Friday, 21 December 2012 14:04

Written by Ray Fittipaldo

Cornerback Kennan Lewis would not acknowledge that it is his knee and not his hip that kept him from practicing Thursday and only in a limited basis today. The official injury report lists Lewis as probable and the injury listed is hip. The Post-Gazette’s Gerry Dulac reported Wednesday that Lewis injured his knee by stepping in a rut on the practice field. On Thursday, Lewis said “I’ll be ready to go by Sunday.”

After practice today he sounded a tad less optimistic.

“I did a little more running around," he said. "I feel like it’s getting better. I still have two more days and hopefully I’ll be ready to go. I have two more days to see where I’m at. I’m excited. I feel like it’s getting better. It got better from Wednesday to today. Two more days, it should be better.”

If Lewis cannot play, the Steelers would be without their top two corners against the Bengals. Ike Taylor was ruled out earlier in the week. The good news is Cortez Allen returned to practice this week after missing last week’s game against the Cowboys. Allen will step back into a starter’s role and it’s likely Josh Victorian would replace Lewis if he cannot go. Victorian started last week’s game at Dallas in Allen’s place.