Most of the Pittsburgh Steelers will finally take to the grass at Heinz Field for the first time this preseason on Sunday, with the Black and Gold hosting the Green Bay Packers in their home preseason opener.
However, the Steelers (0-2) will be without seven players for their home opener against the Packers (1-0). Inside linebackers Lawrence Timmons (turf toe) and Vince Williams (hamstring), running back Josh Harris (foot) and wide receivers David Nelson (shoulder) and C.J. Goodwin (undisclosed) are all out for the Steelers.
Also not playing will be cornerback Senquez Golson and tackle Mike Adams, who remain on the physically unable to perform list. Golson, the team’s second-round draft pick, had shoulder surgery on Friday morning. No update on the prognosis of the young corner was available at the time of Coach Tomlin’s Friday press conference.
“We’ve known that surgery was probably necessary from the time that we got here,” Tomlin said. “Being a young guy and being in this environment, we thought that there was a lot that could be gleaned from that. We thought it could be a great experience for him whether he was participating or not.
“Hopefully, this couple of weeks has been beneficial for him.”
The rest of the Steelers, including safety Ross Ventrone and quarterback Bruce Gradkowski, who returned to practice this week, should be in the lineup on Sunday.
“From a playtime standpoint, we’re going to take the same approach that we took a week ago, in that all the healthy guys are scheduled to play,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said in his pre-game press conference.
The Steelers expect the first team to see more action than they did in the team’s first two preseason games, when many starters played only one series.
“We’ll look to play the first wave of guys more than we did a week ago,” Tomlin said. “The extent of that is really not a cookie-cutter discussion. It really depends on who you’re talking about and the position that they play.”
At quarterback, Gradkowski is expected to make his 2015 debut after Ben Roethlisberger gives way. Third-year backup Landry Jones has played the vast majority of the team’s snaps thus far in the preseason while Gradkowski was dealing with a shoulder injury.
The team’s kick coverage units have looked shaky through two weeks of the preseason, but that could change on Sunday, when special teams coach Danny Smith will be permitted to use his full allotment of personnel.
“We expect to play more experienced players in special teams than we have in the first couple of opportunities,” said Tomlin. “We really wanted to take an opportunity to get to know some young people and put them in some (different) positions the first couple of weeks.
There are some established guys – some known commodities – in the special teams game that we haven’t given a lot of special teams work to this point. We’re going to start that process this game.”
Tomlin specifically mentioned linebackers Terence Garvin and Sean Spence, safety Robert Golden, fullback Will Johnson, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, cornerback Antwon Blake and running back Dri Archer as players that will participate more on special teams this week.
The Steelers will break camp on Saturday after their final practice at Saint Vincent College on Friday afternoon. The team will play their third preseason game next Saturday, August 29 against the Buffalo Bills before they must cut the roster down to 75 players.
Photo credit: AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
