The Pittsburgh Steelers will play the New England Patriots at home on Thursday night, and it is their 13th 2023 regular-season game. If you’re like me, you’re counting down the hours until the game begins. As usual, I will attempt to project the Steelers’ inactives for every game of the 2023 season. Below is my best guess as to which players won’t be given helmets against the Patriots Thursday night at Acrisure Stadium.
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. Also, the newer roster rules make this exercise even harder as teams can elevate up to two players from their practice squads to their active roster for gamedays. Teams also can dress up to 48 players for games if eight offensive linemen are dressing. The emergency quarterback rule is also back in place for the 2023 season.
QB Kenny Pickett – Thursday night will mark the first game this season that Pickett has missed as the team’s starting quarterback won’t play against the Patriots due to an ankle injury that he sustained in the first half of the Week 13 game. Pickett’s high ankle sprain required surgery on Monday, and that will result in him being sidelined at least two weeks, and possibly even as many as four weeks. With Pickett sidelined Thursday night, Mitch Trubisky will start at quarterback for the Steelers against the Patriots with Mason Rudolph serving as his backup. This will mark the first time that Rudolph has been active for a game since Week 15 last season.
CB James Pierre – The Steelers ruled out Pierre for the Thursday night game against the Patriots on their Wednesday injury due to a lingering shoulder issue. This will mark the first game that Pierre has missed this season.
RB Anthony McFarland Jr. – Last week, McFarland was once again a healthy scratch on the inactives list as the Steelers chose to dress RB Godwin Igwebuike over him on Sunday due to special teams needs. RB Najee Harris was dealing a knee injury this past week so if he suits up, the Steelers should only need to have one of Igwebuike or McFarland active. I obviously think it will be Igwebuike who gets the helmet once again and mainly to him being a better all-around special teamer than McFarland is.
DE DeMarvin Leal – The Steelers should have DT Montravius Adams back this week after he missed the last four games with an ankle injury. Assuming Adams does indeed return on Thursday night, the Steelers will likely choose another defensive lineman to be inactive. That choice could wind up being Leal, who has seen his snap totals dwindle the last several weeks. Leal only logged five total defensive snaps in Week 13, and all of them came in the final five snaps of that contest. He is the most logical choice to be inactive Thursday night with Adams back.
G Isaac Seumalo – A shoulder injury forced Seumalo out of the team’s Week 13 game last Sunday. While Seumalo was able to do enough during the team’s Tuesday walk-through to receive a limited participation designation, he was unable to practice on Wednesday. That resulted in Seumalo being listed on the team’s final injury report of the week as questionable. With this being a short week, my bet is that Seumalo ends up being inactive against the Patriots. If that indeed happens, Nate Herbig would start at left guard in Seumalo’s absence. Additionally, Seumalo being inactive would likely result in T Dylan Cook being active Thursday night. He has only been active for one previous game this season. If Seumalo winds up dressing, Cook will likely remain inactive.
CB Darius Rush – This final choice is a tough one. Will inside linebackers Elandon Roberts and Blake Martinez both dress Thursday night? Roberts ended the week listed as questionable on the injury report with a groin injury but was able to practice on a limited basis on Wednesday. He is not 100 percent, however. They could dress both just in case. If that happens, odds are good that Rush could be inactive once again, especially if he’s not the pick to replace Pierre at gunner. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out with Roberts and Martinez.
