Clark Says He’s Ok with Tomlin’s Decision to Sit Him Sunday

Ryan Clark says he has no objections to coach Mike Tomlin’s decision not to play him in Sunday’s wild card playoff game in Denver.

The combination of higher altitude and Clark’s blood condition led to major medical complications when he last played there against the Broncos in 2007.

“I said, ‘Okay, coach.’ There wasn’t a fight,” Clark told reporters Wednesday. “You guys have interviewed him. Does he look like a man that would change his mind? .… When he said it, I immediately started thinking of how I could help the team (in practice this week and from the sideline Sunday.”

Clark has sickle-cell trait, an inherited condition. Following the 2007 game in Denver, he had surgeries to remove his spleen and gall bladder. When the Steelers played a game in Denver in preseason in 2010, Clark worked out on the field before the game but did not play.