PITTSBURGH -- Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin remains convinced linebacker LaMarr Woodley is an impact player when healthy. cheap jerseys . "Hes been solid," Tomlin said. "Not only this season but over the course of his career." Heres something else Woodley has become: injury prone. The Steelers placed Woodley on injured reserve Tuesday with a strained right calf, ending Woodleys season and perhaps his time patrolling the left side of Pittsburghs 3-4 defence. He limped off the field in the first quarter of Sundays 30-20 win over Cincinnati and did not return. Tomlin ruled Woodley out of this weekends game at Green Bay. With Pittsburgh (6-8) all but out of the playoff picture, the team moved Woodley to IR later to the day to give the club some roster flexibility. Pittsburgh signed journeyman linebacker Jamaal Westerman to take Woodleys spot on the 53-man roster, though quickly improving Jason Worilds will start in Woodleys place against the Packers (7-6-1). Woodley is in the third year of a six-year, $61.5 million contract he signed in August, 2011. The 29-year-old is scheduled to be Pittsburghs second-highest paid player next season behind quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, with a salary cap hit of $13.59 million. Considering the teams significant cap issues, the emergence of Worilds and rookie Jarvis Jones and Woodleys spotty healthy history, he could be expendable by the summer. Its a path that seemed unthinkable three years ago. Woodley appeared to be the next great Steelers linebacker after racking up 35 sacks from 2008-10, helping lead Pittsburgh two a pair of AFC championships and one Super Bowl title. The day he signed his extension in 2011, Woodley talked at length about wanting "to leave my stamp when Im done playing here." His work is only half finished. Woodley hasnt played a full 16-game schedule since 2010. He missed six games in 2011 and three more in 2012 with hamstring issues. He appeared back to his usual self early this season, recording a sack in four straight games at one point. It all changed during a 23-10 win over Buffalo last month, when he tweaked his left calf. Despite saying repeatedly he felt optimistic about his chances, he spent three weeks on the sideline watching Worilds flourish in his absence. Considered on the way out after the Steelers chose Jones in the first round of last Aprils draft, Worilds instead has blossomed. Following a slow start, he played so well the Steelers decided to make Jones a role player while giving Worilds the bulk of the playing time at right outside linebacker. Worilds moved to the left side, where he played in college, after Woodley went down and his production has skyrocketed. Worilds leads the Steelers with 7.0 sacks and has evolved into more than just a pass rush specialist. When Woodley returned against Miami two weeks ago, the Steelers actually moved him to the right side for the first time in his career so Worilds could continue to work on the left side. Though he will be a free agent after the season, Worilds wont come close to commanding the kind of money Woodley will be due if Woodley stays on the roster in 2014. Throw in the teams significant investment in Jones and Woodley could be part of a sizable roster makeover in the off-season if the Steelers miss the playoffs for the second straight year. While Tomlin agreed Jones needs to work on his upper body strength to deal with left tackles who outweigh him by 50 pounds or more, Tomlin is pleased with Jones progress. Jones has just one sack but has shown an ability to get around the ball. He batted down a Cincinnati 2-point conversion attempt last week, keeping the Bengals two scores behind. "Although his numbers might not be jumping off the page at you, I really think that hes settling in and playing harder and faster and displaying understanding at an increased rate every week," Tomlin said. "I think thats an element of playing well and producing plays. Youve got to know what to do." NOTES: Tomlin said defensive end Brett Keisel, who has missed four of the last five games with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, will "definitely" practice on Thursday and could play against the Packers. .... Nose tackle Steve McLendon, who has sat out the last two games with an ankle injury, is also expected to practice at some point. wholesale jerseys .S. Open on Wednesday as he recovers from back surgery that has kept him out of golf for nearly three months. cheap jerseys from china . The teams official Twitter account quoted coach John Tortorella on Friday saying that Kesler "has a sprained knee and is out at least a couple of weeks".SAO PAULO - Paolo Lorenzi of Italy reached his first ATP semifinal by upsetting fourth-seeded Juan Monaco of Argentina 7-6 (6), 6-7 (4), 6-4 at the Brazil Open on Friday. The 114th-ranked Lorenzi broke Monacos serve to go up 4-3 in the decisive set and held on to close the match in 2 hours, 34 minutes at the Ibirapuera Arena. The 32-year-old Italian squandered a match point before losing the second set, but was in control in the third to pick up the win in the ATP 250 tournament in South Americas biggest city. Lorenzi, who had 12 aces, made it to the semis for the first time after five quarterfinal losses in his career. "Im very happy to finally breakthrough to the semifinals," Lorenzi said. "Ive had a lot of opportunities before but was never able to come up with the victory at this stage. For sure this is one of my greatest weeks on the tour." The 43rd-ranked Monaco, a former top 10 in the world, was trying to win his 200th clay-court match. He is the fifth-greatest winner in the surface, behind Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Tommy Robredo and Nicolas Almagro. wholesale nfl jerseys. . Monaco had a set point in the first set but couldnt capitalize on it. "It was a very close match, he had his chances in the first set and I had mine in the second, it was very difficult," Lorenzi said. The Italian will play either top-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany or Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, who play their quarterfinal match later Friday. In the other quarterfinal Friday, Federico Delbonis of Argentina easily beat Alberto Montanes of Spain 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour. He will play either home-crowd favourite Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil or Martin Klizan of Slovakia. The 61st-ranked Delbonis had upset three-time Brazil Open champion Almagro in the second round. Defending champion Rafael Nadal is not playing at the clay-court tournament this year. He chose to play at the first edition of the Rio Open, which he won last week. ___ Tales Azzoni on Twitter: http://twitter.com/tazzoni cheap jerseyscheap jerseys from china ' ' '
