During his Thursday press conference, Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin indicated that his starters would likely play 10-12 snaps Saturday night in the preseason opener against the New York Giants. In addition to that, he did say that a few of the starters could get extended playing time beyond.
On Friday, Tomlin had his pre game interview with steelers.com and he named a few of the starters that could receive extra playing time.
“Like always in our first preseason game, we anticipate using these guys for a couple of series, around 10-12 snaps for the first units, but we’re not above identifying some guys within those units to get an extended look,” Tomlin said. “That’s usually the young starters, guys like Jason Worilds, Marcus Gilbert, Mike Adams – all could get an extended look beyond their group.”
One week ago today, the decision was made to flip the tackles as Mike Adams took over on the left side for Marcus Gilbert as he moved over to the right. Tomlin said Thursday that move was permanent only for the game against the Giants and he addressed the situation again on Friday with the same response.
“It could end up going the other way,” he said. “We switched it about a week ago now with positive results. We’ll step into the stadium against the Giants with Adams at left tackle and Gilbert at right tackle, and then we’ll base what happens afterward depending on what happens inside the stadium.”
Tomlin added that while he likes the pedigree and upside of his offensive line, which figures to be the youngest in the league by the time the season starts, he also believes they have plenty of room for growth in addition.
The Steelers figure to use a heavy dose of outside zone during the game, so it will interesting to see just how far they have come under new offensive line coach Jack Bicknell Jr., who had success with the scheme during his one season with the Kansas City Chiefs.
As far as Jason Worilds goes, he surely knows by now that he has no room for error with rookie Jarvis Jones coming along quickly. He needs to make a statement Saturday night against the Giants, bad toe and all.
