PITTSBURGH — As it turns out, Pierre Desir will be missing his second straight game, after all.
After being upgraded from doubtful to questionable on Saturday, Desir, the Indianapolis Colts' top cornerback, is inactive for today's Week 9 road matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.
The two other Colts players ruled questionable heading into today's game — safety Malik Hooker and defensive end Justin Houston — are active, meanwhile.
Those joining Desir on the inactives list today: tackle/guard Le'Raven Clark, defensive tackle Carl Davis, wide receiver T.Y. Hilton, defensive tackle/end Tyquan Lewis, running back Jonathan Williams and cornerback Quincy Wilson.
» Desir has been battling a nagging hamstring injury, which he suffered Week 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs, for about a month now. After the bye week, he didn't practice all week leading up to the Colts' Week 7 matchup against the Houston Texans, but was ultimately able to play, as he logged seven tackles and two passes defensed, as well as his first interception of the season, in the Colts' 30-23 victory at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Last week, however, Desir missed Wednesday's practice and was limited Thursday and Friday, but he was unable to go against the Denver Broncos. He did not practice at all this week leading up to the Steelers game, meanwhile, and was originally labeled as doubtful on Friday by head coach Frank Reich before the team upgraded him to questionable on Saturday.
Reich told reporters earlier in the week the goal was to get Desir as close to 100 percent as possible before returning him to game action.
"He was fighting through it, but we really feel like to do him service and really our team service – even though he is the kind of guy that can do that," Reich said when asked if Desir had the ability to miss practices but still play on gameday. "We still have a long stretch of games to go here. I think the thinking is let's get him to 100 percent so we don't have to worry about it anymore."
Rookie Rock Ya-Sin is expected to get the start in Desir's place today against the Steelers. Others in line to get extra snaps at cornerback opposite starter Kenny Moore II include rookies Marvell Tell III and Shakial Taylor.
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» Hooker (knee) first appeared on the injury report Thursday; he was limited in practice that day, and did not practice on Friday.
The third-year safety missed three games — Weeks 4, 5 and 7 — this season with a knee injury suffered Week 3 against the Atlanta Falcons, but returned last Sunday against the Broncos, and logged five tackles.
If Hooker is limited today against the Steelers, then Khari Willis, as well as George Odum and Rolan Milligan could all see added time at safety alongside starter Clayton Geathers.
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» Houston (calf) first appeared on the injury report Thursday; like Hooker, he was limited in practice that day, and did not practice on Friday.
The nine-year veteran this season leads the Colts with five sacks; he has 19 tackles in all (six for a loss) with nine quarterback hits and one fumble recovery.
If Houston is on any sort of a pitch count today, then Ben Banogu, Al-Quadin Muhammad or Margus Hunt could all see added snaps at defensive end.
The Indianapolis Colts have arrived at Heinz Field ahead of their week nine matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.