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Steelers' Antonio Brown sent home from practice 2 days before playoff game

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Steelers star Antonio Brown has battled back from a calf injury to be ready for the playoffs, but now he’s facing another health issue.

The wide receiver was sent home from practice Friday because of an illness, coach Mike Tomlin told reporters.

Brown partially tore his calf on Dec. 17 against the New England Patriots and has not played since then. However, he did return to practice for the first time this week and he practiced fully on Wednesday and Thursday.

Those two practices were enough to convince Tomlin that Brown’s calf has healed enough for him to be ready to play Sunday when Pittsburgh hosts the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional round.


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“I think we’ve all seen Antonio play enough that we know what he’s capable of,” Tomlin said.

Brown is officially listed as questionable with both the illness and the calf injury.

Tomlin said the main reason he was sent home was to keep him from spreading his illness to his teammates.

“I didn’t want him to get any of the guys who weren’t sick sick,” the coach said. “We’ll bring him back in the building [Saturday] and continue with his game readiness.

“We don’t have a lot of reservations about him from a physical health standpoint. We do need to get him well from an illness standpoint.”

After being thrashed 30-9 by Jacksonville in Week 5, the Steelers will need a healthy Brown in order to advance to the AFC championship game. He certainly did his part in the two teams’ first meeting as he had 10 receptions for 157 yards. His 19 targets in that game represent the second-most in his career.

Brown is the only player to record more than 90 receiving yards in a game vs. Jacksonville this season. The Jags have the league’s best pass defense and second-best scoring defense.

That 21-point loss by Pittsburgh was considered a “watershed moment” by offensive coordinator Todd Haley, and not just because Ben Roethlisberger threw five interceptions. Haley said how his offense responded after that game is a big reason the team is two wins from the Super Bowl.

“That game for our entire group was a watershed moment. A lot of outside factors that could have been divisive for our group,” Haley said. “Take my hat off for my guys. They stuck together. Bad football, probably not as bad as it appeared. How we responded to it was very critical. Our guys handled adversity well and moved forward.”

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After that game, Roethlisberger had thrown six touchdowns compared to seven interceptions. Since then, Big Ben has thrown 22 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.

Brown, Roethlisberger and Haley will have their hands full against a defense equally adept at stopping the run and the pass. The Jags boast two Pro Bowlers on the defensive line (Calais Campbell and Malik Jackson) and two more in the secondary (A.J. Bouye and Jalen Ramsey).

“Their front four is an elite group. Across the board, they are as good as we’ll see,” Haley said. “That matchup will be critical. This is an elite secondary also. It’ll be a great matchup and we have to be at our best. …

“They are good at disrupting the football. Whether that’s knocking balls down or getting at the QB. We got a big QB in Ben that’s good at finding throwing lanes — not to say they won’t disrupt one or two, but I’ll take my chances with our guy.”

In addition to Brown’s calf being healed, the Steelers also received good news on other players’ injuries. Starting cornerback Artie Burns went down with a noncontact knee injury in Wednesday’s practice but was a full participant Friday.

Starting defensive end Stephon Tuitt also returned to practice after tweaking his elbow Wednesday and missing Thursday’s practice. He said the injury is “not really serious” and he expects to play on Sunday.

Pittsburgh should enter Sunday’s contest relatively injury-free, which is a departure from previous years. Somewhat surprisingly, the Steelers have played just two playoff games with Roethlisberger, Brown and Le’Veon Bell all healthy. They won both of those games, and they’ll look to keep that streak going against Jacksonville.

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Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009.
Ross Kelly has been a sportswriter since 2009 and previously worked for ESPN, CBS and STATS Inc. A native of Louisiana, Ross now resides in Houston.
Location
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