Falcons Starters Won’t Play Against Steelers

Josh Kendall of the Athletic reports that the Atlanta Falcons will sit their starters against the Pittsburgh Steelers during their matchup on Thursday night.

“The Atlanta Falcons will not play the majority of their starters tonight in their preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, according to a league source,” Kendall wrote.

On Wednesday night, Cameron Wolfe of NFL Network seemed unsure that the Steelers would see many of the Falcons starters. He thought there would be a chance that some of the younger starters would take the field. However, Atlanta appears to go with their backups and act cautiously moving forward into the regular season. In their last preseason game, the starters got only one drive, which seems to be all they get for the preseason.

Meanwhile, the Steelers will do the opposite. Tomlin intends to have a rotation that he will play by ear. However, they have done game planning to expose their players to specific situations they would like to see. Just how much the starters will play and who will play on Thursday is yet to be seen, but with no Falcons starters, it is certainly possible that the Steelers decide to play their starters less than they would have otherwise.

Last season, the Steelers starters played about a half in the third and final preseason game. Tomlin said that when the NFL changed from four to three preseason games, he didn’t change his approach for the first three, which should portend increasing reps for the starters over the first three games. Historically, the Steelers’ starters did not play at all in the fourth preseason game, which was cut by the NFL in 2021. The Steelers’ first time playing three preseason games was in 2022 because they played in the 2021 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.