In a secondary that can use every body available, even the ones with broken body parts are welcome.
That's why it was important to the Steelers that cornerback Chad Scott, whose broken right thumb kept him out of the past two games, not only returned to practice yesterday but also declared his intentions for the Steelers' playoff game Saturday in Tennessee.
"I'm going to play," Scott said without missing a stride while walking through the middle of the locker room.
"I know I can help."
Coach Bill Cowher watched Scott practice and said: "He looked OK. He took a few more reps than I thought he was going to."
The Steelers' pass defense, which ranked only 20th in the NFL this season, took more blows recently. Scott's thumb was broken Dec. 23 in Tampa Bay. Then dime safety Mike Logan was placed on injured reserve this week after knee surgery to repair damage from an injury in Sunday's playoff victory against Cleveland.
In the past two games, the Steelers have yielded 308 net yards passing to Baltimore and 409 to Cleveland.
Cowher listed Scott as questionable again this week. But Scott never practiced last week and was downgraded to doubtful by Friday. On Tuesday, Cowher turned irritable when questioned about Scott's status for Saturday's game.
"I told you last week that we were hopeful to have him last week. But, he wasn't there. We are hopeful to have him this week. If he can be there, great. If he can't, we are moving on. It is simple.
"I am not going to get into specifics. It is a broken thumb, and it is a very sensitive situation. He has to feel comfortable playing with it. If he is comfortable playing with it, he will play. If he is not, he will not."
They let Scott decide on his ability to play last week and will do so again for their game against Tennessee. Last Thursday, Scott walked around with his arm in a sling.
"It's a pain issue," Scott said. "Sometimes they try to numb it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We'll see what happens."
Linebacker Kendrell Bell took a pain-killing shot to numb his sprained ankle, played against Cleveland and said he will do the same this week. Scott would not say if he took a shot for the pain last week and wasn't sure if he would this time.
"We'll see. Hopefully not. I look forward to playing this week," he said.
Cowher acknowledged Scott's determination to play.
"I think at this point we realize there's no tomorrow," Cowher said. "He wanted to be out there last week so we'll see how the week goes and go from there."
The Steelers could use Scott. His absence hurt their dime passing defense more than their base defense. Deshea Townsend, a veteran No. 3 cornerback, started for Scott at left cornerback in the 3-4. But by using six defensive backs in their dime defense, they reached deeper into their backups. First, cornerback Hank Poteat replaced Scott in the dime and then the Steelers turned to rookie Chris Hope to play deep safety when Logan was injured. They moved Brent Alexander, normally a deep safety, closer to the line to cover like a corner.
Strong safety Lee Flowers acknowledged that the secondary caused some anxiety.
"When you don't have your guys that earned the right to start back there it's a concern," he said. "At the same time we have to step up. That's been a problem for us the last couple of weeks. We need to go out there and make some plays. Defensively, we haven't been playing so well the last few weeks and we can't be the weakness of this team. We have to pick it up. We are going to do that this week."
Scott tied for second on the team with 85 tackles and also was second with 17 passes defensed to go with two interceptions, one returned for a 30-yard touchdown for the first score in the Steelers' 17-7 victory at Tampa Bay, the game in which he was injured.
Flowers found no fault with Scott not wanting to play last week against Cleveland.
"Chad is a grown man, he is a professional. You don't know what's going on, what kind of pain level he is going through, what the pain threshold is. You can't pursue a player to go out there and play hurt when it might hurt the team more than it's going to help the team. That's a decision Chad is going to have to make, and I am sure he is going to make the right decision for him and for this team."
Two pins were inserted into Scott's thumb during surgery. He wore a small cast yesterday and said he will wear one Saturday. He was not sure how much, if at all, it would hamper him on pass coverage or tackling.
"I can still catch. I'm just going to practice and work on it in practice. I think I'm going to be fine once I get in the game," Scott said.
"I want to play. Nobody wants to play more than me. It's not like I don't want to play. I wish I could have played in the Cleveland game. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to, there was too much pain at that point in time."
From a receiver's standpoint, Hines Ward thought Scott would provide a boost to the team's sagging secondary, broken thumb or not.
"As long as he can cover somebody and bat the ball down with a broken hand, that's all we ask of him. Losing a guy like Chad who has been around for a long time, it's great to have his presence on the field. Regardless of him being hurt, just having Chad on the field helps the defense out."
Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.
Scott takes part in drills, says he'll play Saturday 
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