Pouncey doesn't practice, Sanders does

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Pouncey doesn't practice, Sanders does
By Teresa Varley - Steelers.com
Posted 16 hours ago
http://www.steelers.com/news/article...1-d87683b9eb34

Center Maurkice Pouncey was held out of practice on Monday after reinjuring his ankle in the first quarter of Saturday night’s preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons at Heinz Field.

“Everybody fell on my ankle and I was underneath the pile,” said Pouncey “But it’s something I have to deal with. It will get better with time.”

Pouncey originally injured the ankle last season in the AFC Championship game against the New York Jets and was unable to play in Super Bowl XLV. He said he knew the injury wasn’t as bad this time because he was able to walk off the field and last time had to be helped off, but it did bring back some bad memories.

“Every time something like that happens I always think of the first time it happened,” said Pouncey. “It’s always a thought that’s in your head when it happens again.

“I am glad it didn’t happen like the first time. It didn’t hurt as bad, but it was painful. It was frustrating. You keep getting one of those nagging injuries. Hopefully one of these days I can get over it and move on.”

His status for Thursday night’s preseason finale against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium is up in the air. He said rest and more rehab are keys for it to heal, but he does want to play if he can.

“We’ll see. It’s up in the air. If I do, I do,” said Pouncey. “I want to get as healthy as I can as fast as I can. If I can play this week I am going to play, but the Ravens is a big goal for us.”

* * *

It’s been a long preseason for wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders, who has been sidelined with a foot injury that he suffered in the second quarter of Super Bowl XLV and hasn’t played since.

But the goal is for Sanders is to play against the Panthers.

“We are hoping for that,” said Coach Mike Tomlin. “We are pushing forward toward that providing he doesn’t take any steps back between now and then. And in all likelihood he will (play).”

Sanders returned to practice on Monday for the first time since early in training camp.

“It doesn’t hurt,” said Sanders of the foot. “Right now we are trying to get calcium to build up. Today I am practicing, getting more reps. It’s a great possibility (I will play). We are going to base it on practice every day.

“I want to play. I am a competitor and I want to get out there. It’s some good football going on in the preseason and I want to go out there. I want to play.”

At the same time he is being smart about it. Sanders ran the first day of camp and practiced the next day, but wasn’t able to go after that.

“I learned my lesson the first day of training camp and that is don’t get back out there until my foot is 100 percent,” said Sanders. “That is not based off my mind, but based off the x-rays. Right now the x-rays are starting to look good. I am going to practice full speed, but do it in a smart manner. Hopefully if I show enough I can play against Carolina.”

* * *

Tomlin’s Injury Update: “We have a few injury updates. We had two guys getting surgery today. Byron Leftwich is having surgery this afternoon, and Miguel Chavis had surgery this morning. Other in game things that we are dealing with are what we thought they were, some short term issues. Some guys we held out today, not only from an injury standpoint, but when you look at it we are 48 hours or so from game time. If this was a normal season day it would be a Tuesday. We normally don’t practice until Wednesday. So some veteran players were limited today: Maurkice Pouncey is working on his ankle, Chris Carter had a hamstring sustained in the game, James Farrior, Casey Hampton has an elbow, Troy Polamalu has a quad and Hines Ward has a quad. We will take a look at these guys as we proceed through the week and determine whether they are going to participate. Right now we are just going to focus on the guys that are here working.”