The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and it figures to be a great game between the two undefeated teams. As usual, I will attempt to project the seven inactives for Sunday’s contest and below is my best guess as to which seven players won’t be given helmets for this Week 3 road game.
Game inactives are officially announced 90 minutes before kickoff, so make sure you check back at that time to see the names of the players for both teams who will be sitting the game out.
Zach Mettenberger – Even through No. 2 quarterback Landry Jones missed practice time this week due to an issue with his back, he was able to practice fully on Friday and was thus removed from the team’s injury report. As a result of that, Mettenberger will once again be one of the Steelers seven inactive players and that should continue to be a weekly tradition for the rest of the season barring any injuries.
Senquez Golson – Golson, as expected, was officially ruled out for Sundays game on Friday as he continues to rehab his surgically repaired foot. Golson is still likely several weeks away from practicing as Monday will mark seven weeks since he had surgery to repair his Lisfranc injury. Like Mettenberger, he will remain a weekly inactive.
Cody Wallace – There seemed to be some hope that Wallace might make it back this week when head coach Mike Tomlin talked to the media on Tuesday. That hope quickly dried up, however, after Wallace failed to practice on Wednesday and Thursday because of the knee injury that he suffered during the preseason. For now, the Steelers will likely continue to dress backup linemen B.J. Finney and Chris Hubbard with Wallace out. With that said, if one of those two backups were to sit this week, it would likely by Hubbard.
Roosevelt Nix – Nix was able to practice all week on a limited basis and that certainly is a great sign. Even so, the Steelers fullback ended the week listed as questionable with his back problem and is thus expected to be one of the team’s seven inactive players on Sunday against the Eagles.
L.T. Walton – Walton has yet to dress for a game so far through the first two weeks of the regular season and that’s not expected to change on Sunday in Philadelphia.
Steven Johnson – Being as rookie linebacker Tyler Matakevich has dressed ahead of Johnson during the first two weeks of the regular season there’s no reason to think that will change this Sunday against the Eagles.
Tyler Matakevich – With wide receiver Markus Wheaton now expected back, this last inactive player is really tough to predict and assuming it won’t be an offensive player such as Hubbard, one would think it will come down to Tomlin having to choose between Matakevich or safety Jordan Dangerfield. Being as I expect inside linebackers Vince Williams and L.J. Fort to both dress on Sunday and contribute on special teams, I’m going to guess that Matakevich will join Johnson on the inactive list this week. The reason I chose Matakevich over Dangerfield is because the latter played 9 more special teams snaps than the former has last Sunday at Heinz Field.
