The Pittsburgh Steelers played their second preseason game of 2024 on Saturday, and they ultimately lost that home contest to the Buffalo Bills. While most of the 91 total players under contract did participate last night, a total of 12 did not.
By order of jersey number, not seeing action against the Bills were: QB Kyle Allen, WR Roman Wilson, CB Beanie Bishop Jr., RB Jonathan Ward, ILB Cole Holcomb, OLB Alex Highsmith, C Nate Herbig, T TyKeem Doss, T Troy Fautanu, WR Jacob Copeland, OLB T.J. Watt, and DT Cameron Heyward.
Wilson (ankle), Ward (hamstring), Holcomb (knee), Highsmith (groin), Herbig (shoulder), and Fautanu (knee) were all dealing with injuries ahead of the Saturday night game against the Bills so each not participating in the contest wasn’t surprising. Holcomb, by the way, remains on the team’s Active/PUP list and unlikely to be removed from it ahead of the regular season starting.
Herbig, as we found out ahead of the Saturday night preseason game, might be sidelined for a good amount of time with an injured shoulder that happened late in training camp. Both of the two rookie draft picks on the DNP list, Wilson and Fautanu, might wind up missing next Saturday’s preseason finale as well. Wilson has been sidelined with his ankle injury for several weeks now while Fautanu injured his knee in the first half of the preseason opener.
While Highsmith has not yet played in the preseason due to a groin issue, Steelers HC Mike Tomlin was asked to provide an update on the outside linebacker after Saturday night’s preseason loss to the Bills.
“Should be fine,” Tomlin said of Highsmith. “Had a couple good days of work. We’ll be pushing forward this week.”
Bishop, an undrafted rookie, was surprisingly scratched Saturday night. Tomlin, however, addressed the decision to hold him out of the second preseason game during his postgame press conference.
“Beanie was a little bit limited on our last workday here on Thursday against Buffalo, and so we didn’t want a small problem to become a big problem,” Tomlin said of Bishop. “Obviously, the sand is going through the hourglass and he’s got a big week ahead of him, but we didn’t want to jeopardize or compromise that. And so we did what we thought was prudent tonight and didn’t allow him to participate.”
Allen, the Steelers third-string quarterback, likely didn’t see action Saturday night so the team could get longer looks at the team’s top two quarterbacks, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. The Steelers only had 10 total offensive possessions Saturday night against the Bills and Wilson and Fields each had five in total with the latter following the former into the contest just before the end of the first half. Allen played a lot in the preseason opener, however, and he should see some limited playing time in the preseason finale as well.
Doss, a newcomer to the Steelers, probably sat due to the position group numbers and his limited time with the team. Copeland, who has been with the team several weeks now, probably sat because there weren’t enough offensive snaps in the Saturday night game to go around. He’s right at the bottom of the wide receiver depth chart.
As for Watt and Heyward being held out again Saturday night, that’s wasn’t a huge surprise, especially with there being a wet field at Acrisure Stadium due to pregame storms. Both obviously don’t need much preseason playing time so we’ll wait and see if either plays a little in the preseason finale next Saturday.
Watt, however, did tell Steelers Audio Network sideline reporter Missi Matthews late during game that he’s anxious to get at least some limited preseason game playing time this year.
“Yes, I’m very anxious,” Watt told Matthews. “Hopefully I get a crack at it next week. But just being out here supporting the guys tonight, trying to be as much of a coach as I possibly can, I’m having fun doing that.”
Last year during the preseason, Watt and Heyward logged a total of 11 and 10 defensive snaps, respectively. In short, if one or both winds up playing in the preseason finale next Saturday afternoon against the Detroit Lions, don’t blink early in that contest because you just might miss seeing each of them.
