Several injured players skip practice

Several injured players skip practice
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October 14
Pittsburgh Tribune Review


"Nose tackle Casey Hampton and kicker Jeff Reed were among the Steelers players who didn't practice Monday.

Reed, who has a strained calf in his plant leg, sounded confident that he will play Sunday against the Bengals.

Hampton, who has missed the last two games with a strained groin, said it is too early to tell if he will return for the 1 p.m. contest at Paul Brown Stadium.

Hampton said he plans to test his groin by doing some running this week.

"I'm ready to go, but I can't make my body do something it's not going to do," Hampton said. "I've just got to make sure I don't hurt myself and subject myself to being out longer."

Reed, who hurt his left leg in the Steelers' 26-21 win over the Jaguars on Oct. 5, said he will try to kick Wednesday in practice.

"If I feel good, it will just be a normal routine after that," said Reed, who has not missed a field goal in nine attempts this season. "I think I'm going to be fine. It feels a lot better and I think as the week goes on, it's going to gradually get better."

Among the other Steelers players who didn't practice yesterday were starting left tackle Marvel Smith, wide receivers Santonio Holmes and Nate Washington, and running back Carey Davis.

Davis, who is nursing a sprained ankle, has said he plans to play against the Bengals.

To the victors

School spirit was on display in the Steelers' locker room, though not in the way Ryan Clark would have preferred.

The Steelers' safety sported a University of Florida hat with orange and blue hair rising from it.

Offensive tackle Max Starks bought what looked like a part of a Halloween costume over the weekend, and Clark has to wear it all week at the Steelers' facility since Florida beat LSU, 51-21, on Saturday.

Clark, who went to LSU, said he didn't watch the game. Starks, a Florida product, attended the game in Gainesville, Fla., and kept Clark updated on what was happening.

"All I know is I'm driving home from church and Max Starks texted me, 'What's wrong with your boys?'" Clark said. "At that point, I realized we weren't winning."

And what would the 6-foot-8, 345-pound Starks have been wearing had LSU won the game?

"I was just going to give him one of my shirts," said Clark, who is 5-11, 205 pounds, "like a shirt that fits me."

Go blue?

A handful of players used the bye week to return to their alma mater and watch their former team play.

Unfortunately for inside linebacker Larry Foote, he got an up-close look at Michigan's first loss to a Mid-American Conference team in school history.

Foote, who starred at Michigan from 1998-2001, was on the sidelines for the Wolverines' 13-10 loss to Toledo. He got an earful about it from his teammates yesterday.

"It didn't change that we're the all-time winningest program in the history of college football," Foote said of the stunning defeat. "That didn't change.