Mike Tomlin announced on Thursday after the Pittsburgh Steelers’ joint practice with the Buffalo Bills that starters, including QB Russell Wilson, will be playing roughly four drives in the second preseason game on Saturday evening. Bills head coach Sean McDermott announced today that his starters would be playing roughly a quarter and a half.
Two different ways of saying it, but both sides should be playing their starters for roughly the same amount of time. They got to work against each other during the joint practice, so there is an added level of familiarity for the individual matchups in this game.
Bills QB Josh Allen will be among the starters who play against the Steelers. The last time these two teams faced, it was a cold, snowy Wild Card playoff game that saw the Steelers sent to yet another early postseason exit.
This will likely act as the annual tune-up game where the starters play more than they do in the other preseason games to get as close to the real thing as possible before the start of the season. Both teams will likely rest at least a few key players each, but it will otherwise be a great simulation of a real game. For players like Zach Frazier, Payton Wilson, and other young players, this is an invaluable opportunity for reps against starting-caliber players in a game with nothing at stake.
With the starters getting more playing time than usual, that means the players on the roster bubble will get less opportunities. If Wilson ends up playing four drives, then Justin Fields should get roughly the same amount. That would probably take them midway through the third quarter and leave Kyle Allen with the rest of the opportunities to finish the game.
It seems likely that fourth-string QB John Rhys Plumlee will be left without any quarterback snaps once again. Though the Steelers will use him in various ways on special teams. There is the potential for some work at wide receiver, too. He practiced there a little during the last week of training camp.
