Mike Tomlin has repeatedly said that all healthy players will play in the team’s preseason finale tonight against the Atlanta Falcons, and despite the Falcons resting their starters, he apparently plans to stick to that. On pregame radio via Steelers.com, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said all healthy players, regardless of status, will play tonight.
“Mike Tomlin said the other day, he’s treating this third and final preseason game the same way he would the third game in a four-game sequence. And apparently he is going to play all his starters, regardless of All-Pro status, veteran guys,” Dulac said. “They’re all going to play unless they are hurt.”
That doesn’t mean that guys like Cameron Heyward or Patrick Peterson or Minkah Fitzpatrick will play a lot, but it sounds as if they’ll get at least a few reps to keep them fresh against live competition. I wouldn’t expect more than a series or two out of the majority of Pittsburgh’s first-team unit, but with this being the final tune-up before the regular season, it seems as if Tomlin wants to keep the train moving.
It’s unknown yet who will fully miss the game for health-related reasons, and the caveat of everyone playing is healthy means that even if someone has a minor bump or bruise, they’ll probably sidelined. Guys like T.J. Watt, Peterson and Heyward sat out the team’s first game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and with the regular season less than a month away, it would be a mild surprise if those guys saw a lot of playing time tonight.
Kickoff is at 7:30 tonight, so we’ll know by then if Tomlin really intends to play everyone. The first-team offense saw two series in the team’s second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills, and it would be a bit of a surprise if they saw more than that against Atlanta’s second teamers tonight. The same goes for Pittsburgh’s defense. The key tonight will be keeping everyone healthy and ready to go on Sept. 10 against the San Francisco 49ers.
