Steelers coach Mike McCarthy held his first in-season media conference yesterday and said he is still not settled on his starting right tackle. Dylan Cook has been getting the first-team snaps since training camp began but top draft pick Max Iheanachor is back from a training camp neck and shoulder injury and is pushing Cook for the job.
The season opens on Sunday against the Falcons at Acrisure Stadium. McCarthy says at the moment, he is not looking at the opponent. He’s focused on the Steelers.
McCarthy wouldn’t say if Joey Porter Jr. would be ready to play Sunday, although he said his team is healthy, including Porter, and he has options in the secondary.
The coach says it’s been a long time coming for his Steelers coaching debut, and he’s ready.
Former Miami Dolphin Tua Tagovailoa has named the Week One starter at quarterback for the Falcons, and the man he was battling for the job, Michael Penix Jr., says he’s not yet 100-percent recovered from his torn ACL, so he will not even suit up for the game. Cooper Rush will be Tagovailoa’s backup.
And Falcons edge rushers Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. are both out for Sunday, Walker with a season-ending ACL tear and Pearce with an eight-game suspension for domestic violence.
NFL
Former Penn State star and ten-year Chicago Bears fullback Matt Suhey died Sunday at age 68. The Bears announced the death. Suhey was the lead blocker for Walter Payton for most of his career and scored the first touchdown for the Bears in the 1985 Super Bowl.
