Ryan Shazier expects to play Sunday vs. the Patriots

[SteelCrazy]

Ryan Shazier expects to face the Patriots this Sunday, according to Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Shazier has missed the last three games after suffering a knee injury against the Eagles.

Shazier was a limited participant during Wednesday's practice and was a full time participant on Thursday.

“I definitely felt pretty good out there," Shazier told Fittipaldo following Wednesday's practice. "I just have to see what the training staff and coaches say.

Shazier has missed 14 games since being Pittsburgh's No.1 pick in the 2014 NFL Draft. When healthy, Shazier has been every bit of the play the Steelers hoped he would be, racking up 107 tackles, 3.5 sacks four forced fumbles and an interception in 14 games last year, including the post season.

The former Ohio State standout appeared to be playing at an even higher level during this season's first two games. He had six tackles, a forced fumble and an interception in the Steelers' Week 1 win over Washington, and he had 12 tackles in Pittsburgh's Week 12 win over Cincinnati.

While some fans have questioned whether or not Shazier should change positions, that thought was debunked my head coach Mike Tomlin during a recent press conference. Some have speculated that Shazier -- though to be one of the Steelers' fastest players -- should move to outside linebacker or safety.

"No. I’ll just let you guys continue to speculate,” Tomlin said of Shazier changing positions. “We’re comfortable with the division of labor and where we have the guys playing and Vince is doing a heck of a job for us right now in relief of Ryan.”

Pittsburgh would certainly welcome the return of Shazier for Sunday's game, as the Steelers have already ruled out defensive end Cameron Heyward, who will miss his second straight game with a hamstring injury. Shazier and the Steelers' defense will face a Patriots' team that outscored the Bengals and Browns by a combined score of 68-30 over the past two weeks with Tom Brady back under center.

http://pit.247sports.com/Bolt/Ryan-Shazier-knee-expects-to-play-Sunday-vs-the-Patriots-48385715

[pittpete]

Great he'll play a quarter and miss the rest of the season..
Tired of this wuss.

[Mr.wizard]

Great News, we need him out there.

[Eich]

It would definitely be great to have a guy of his caliber out there. But does anyone really think he'll play the whole game at this point?

[RuthlessBurgher]

Great he'll play a quarter and miss the rest of the season..
Tired of this wuss.

Were you tired of him in the playoffs last year when his forced fumbles were the primary reason that we were able to beat Cincy (even more important than Burfict and Pac Man's dumb@$$ penalties). I wasn't.

[BradshawsHairdresser]

It would definitely be great to have a guy of his caliber out there. But does anyone really think he'll play the whole game at this point?

Let's guess ... I'll guess that he makes it to the 3rd quarter before he has to come out with an injury.

[pittpete]

Nope, but cant live in the past Ruthless.
Guys a wuss, cant play with a booboo.

Reminds me of another wuss who's playing for a contract this year on this team.

[phillyesq]

Given his effectiveness with Jordan Reed earlier this year, I hope that he's back and able to contribute as part of the plan to cover Gronk.

[RuthlessBurgher]

Nope, but cant live in the past Ruthless.
Guys a wuss, cant play with a booboo.

Reminds me of another wuss who's playing for a contract this year on this team.

An MCL sprain isn't exactly a booboo, especially considering it saps him of his speed which is his greatest asset.

But this "wuss" is now practicing fully and is on track to play this weekend, when he will be needed against a couple of top notch weapons at TE.

This injury is now in the past, and you can't live in the past, Pete.

[pittpete]

Yup, im sure he'll have a new one after this game..LOL
Just print this poster out and throw a dart at it. Chances are Shazier will have that injury.

[RuthlessBurgher]

It's kinda ironic that China Doll wuss Shazier is playing, while God's gift to linebacking C.J. Mosley is out injured. Guess he can't play with a booboo.

Shazier is the best player on our defense with Cam Heyward out again but, among Steeler fans, it seems like he is the most hated LB who isn't named Vontaze Burfict or Jarvis Jones.

[pittpete]

No doubt that Shazier is our best defender...Still doesnt change the fact that hes often injured with minor dings.

[SteelCrazy]

Jack Lambert, same exact pain and injuries as Shazier.....What's the percentage Lambert plays when Shazier missed?

0% would mean he would have sat the same as Shazier.
10% = 1.5 more games played

?????

[SteelCrazy]

Shazier talks about being "injury prone"

http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2016/10/15/On-the-Steelers-Soft-a-label-of-the-uninformed/stories/201610150159

Ben Roethlisberger and others have their theories as to why the Steelers continue to lose what seems to be an inordinate number of players to injuries.

Then there are those who like to describe football players who do get injured — particularly those injured more often than others — as soft or injury-prone. Those labels come from people who never played football — certainly not at the NFL level.

No other sport requires the kinds of collisions that football does, and none featuring the size and athletic ability of those who play it as professionals.

I covered Bo Jackson’s last game, a playoff pitting the Cincinnati Bengals against the Los Angeles Raiders Jan. 13, 1991. He was among the strongest, most versatile athletes of his generation, a star in both the NFL and Major League Baseball.

In that game a little over 25 years ago, he was tackled along the sideline. It was not a huge collision, but it would be his final play. He developed a complicated hip injury that not only ended his career at 28 but would require a new hip.

Was Bo Jackson soft?

Turf toe ended Jack Lambert’s career. Was Jack Lambert soft? A staff infection might have drawn Greg Lloyd’s career to a premature end. Was Greg Lloyd soft?

How about former Denver running back Terrell Davis, tackle Tony Boselli of Jacksonville or Gale Sayers? All of their careers were cut short by injuries. Sayers is in the Hall of Fame, Davis has been a finalist and Boselli remains a Canton candidate.

Not everyone is Brett Favre, a rare bird who somehow avoided serious injury to start an NFL-record 297 consecutive games.

Even the iron men are susceptible. Hall of Fame center Dermontti Dawson played in 170 consecutive games until severe hamstring injuries caused him to miss nine games in 1999 and seven more in 2000, ending his career.

That brings us to current Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier. He has missed the past two games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his knee, the latest in a series of injuries suffered since the Steelers drafted him in the first round in 2014.

He missed seven games as a rookie with knee and ankle injuries. He missed four games early in the 2015 season with a shoulder injury. Now this.

He has heard people call him injury prone and the suggestions he move to safety, as if that would be a cure-all. It even came up at a news conference Tuesday when coach Mike Tomlin was asked if Shazier would be better off at safety.

“No,” Tomlin answered. “I’ll just let you guys continue to speculate. We’re comfortable with the division of labor and where we have the guys playing.’’

“Yes, that’s just a bunch of talk,” Shazier said. “That’s not going to happen. I’m a linebacker and I love my position. It’s just unfortunate that things happen. Some of the greatest players in all of sports have gone through injuries in their first years in their careers and then go out and play.”

Shazier weighs 230 pounds and stands 6 feet 1. That is not overly small for an inside linebacker, but his exceptional speed — he outran Steelers wide receivers in a footrace last spring — has led some to believe he could play safety.

He probably could.

“I feel I could play it if I got the right coaching and technique and things like that,” Shazier said. “But I feel like I’m doing a great job at linebacker. It’s just unfortunate things that have happened to me.”

Does anyone really believe that if Shazier moved to strong safety it would keep him injury free?

Troy Polamalu played that position at a Hall of Fame level, one of the most revered players in Steelers history. Yet injuries limited him to just five games in 2009, seven in 2012 and 11 in 2007. Playing safety did not protect him.

“Kickers get hurt, you know what I’m saying?” Shazier noted.

Lambert played middle linebacker at 6-4 and a listed 220 pounds, although he often weighed less. No one suggested he move to safety.

“When you get injured, people feel like you get injured because you’re small,” Shazier said. “You don’t get injured because you’re small. Me being ‘small’ has nothing to do with my ligaments.”

His knee was injured in the opener against Washington. He led his team in tackles in the second game against Cincinnati. He started the third in Philadelphia, aggravated the knee in the first quarter but returned in the second half and played 51 percent of the defensive snaps in that game. He has not played since.

“I should have just slowed it down a little bit and waited. But like everybody in this locker room, if you feel you can play, you’re going to play.”

That is not someone looking for a soft landing.

“Some people think we’re like robots out here, that we don’t get injured and we don’t get hurt,” Shazier said. “We’re all still people. If you run into a wall, you might bruise your shoulder or something. We run into people. On any given moment something can happen.”

And those who might call players who get hurt soft?

“That makes absolutely no sense,” he said. “A lot of people don’t play this game. I kid around with my girl a lot, I tell her if I run into somebody in the street full speed, they would right away say I committed assault. But If I do it on the field, there’s nothing wrong with it.

“If some of the people went through some of the stuff we go through and the injuries we play with, they would understand how hard this game really is. But when you’re outside looking in, you really don’t understand the things that guys are going through, the injuries that people are going through.

“There’s no explaining it. The will of God. On any given play it can happen. People inside the locker room realize that.”

It’s time for people outside the locker room to understand it as well.

[Mr.wizard]

Jack Lambert, same exact pain and injuries as Shazier.....What's the percentage Lambert plays when Shazier missed?

0% would mean he would have sat the same as Shazier.
10% = 1.5 more games played

?????

I don't know how anyone could possibly gauge something like that? What I can say if you put Lambert in the league today, even in his prime, I don't think he even gets on a roster. Besides in Lamberts day middle linebackers basically just where run stuffers they could get away with playing with more injuries because even if their athleticism was hindered they could still run straight ahead.