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The battle of Pennsylvania is set for Thursday night as the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Philadelphia. This season we have only three preseason games compared to four in seasons before, but the Steelers will have four total since they faced the Dallas Cowboys in the Hall of Fame game last Thursday.
New Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has said that his starters will see playing time in this game, but hasn’t indicated how long, while Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has made it clear that rookies, like Najee Harris will play as long as they are healthy, but Ben Roethlisberger will sit out again. We’ll take a look at who is expected to play at the offensive skill positions below.
Quarterbacks
Tomlin says the QB division of labor will be the same as vs Dallas:
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) August 10, 2021
Rudolph will start, Haskins enters late 1st half, Dobbs finishes the game. No Ben.
Jalen Hurts will start the preseason game against the Steelers with the first-team offense according to HC Nick Sirano. How much he plays is unknown though.
Jalen Hurts will play, but “one of the things we have to our advantage is that no one knows what we’re running.” So obviously not revealing playbook. #Eagles
— Martin Frank (@Mfranknfl) August 10, 2021
Running Backs
Tomlin said he has no plans to hold Najee Harris back at all in this game.
— Dale Lolley (@dlolley_pgh) August 10, 2021
Harris got three drives in the Hall of Fame game, so a similar workload wouldn’t be surprising.
Eagles running back Jason Huntley has looked good in camp and has produced big plays through the air and on the ground. He should get plenty of looks in their first preseason game.
Wide Receivers
Michael Walker is battling a foot injury, so he likely won’t play, while John Hightower (groin) and DeVonta Smith (knee) are both recovering from injuries as well.
Quez Watkins has been the most consistent receiver in training camp, per Glen Erby of USA Today, and I expect he will continue to get chances to prove himself in the first preseason game.
Tight Ends
Eagles converted QB to TE Tyree Jackson has been the biggest surprise of training camp and should continue to see work to help evaluate where he stands as an NFL tight en.