The Pittsburgh Steelers will host the Cleveland Browns Sunday at Heinz Field and being as it’s a meaningless game for the No. 3 seed team in the AFC, head coach Mike Tomlin indicated Tuesday during his weekly press conference that several key players are likely to be held out of that contest.
Tomlin indicted that quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le’Veon Bell, wide receiver Antonio Brown and center Maurkice Pouncey are all likely to be inactive for the regular season finale against the Browns. While he didn’t guarantee that will be the case, you can probably count on that happening.
“I’ll look hard at preserving and protecting [those] guys,” Tomlin said.
Tomlin also said that defensive end Stephon Tuitt (knee) is currently rehabbing in a pool and that the team will continue to monitor his progress. In other words, don’t count on Tuitt playing Sunday against the Browns and the same goes for tight end Ladarius Green (concussion), who remains in protocol. Both players missed Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens due to their injuries.
Tomlin also indicated that safety Robert Golden (ankle) suffered an injury Sunday against the Ravens and it might affect his availability against the Browns. Tomlin didn’t provide much of an update on wide receiver Sammie Coates (hamstring). Coates also sat out Sunday’s game against the Ravens after suffering his injury during practice last week.
