Top tight ends Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson returned to practice over the weekend after sitting out the last three weeks with injuries.
So will they be ready to go for Thursday's preseason finale against St. Louis?
"No chance," Head Coach John Harbaugh said Monday. "No chance of that. They're not ready for that yet."
Pitta is recovering from a broken hand that he suffered during practice in July and Dickson is coming back from a sprained shoulder that occurred in the preseason opener against Atlanta.
They both got back on the practice field in a limited capacity over the weekend and are still optimistic that they will be able to play in the regular season opener against Cincinnati on Sept. 10.
"Each day it is getting better," Pitta said Saturday about his hand. "I'm continuing to rehab, doing what the trainers want me to do and just taking it day-by-day. That's all I can do and hope to be back as soon as possible."
"We'll go day-by-day, and we'll see how I feel," Dickson said. He also added that he feels good about being able to play against the Bengals.
Neither player has participated fully in practice yet. They have both run routes and caught passes before practice, but Pitta has not caught passes yet at full speed. On Monday, Dickson was catching passes on the JUGS machine during the special-teams portion of practice.
With Dickson and Pitta ruled out for Thursday night's game, backups Billy Bajema, Matt Balasavage and Bruce Figgins will get plenty of reps to compete for the final tight end spot on the 53-man roster.
