With three preseason games still left to be played before the Pittsburgh Steelers final 53 man roster is set, there are still plenty of battles that have yet to be decided. Head coach Mike Tomlin knows this better than anyone and after Monday’s practice he made sure to note that players still have time on their side and that he expects a few of them to separate themselves from the pack Saturday night in the team’s second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
“If you’re going to make a move it’s going to happen,” said Tomlin about the upcoming game against the Bills. “There are no new surprises, speed of the game, environmental things and so forth. If somebody’s going to make a substantial move it’s going to happen this week.”
Special team contributions are usually key for those young players that currently sit on the roster bubble and in the Steelers Saturday night loss to the New York Giants, running back Tauren Poole and linebacker Howard Jones both had good first showings in their attempts to impress coach Danny Smith.
One player that wasn’t given an opportunity to impress Smith was sixth round-draft pick, linebacker Jordan Zumwalt. Zumwalt wasn’t given any snaps on special teams against the Giants, but now that it appears as though he’s fully recovered from the groin injury that had him sidelined at the start of training camp, look for him to show up on all four of Smith’s primary units against the Bills.
The team will also scrimmage the Bills on Wednesday and Thursday of this week before squaring off against them Saturday night at Heinz Field, so moves can start being made during those sessions.
