Stars might sit Sunday
Coaching staff tries to decide who to play, who to rest in season finale
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The Steelers are in a unique position heading into the final weekend of the regular season. They wrapped up an AFC firstround playoff bye with their victory against Houston, but they might not be in position to rest their stars Sunday against the Cleveland Browns when they visit Heinz Field.
It’s not like the 2016 regular-season finale against the Browns, when the Steelers rested Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and others in advance of their first playoff game on wild-card weekend. The Steelers had absolutely nothing to gain by playing their stars in that game. That’s not true this year.
The Steelers still can earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They have to beat the Browns and hope the 5-10 Jets beat the Patriots in Foxborough, Mass.
Coach Mike Tomlin said he is discussing with his coaching staff which players he will opt to play Sunday.
“I’m undecided as I stand here right now,” Tomlin said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. “It’s obvious those discussions are in play. We’ll do what’s best for us short term and long, and we won’t look back.
“You can talk a lot about the structure of this week, but the reality is this is a football game,” Tomlin said. “We will play and play to win that football game. Who we choose to employ or utilize or activate, we’re in the process of discussing. But make no mistake about it, the expectation will be what it is. The people we put on the field, we’ll expect them to play and play winning football. That will be our mentality as we prepare. We don’t try to over-think some of these things. We set out on this thing to dominate the AFC North [Division], and we have an AFC North game this weekend at our place so that will be our mentality.”
Part of the problem for Tomlin is the result that is expected in New England. It would be a huge upset if the Jets managed to beat the Patriots.
The Jets were competitive against the Patriots in their first meeting this season. They lost, 24-17, and had a touchdown overturned in the fourth quarter by NFL senior vice president of officiating Alberto Riveron, one of the many decisions by Riveron that aided the Patriots this season.
But the Jets won’t have Josh McCown playing quarterback for them in this game. He threw for 354 yards against the Patriots defense, but his season ended a few weeks ago because of an injury. Backup Bryce Petty has one touchdown and three interceptions since becoming the starter, and the Jets have managed just 26 points combined in those two games.
Tomlin said the fact that the No. 1 seed remains in play has no bearing on how he will decide who plays Sunday.
“We have no control over that,” Tomlin said of the Jets-Patriots game. “We better take care of the business in our stadium. We better focus on the challenges in our stadium and take care of the business that’s in our control. That will be my mentality as we prepare this week and as we walk into the stadium.”
The Steelers-Browns game kicks off at 1 p.m., the same time the Patriots play host to the Jets. The Steelers could keep an eye on the scoreboard and begin to pull their stars if the Patriots are winning big. But if the Steelers take that route, their stars would have to play at least a half, if not more, before Tomlin sent them to the bench.
Of course, Tomlin also could take the route that his team is good enough to beat the 0-15 Browns with Landry Jones at quarterback and Stevan Ridley and Fitzgerald Toussaint at running back.
The Browns will try to avoid becoming the second team in NFL history to go 016. The 2008 Detroit Lions were the only other team to go 0-16.
No matter what happens Sunday the path to the Super Bowl will be different for the Steelers. In their previous four playoff appearances from 2011-16, they had to play on wild-card weekend. At the very least, the Steelers know they’ll have the firstround bye. It’s the first time they won’t have to play on wild-card weekend since the 2010 season, when they were the No. 2 seed and advanced to Super Bowl XLV.