Mike Tomlin is in a damned if you do, damned if you don’t position for the final week of the regular season. He has to decide if health is worth the possibility of home field. If he rests his starters, he runs the risk of them being ‘rusty’ when they return to play their divisional round matchup in 2 weeks. The other option is to play his best players to try and get the top seed. The only problem with that plan, is any injury to another key starter, could derail the superbowl train this year. If you are weighing these 2 possible outcomes, I think players being rusty is far better than a player that can’t play in the playoffs. One good side of resting starters, the Steelers showed last year that they can beat the Browns with second stringers, and they should be able to do it again this season.
Antonio Brown is out. He’s still recovering from his injured calf and will not play this week. Maurkice Pouncey is questionable with a hip that’s been an issue this year, but he’s been playing through it. This week would be a good time to give him the rest needed to get healthy for a Super Bowl run.
Coty Sensabaugh (shoulder) and Ramon Foster (concussion) were questionable last week and didn’t play. This week both have practiced fully, while Foster has cleared concussion protocol. Both are not listed on the injury report this week.
I update the Injury/Suspension/Inactive/Fine spreadsheet daily. Bookmark it to track the status for the Steelers each week. Click HERE
There will be 7 inactive players for the game this week. I believe they will be:
1. Ben Roethlisberger: Healthy Scratch/ 3rd QB. As the third QB, Ben is still eligible to come in and play in a game, in case of emergency. If he enters a game, it means no other QB can play for the rest of the game, unless Ben is injured.
2. Antonio Brown: AB is listed as out and will not play.
3. Maurkice Pouncey: Pouncey has been dealing with hip pain, and this week combined with next week’s bye, is the best time to get his hip feeling better.
4. Le’Veon Bell: Bell has set the Steelers record for touches in a season. He doesn’t need any more touches this week, as it would be better to have a healthy Bell for the playoffs, over a tired Bell.
5. Jerald Hawkins: The Tackles are all healthy. Hawkins was inactive last week, and should be again this week. If Pouncey is inactive, the Steelers will need interior linemen on the active roster.
6. Cameron Heyward: Cam is the most important player that the Steelers have on defense. Resting him boosts the chances at #7.
7. JJ Wilcox was inactive for the past three weeks, and should be inactive again this week.
Week 16 I went 7 for 7. Bringing my yearly total to 97/113. This is the toughest week for picking inactives, since some of the Steelers’ best players may be healthy scratches. Watching the way Coach Tomlin rested starters in the preseason, makes me think he will rest them again to have them as healthy as possible for meaningful games.
