A shorter summer
Steelers will play Saints, Jets after Buccaneers, Panthers games axed
Preseason schedule for Steelers, entire NFL, rolled back to two games apiece.
The NFL is cutting its preseason in half from four games to two games due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will cancel the first and fourth preseason games, according to Pro Football Talk.
For the Steelers, that means games against the Buccaneers and Panthers would be eliminated. The Steelers were scheduled to play host to the Buccaneers on Aug. 14 at Heinz Field and finish the preseason Sept. 3 in Carolina.
The Aug. 23 home game against the Saints would remain on the schedule as would the Aug. 28 road game against the Jets. The Steelers also were going to play in the Hall of Fame against the Cowboys, but the NFL canceled that game last week. They will instead play in the 2021 Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio.
The move was not totally unexpected, and it remains possible no preseason games will be played.
The league announced last week teams will report for training camp July 28 after all spring on-field practices were canceled due to the pandemic. The shortened preseason will force coaches to make quicker determinations on position battles and 53-man rosters and practice squads. The Steelers will have a competition for the right tackle job in camp, and they’ll be searching for a dime linebacker to replace Mark Barron on defense.
“We’re acknowledging as a staff we have to make some quick decisions and then kind of roll from there,” coach Mike Tomlin said last week.
“No question that we as coaches will have less tools for the evaluation process, just in terms of volume. The number of snaps will be significantly less. You have to also acknowledge that there is an element of teaching that has been lost in the virtual offseason and that could affect the competition, at least at the initial stages.”
Players hurt most by the cancellations are rookies, especially undrafted free agents who count on those games to make an impression on coaches. For now, they’ll have to make those impressions in practice and the two preseason games that remain on the schedule.