PITTSBURGH -- Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, who's dealing with a bone bruise to his left knee, said he expects to play Sunday against the Ravens.
As scheduled, Pickett practiced Wednesday with a bulky brace on the knee.
"It feels good," Pickett said, adding he didn't have limitations in practice. "I'm confident with the plan that we have that by Sunday, I'll feel a lot better and be good to go."
Pickett went down in the third quarter of the loss to the Texans when he was twisted around on a sack by Jonathan Greenard. After the play, Pickett held his knee in obvious pain and rocked back and forth on the turf before gingerly walking off the field with help from medical personnel. Pickett was evaluated in the sideline medical tent before exiting through the tunnel by the start of the fourth quarter. He admitted he was initially worried there was more serious damage than a bone bruise.
"A little bit," he said, "from what the doctors were saying they were worried about but got lucky that it was what it was and pushing to go Sunday."
The brace, he said, is being worn only for practice. He said how he feels Sunday will determine if he needs it for the game.
Coach Mike Tomlin said Tuesday that Pickett's availability would largely be dictated by how his knee felt during and after Wednesday's practice.
"Obviously, his functionality and comfort being the guide [Wednesday]," Tomlin said. "The more functional and more comfortable he is, the more work he'll get. And then as we push forward toward the game, the quality of his work will be a determining factor on his availability. Quarterback is no different than any other position, man, young players they need to be in helmet perspective on preparation."
Pickett and Mitch Trubisky split reps with each unit throughout the padded practice, but the division of labor in the remaining practices could be adjusted.
"I took what I needed to take in terms of what they were telling me," he said. "The doctors and the trainers we have here, and as we go through the week, it'll probably go based off of what they say."
In addition to addressing his game availability, Pickett also spoke to the failed fourth-down play that resulted in the knee injury.
"Get back to Calvin [Austin III], possibly faster from watching it," Pickett said of his takeaways after watching film. "We wanted to take a look at the front side and get to the backside. I tried to extend my legs and make a play. It just didn't work out."
Pickett also said he didn't feel he or the offense needed to make a dramatic shift to increase the execution of the plays.
"I wouldn't say change up," the quarterback said. "It needs to be a full focus from everybody. It seems like that one or two plays here and there. We set ourselves behind the chains where it's a penalty or some kind of negative play when we get moved and we set ourselves back and we got to continue to eliminate those."
Running back Najee Harris seemingly echoed Pickett when he spoke to the media Wednesday afternoon, putting the onus on the players to turn things around on the offense rather than on the coaching staff and playcalls.
"The coaches only coach," Harris said, unprompted. "At the end of the day, we got to do what we have to do. I see everybody talking about this coaching stuff about playcalling. Do y'all know how football works? Coaches only can coach, but we got to execute the plays. We're not trying to point the finger at all. This is not the time to do that either. It keeps being a conversation brought up or not even a conversation brought up, but things that's just talked about so much. It's crazy. We have to execute at end of the day, no matter who's back there calling the plays.
"... It has nothing to do with coaches. It's just players. We have to play better."