Steelers vs. Titans: Ben Roethlisberger plans to play in Sunday Week 3 preseason finale
The final Sunday game of the 2019 preseason schedule features the Pittsburgh Steelers visiting the Tennessee Titans.
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Week 3 of the 2019 NFL preseason schedule concludes with just one game on Sunday – the last Sunday game before the regular season -- as the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Tennessee Titans from Nissan Stadium in Nashville. It's an 8 p.m. kickoff with the Titans as 2.5-point favorites on the NFL odds.
While more and more coaches are choosing to hold out all their key players for an entire preseason, that apparently won't be the case for either the Steelers or Titans on Sunday. Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger was one of 12 starting quarterbacks who never took the field in the first two weeks but he will go for a bit on Sunday barring something unforeseen.
This is typical for Big Ben as he hasn't played before Week 3 of the exhibition slate since 2015 and that year only because the Steelers had five preseason matchups due to being in the Hall of Fame Game. Shoot, we can even guesstimate the number of Big Ben's snaps for you Sunday: 17.75. That's his average Week 3 preseason snaps the past four years. Who keeps track of this stuff? Sunday will also be the first time that Roethlisberger plays a game without Antonio Brown on the roster in years. Brown was banned for Week 17 last year of because of his antics but was still a member of the team and thought he would play that day. The post-Brown era now truly begins.
The Titans are looking for their first home preseason win under second-year coach Mike Vrabel. They were 0-2 last year and lost last Thursday 22-17 to the Patriots. Starting Tennessee QB Marcus Mariota has played in both games thus far so there's little reason to believe he won't a fair amount in this one. It's a big year for Mariota, in the fifth and final season of his rookie contract. It's possible that top running back Derrick Henry will make his 2019 debut off a calf injury. He returned to practice this week.
These teams played in Pittsburgh in Week 3 of the 2018 preseason and the Steelers won 16-6.