Some last minute thoughts on potential inactives prior to the game:
CB Coty Sensabaugh and TE Vance McDonald will be OUT today. The oft-injured McDonald is more of a loss than it might seem – he is the Steelers most athletic TE, and is capable of working the middle of the field. He’s also gives Pitt a boost in the run game. But his absence was pretty much expected.
Sensabaugh OTOH is a mild surprise. He has not played well of late, yielding snaps to rookie Cam Sutton in Haden’s absence. But he is an experienced corner with man experience, on a unit needs all of the experience and man capability it can get heading into the Pats game.
Joe Haden: .Haden is listed as a ‘gametime’ decision, but he seemed like a limited participant in practice—this, after a mutli-week absence--so it would be a bit surprising if he saw the field today. And if he does make it, it’s fair to wonder how effective he’ll be. If Haden can’t go, Pitt would be left with Artie Burns and the rookie Sutton outside, with aging William Gay (zone-only at this point in his career) and raw rookie Brian Allen in reserve outside. So Pitt could field a CB group that is dangerously young and inexperienced.
JuJu looks like he’s a go, but he has a nagging hamstring injury, so we’ll see how effective he can be (and whether he can last the entire game). This is a big deal - he is easily Pitt’s 2nd most reliable receiver, and is critical to their ability to work the middle of the field form the slot. He is almost the inverse of Bryant: Bryant is an otherworldly physical talent, but shows marginal hands, is limited in his routes, is not strong when the ball is in the air, and shows surprisingly poor balance and YAC ability for someone so physically gifted; JuJu in contrast has has terrific hands, is reliable in his routes, routinely makes contested catches in the middle of the field, is a physical presence in the run game (almost a 2nd TE), and makes up for his lack of elite speed with tremendous balance and strength, which allows him to run through tackles for YAC that’s often superior to Bryant. Moreover there is a significant dropoff in terms of *reliability* from JuJu to Bryant and Eli Rogers, who have both have frankly regressed from previous years. As last year’s AFCCG showed, it’s essential for Pitt to have a reliable wideout threat outside of AB. JuJu's presence on the field would be huge.
