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.”

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I guess If you're gonna box you need to spar.    

I've certainly enjoyed preseason more than usual, particularly the first half.  

Bays wrote:

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.”

Read More...

I guess If you're gonna box you need to spar.    

I've certainly enjoyed preseason more than usual, particularly the first half.  

Hey Bagz! Long time to hear. I haven't seen you much since Steelers Fever back in the day.

It's good to see you here. I've been coming here trying to drum up interest in this message board after the problem with the domain.

Hopefully I am not too much of a dark presence here!

pczach wrote:

Bays wrote:

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.”

Read More...

I guess If you're gonna box you need to spar.    

I've certainly enjoyed preseason more than usual, particularly the first half.  

Hey Bagz! Long time to hear.  I haven't seen you much since Steelers Fever back in the day.

It's good to see you here. I've been coming here trying to drum up interest in this message board after the problem with the domain.

Hopefully I am not too much of a dark presence here!

Good to see you buddy.

Lifes been busy, but occasionally 'ol Wally will reach out and ask me to step into my bloomers and superhero spandex and save the day (aka fuck things up until something sticks).

Hope to be around more often, and more importantly hope to have the domain sorted and maybe interact with some old friends. Appreciate you spreading the word, hope all is well.

I like the starters playing more in preseason. Building chemistry and taking a little momentum into the regular season is always a good thing. Especially with our young roster. They need the extra reps.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I like the starters playing more in preseason. Building chemistry and taking a little momentum into the regular season is always a good thing. Especially with our young roster. They need the extra reps.

I don't have a problem with the starters getting some time in this game. The Tomlin haters are going to complain about it, but they would also complain about that too, because he just can't do anything right with many fans.

With that said, all we can hope for is for everyone to get out of there healthy and be ready to go in the opener.

It's going to be fun watching all the young players continue to improve as they go through the season.

pczach wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I like the starters playing more in preseason. Building chemistry and taking a little momentum into the regular season is always a good thing. Especially with our young roster. They need the extra reps.

I don't have a problem with the starters getting some time in this game. The Tomlin haters are going to complain about it, but they would also complain about that too, because he just can't do anything right with many fans.

With that said, all we can hope for is for everyone to get out of there healthy and be ready to go in the opener.

It's going to be fun watching all the young players continue to improve as they go through the season.

I'm generally way too much of an optimist to begin with when it comes to this team, but this season genuinely feels like we're building towards something special. I'm really excited by the offense and the defense. It seems like we actually have depth at OLB so if TJ gets banged up again we will actually have guys that can step up and at least hold down the fort while he's gone. We've got a lot of experience at DB and a promising young CB in Joey Porter JR who has Patrick Peterson to learn from. Couldn't really ask for a better situation in that regard.

The offense already looks much more dangerous than it did all of last season, KP looks way more confident and he's making NFL caliber throws. The running game is the biggest question mark for me, a lot of talk about Jaylen Warren being better than Najee and to be quite honest I want to see more from Najee. He has to be better this season, he has to be that first rounder that we drafted to dominate our opponents.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

pczach wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I like the starters playing more in preseason. Building chemistry and taking a little momentum into the regular season is always a good thing. Especially with our young roster. They need the extra reps.

I don't have a problem with the starters getting some time in this game. The Tomlin haters are going to complain about it, but they would also complain about that too, because he just can't do anything right with many fans.

With that said, all we can hope for is for everyone to get out of there healthy and be ready to go in the opener.

It's going to be fun watching all the young players continue to improve as they go through the season.

I'm generally way too much of an optimist to begin with when it comes to this team, but this season genuinely feels like we're building towards something special. I'm really excited by the offense and the defense. It seems like we actually have depth at OLB so if TJ gets banged up again we will actually have guys that can step up and at least hold down the fort while he's gone. We've got a lot of experience at DB and a promising young CB in Joey Porter JR who has Patrick Peterson to learn from. Couldn't really ask for a better situation in that regard.

The offense already looks much more dangerous than it did all of last season, KP looks way more confident and he's making NFL caliber throws. The running game is the biggest question mark for me, a lot of talk about Jaylen Warren being better than Najee and to be quite honest I want to see more from Najee. He has to be better this season, he has to be that first rounder that we drafted to dominate our opponents.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. You could see that Pickett has more freedom and is using the entire field and attacking defenses. We need to see him when defenses are scheming him and he's getting more exotic looks from the defenses, but he is already showing great recognition of coverages.

I'm really pumped for this season, and this roster is set up for the foreseeable future. They are going to be contending for several years with this group. We will see about Najee this season. I hope he is completely healthy for once. This is a big year for him. If he doesn't get a little more explosive and effective I think they need to look at working Warren in more.