Steelers again will play (most) starters in preseason finale at Falcons

Most — but perhaps not all — of the starters will be in the lineup and taking the field in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ preseason finale Thursday at the Atlanta Falcons.

While Steelers coach Mike Tomlin left himself a qualifier by saying, “By no means am I guaranteeing that everyone plays,” he did expand on how he wanted to see the “first-team” units on offense and defense performe in a game setting.

“The way that we’ve done it in (two prior preseason) games will continue: Those that are healthy are scheduled to play,” Tomlin said during a news conference at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. “We’ve got an agenda with our units, talking about first unit, second unit, third unit, if you will. There are certain things that we want to see.”

The first-team offense played one series in the preseason-opening game at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Aug. 11 and then two series in a home win against the Buffalo Bills eight days later.

The first-team defense was without a handful of its members for the Bucs game. Against the Bills, all except for defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi (foot injury) played two series.

Overall, each full unit has been perfect: The offense has three touchdowns in three drives, and the defense forced punts on both Bills possessions in which the full starting unit was intact (and even on a third for which roughly half the starters played).

Tomlin acknowledged that the strong play from the first-teamers has limited their playing time in the preseason.

“We will play the first group until we get a level of satisfaction on both sides of the ball with that agenda,” Tomlin said. “Then we will move onto the second and then the third, and we will go from there.”

This is the third season of the NFL’s compressed three-game preseason schedule, brought on by an expansion of the regular season from 16 to 17 games. Whereas in the past the final (fourth) preseason game rarely featured any player who was starting-caliber, the new format has changed the approach of many coaches.

Last year, for example, the Steelers used the first-team offense the entire first half of their final preseason game. Most of the defensive starters, likewise, played two quarters. But in an illustration of the risks involved, then-reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year T.J. Watt suffered a knee injury during the game.

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