Brooke Pryor, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — Steelers premier pass rusher T.J. Watt, who injured his ankle late against the Philadelphia Eagles last Sunday, was removed from the injury report Thursday and will play in Saturday’s game at the Baltimore Ravens.
He has no game designation, signaling he’s good to go for the game.
Earlier Thursday, Watt had said he felt “pretty good” this week but was noncommittal on his status.
“We’ll see Sunday — or Saturday I guess I should say — but I felt pretty good this week,” Watt said Thursday. “Obviously it’s a short week but felt pretty good.”
While the Steelers will have Watt, they’ll be without wide receiver George Pickens (hamstring) for the third consecutive game and without quarterback Justin Fields, who injured his abdomen against the Eagles. Cornerback Donte Jackson (back) and defensive end Larry Ogunjobi (groin) were both listed as questionable, while safety DeShon Elliott (hamstring) is considered doubtful.
Watt exited the Week 15 loss to the Eagles with five minutes to play after rolling his ankle. He didn’t participate in Tuesday’s walk-through, but he was upgraded to a limited participant Wednesday and appeared to do even more work on Thursday.
“There’s not a lot of things you do on practice in a short week like this to push it, so I want to see how it feels on Saturday,” Watt said earlier Thursday. “But I feel pretty good right now.”
Though not ideal, Watt said he was open to playing on a snap count, if necessary.
“I’m trying to be out there as much as I possibly can, so obviously I wouldn’t want to do that, but if that’s the only thing that I can do that I’m going to take what I can get,” he said.
Watt recorded a sack, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits in the Week 11 meeting with the Ravens. So far this season, the Defensive Player of the Year candidate has forced a league-leading six fumbles along with 11.5 sacks.
