{"id":292381,"date":"2026-09-23T17:08:24","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/292381\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T17:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:08:24","slug":"steelers-get-good-michael-pittman-jr-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/292381\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers Get Good Michael Pittman Jr. News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9t\">One of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\/pittsburgh-steelers-terrifying-matchup-bengals-superstar-dexter-lawrence\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Pittsburgh Steelers<\/a>&#8216; top offensive weapons is trending in the right direction with his injury.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"9y\">On September 23, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\/pittsburgh-steelers-need-joey-porter-jr-now-more-ever\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Steelers<\/a> head coach Mike McCarthy told reporters that wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (foot) will return to practice.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"a3\">Pittman Jr. will likely participate in a limited capacity after not practicing in each of Pittsburgh&#8217;s final two sessions last week before missing the team&#8217;s Week 2 game against the New England Patriots. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/01m37g0an1f4msxy5e2z.jpg\" alt=\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.\" title=\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"af\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sep 13, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;  Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (11) runs after a catch during the first quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium.  Mandatory Credit: Barry Reeger-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>Positive Signs for Pittman Jr. and Steelers<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"aq\">In his weekly press conference on September 21, which came a day after the Steelers&#8217; 20-3 blowout loss to New England, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\/pittsburgh-steelers-could-lose-starting-michael-pittman-bengals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">McCarthy stated that he didn&#8217;t have a strong idea<\/a> of whether or not Pittman Jr. would ultimately be available this week.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"av\">&#8220;He&#8217;s in the evaluation group for Wednesday morning and hopefully we have a good plan for him,&#8221; McCarthy said<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/55YbJH2qHLw?si=GcHu0foqtYNAfLTv\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">.<\/a> &#8220;I don&#8217;t have a feel one way or the other if he&#8217;s going to be available this week.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"b0\">McCarthy also made it clear that this injury is different than the one he suffered during training camp in early August.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"b5\">There&#8217;s several days to go before injury designations have to be doled out ahead of Pittsburgh&#8217;s Week 3 showdown with the Cincinnati Bengals, though it certainly appears Pittman Jr. is making some progress.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/01m37g8pvxtz2h5qb3sr.jpg\" alt=\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.\" title=\"Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr.\" width=\"360\" height=\"240\" class=\"undefined w-full w-full blur-[5px]\" q:id=\"bh\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Sep 13, 2026; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;  Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. (11) makes a catch during the fourth quarter against the Atlanta Falcons at Acrisure Stadium.  Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n<p>Steelers Need Pittman Jr. vs. Bengals<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bs\">Pittsburgh&#8217;s offense wasn&#8217;t in tip-top shape during its Week 1 victory over the Atlanta Falcons, though the unit&#8217;s performance in that contest was night-and-day with how it looked against the Patriots.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"bx\">Without Pittman Jr. on the field, Aaron Rodgers threw for just 144 yards while being under constant duress amidst another off-day for the Steelers&#8217; offensive line.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"c2\">Pittman Jr. led the team in receiving yards against the Falcons with 58 on three receptions. Given how mightily DK Metcalf has struggled in the early goings of the season up to this point, particularly with drops, Pittman Jr. has become all the more important for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"c7\">He&#8217;s not explosive, nor is he much of a big-play threat at this stage of his career, but Pittman Jr.&#8217;s reliable hands combined with his physicality, size and blocking prowess make him an indispensable part of the Steelers&#8217; offense.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"cc\">Against a Bengals defense that looks as sharp as it has in years through two games, potentially having Pittman Jr. out there could make all the difference in the world for Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-16\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"ch\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/steelers\/onsi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Make sure to bookmark Steelers On SI,\u00a0and find our podcast All Steelers Talk on YouTube\u00a0or anywhere you listen!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"22\" height=\"22\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/assets.minutemediacdn.com\/platform\/google_discover_icon.svg\" class=\"shrink-0\"\/>Add us as a preferred source on Google<a aria-label=\"Follow si.com on Google News\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=si.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" preventdefault:click=\"\" class=\"flex h-[30px] w-[30px] shrink-0 items-center justify-center rounded-full bg-primary font-group-large text-sm font-medium text-white transition-colors hover:bg-secondary focus:bg-secondary md:w-auto md:gap-2.5 md:px-4 md:py-[5px]\" on:click=\"q-Cl4Uw_qF.js#s_lDqay9E5m5g[0]\" q:id=\"cn\">Follow<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the Pittsburgh Steelers&#8216; top offensive weapons is trending in the right direction with his injury. On&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-292381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}