herman and Michael Pittman Jr. were both. And we'll dive into Michael Pittman Jr. later, but folks, this is extremely, extremely good news. I mean, basically the best news that we could have gotten because Derek Harmon is an extremely important part of this team. And really, I think one of the more underrated players in football. Now, Sports Illustrated's Steeler site called it a solid chance that he's back for Sunday. And TJ Watt said on November 1st that Harmon would be back soon. Ten days later, he's back in the pads. Now, he played the first three games, got hurt in the first half of that Thursday night loss in Cleveland, and has missed four games, really, for weeks and a bye week since. This isn't new to him either. Knee problems held him to 12 games as a rookie, which is why nobody in that building wants to rush Derek Harmon into the game. And obviously, Harmon being the 2025 first round pick. But at the same time, in four games this year, he has one and a half sacks, a forced fumble, and it was a forced fumble that won a division game. And here's the part that's terrifying, folks, in a good way. He's coming back to a defense that's already rolling, which I think if you're the Bengals, you can't be too happy about. Right now, the Steelers give up 83.9 rushing yards per game, which is third in the entire NFL behind only Tampa Bay and San Francisco. Now, let's split the season at the moment that Derek Harmon got hurt. In the three games he played start to finish, teams ran for 113 yards a game against Pittsburgh, and even in the opener, Atlanta ran it 31 times for 120 yards. In the four games since he went down, it's been 55 a game, which is actually a vast improvement. And the worst game the Steelers have had all year on the run was when Harmon was on the field. But this isn't a Harmon problem. This is just the Pittsburgh Steelers defense absolutely picking up as of the past few weeks, which has led them to four straight wins. So Harmon isn't walking into a fire, a dumpster fire of a defense. He's walking into the best run defense this team has had all year, and he makes it much, much deeper. Now, with that being said, the reason I think they want to not rush him back, but have him back and get him back for the game against Cincinnati is because Cincinnati can run the ball very, very well. But we have to give the flowers to Keanu Benton and Yaya Black. I mean, they have been absolutely fantastic this year. They're playing some of their best football next to Cam Hayward. There's even some rookies, Gabriel Rubio and or Gabriel Rubio, sorry, and Kevin Jabati Jr. I mean, you add first round pick Derek Harmon back into this defense, and I think Patrick Graham is going to have even more to work with. And obviously, Harmon doesn't have to play every single game. snap every single game, but he is going to be an absolutely crucial part. And with Sebastian Joseph Day going down in week seven, put on the injured reserve and a lot of the injuries that have happened this season. At the end of the day here, getting Harmon back gives them one more big body, so that way the rotation isn't running on fumes in the fourth quarter this upcoming Sunday in a must-win game against the Bengals. And even after missing four games, Derek Harmon's one-and-a-half sacks are still seventh on the team. And, of course, outside of that, you have Cam Hayward, who's leading the defensive tackles with 2.5 sacks. And then, of course, every snap that Harmon takes off of Cam Hayward's play to his age, late 30s, it's going to make it even better. At the end of the day, folks, this is fantastic news. You get fresh legs. You get hopefully a fresh, you know, former or former first round pick back into the fray. That's extra important because the Bengals team and we're going to dive into some practice updates in a minute, but the Bengals team that he's coming back hopefully against, they don't look anything like the one Pittsburgh beat in September. Pittsburgh obviously beat them this season and took a field goal and a strip sack to beat it, but since losing or beat them rather, but since losing to Pittsburgh and then Jacksonville, Cincinnati has won four straight games, scoring over 30 in all of them. Their offense is one of the best in the NFL. They're putting up point after point, which is why now it's going to be on this Steelers defense. It's also been rolling to shut down Joe Burrow, who's on an absolute heater right now. And that's why getting Derek Harmon back will help. And one funny note of this is that they actually run, the Bengals that is. The least in football. The Bengals average 22 carries a game. And when they do run, it's 3.9 yards a carry as a team. They have Chase Brown, who hasn't had a great year by any stretch of the imagination. He's on pace for about 840 yards. But Patrick Graham isn't relaxing. Today at practice, he said, all you have to do is give Chase a little crease and he's through there. And he saw it on Sunday in Madrid. The Bengals ran for 123 yards and finished off Atlanta on the ground. So it's going to be absolutely crucial. But also, they have two of the best receivers in football. So it's going to be important there. Let's dive into the rest of practice. Harmon isn't the only one working his way back. Michael Pittman Jr. is still out with a foot injury, and he is not expected to play Sunday. Ray Fittipaldo of the Post-Gazette said that Pittman hasn't even been rehabbing during practice, and the timeline is pushing towards Thanksgiving. Which of course makes fans a little bit upset considering they made no move at the trade deadline, but we're going to have to wait and see what actually happens there. Now the other one, Roman Wilson, he's on injured reserve with a finger injury and can't come off until week 11 against the Eagles, which again, a little bit away, but at the end of the day, the zero in right now, everyone is zeroing in on the Bengals game. Jennings Dunker, who's also been on IR since week three with a knee sprain. He's at the end of his four to six week timeline. He could actually be a very important name. Right at the point of the season now where a lot of the guys who were ruled out early and a lot of us kind of forgot, put it to the back of our heads and said, OK, he might play, he might not. They're actually close to returning. Of course, Pittman, Wilson and Dunker being all on offense. It's nice to get a defensive man back in Derek Harmon. Now I practice. Graham didn't sugarcoat the first meeting. Between the two, his words were, we're going to have to play better. McCarthy's message coming off of the bye week was simple. We've got a chance to sweep the Bengals. First place against first place. It's on Sunday night. It is prime time. The tiebreaker riding on it. A sweep would give Pittsburgh the head-to-head tiebreaker, and that could decide who hosts the playoff game in January. And the injury report tomorrow and Friday are going to be absolutely crucial. If Derek Harmon is a full participant in both days, he's probably playing, but the full answer won't come until Saturday afternoon, most likely when, of course, they have to make the subsequent move. Folks, at the end of the day, this is massive. I mean, I've been a big Derek Harmon. A fanboy, I guess, or, you know, preacher on the channel, getting him back in the thick of one of the best seasons in the past few years for the Steelers team is encouraging, especially when, you know, a lot of us were down because they didn't make a single move at the deadline. Now, some reports did come out that they tried to, it's just that there wasn't really any available, which is fair enough, but. Get me Derek Harmon back. Even if it slows Chase Brown down 10, 15%, get some fresh legs and give us some, you know, rest to Cam Hayward, takes a little bit off his plate. You win your game up with the tiebreaker, you lose and things start to get a little bit interesting. Folks comment down below. If you're excited, we'll see you later.