The Pittsburgh Steelers are hoping to get star edge rusher T.J. Watt back for the Week 18 winner-take-all game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Watt has not played since Week 14 due to a partially collapsed lung that required surgery to fix.
In what is a good sign for him, Watt returned to practice last week, but he hasn't turned in a full session yet, including on Wednesday.
According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, the belief is that Watt must turn in a full practice before being cleared to play on Sunday against the Ravens.
"If he does not get to full by the end of the week, you would think once again that he would not be able to play," Rapoport said on Thursday.
ESPN's Dan Graziano took it a step further, saying the Steelers "likely" want Watt to turn in multiple full practices before allowing him to return.
"Watt, who had surgery three weeks ago to repair a partially collapsed lung, was a limited practice participant all three days last week, which was an encouraging sign. But people close to this situation have cautioned me that the Steelers aren't treating this as a run-of-the-mill injury recovery (which it's not) and they likely will want to see Watt get through multiple full practices before activating him for the game, even as vital as it is to their season," Graziano reported.
After a limited practice on Wednesday, Watt only has two more practice days this week, so he might have to run the table with full practices or else the Steelers may have to navigate a do-or-die game without their best defender.
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