A few veterans to play Saturday
Le’Veon Bell is not the only Steelers starter skipping preseason games this summer. A bunch of them have yet to play for one reason or another, some because they are injured, othersto prevent injury.
That will change for some Saturday when the Steelers play their third preseason game at 4 p.m. at Heinz Field against the Tennessee Titans. Others still won’t play.
Ben Roethlisberger, Maurkice Pouncey, Cam Heyward and Joe Haden will make their first appearance in a preseason game this summer. All were held out because of their veteran status.
Others, though, have been limited in practice for much of the summer, have not played in the first two games and likely won’t play in the third. They include Antonio Brown and T.J. Watt. Add to that a group that definitely will miss their third preseason game because of injuries: Ramon Foster, Vance McDonald andXavier Grimble.
The rest of the first-teamers will take the field, but for how long? Coach Mike Tomlin would not say Thursday after completing what he called their “mock preparationgame week.”
The coach said the plan is for Roethlisberger and Landry Jones to play quarterback but would not commit to playing either of his two young players there, Josh Dobbs and Mason Rudolph. They handled all the snaps in thesecond preseason game.
He also agreed with those who say Roethlisberger has had an outstanding summer.
“It’s been a good process for him. He came ready, and coming in ready has a lot to do with it in terms of conditioning in mind, body and spirit. It’s been good. But the proof is in the pudding, and he’s about to step into a stadium this weekend, so stay tuned.”
Although Tomlin said Brown is one of those who had limited participation in practice this week, therefore he will “leave the light on” for him, it would come as a surprise if he does play. He has been nursing an unspecifie-dupper leg injury.
“I won’t get into the details because it’s not that time of year,” Tomlin said. “We’re just managing him from a rep standpoint and his participation. We’ll decide as we get closer to game time whether or not he’s playingin the game.”
McDonald, expected to be the No. 1 tight end this season, has missed most of training camp and will miss his third game with a foot injury.
“He’s working his way through it,” Tomlin said. “He’s getting closer to partial participation, and once we get him back out there and working in that capacity, I’ll be better equipped to explainwhere he is.”