The Post-Gazette reports that, in addition to the ankle sprain we already knew about, Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey also has a broken bone in his ankle. While he hasn’t been officially ruled out, and while I’m not a doctor, I’d say the chance of him playing in the Super Bowl is about .0001 percent.
Assuming he’s out, Doug Legursky will start in his place. Legursky looked perfectly capable of handling his blocking assignments after replacing Pouncey in the middle of the AFC Championship Game against the Jets, but he and Ben Roethlisberger flubbed two snaps. They’ll have two weeks to get the snapping issue ironed out, and fellow offensive lineman Chris Kemoeatu says Legursky should be fine:
“Doug’s pretty good, there’s really no difference at all,” left guard Chris Kemoeatu said.
“I’ve been [working] with Doug enough, especially last week when he stepped up in there. It’s a good thing we get two weeks going into the Super Bowl. We get repetition, being next to each other.”
It’s great that Kemoeatu is optimistic, and I don’t doubt that Legursky is competent, but Pouncey, who played well for the Steelers all season, will still be missed.