Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will take on the Detroit Lions for the first time in this presidency on Saturday night.
However, it is not clear how long he will play.
"We'll play it by ear. We have a plan, but we're ready to adjust to the plan that we see in the stadium," said coach Mike Tomlin, refusing to elaborate further.
The 39-year-old quarterback will usually start the third pre-season game in the previous four-game pre-season format. In 2019, he played three quick series against Tennessee before being knocked out in the first quarter.
For Roethlisberger, the need to play on Saturday stemmed from new offensive coordinator Matt Canada and his new offensive plan. This will be Roethlisberger's first time working in the game with Canada.
"Because we have a new system," Roethlisberger said, explaining why he needed to play. "There's a new coach, player communication in terms of a new guy, the offense is different. He's higher in the box than on the field.
"There's a lot of novelty. I think it makes sense to take as much time off as you can in those situations."
And while innovation can be tough as he enters his 18th season, Roethlisberger is up to the challenge.
"It almost kind of re-centers you, if that makes sense," Roethlisberger said. "If it was still the same stuff, I'd probably go home, watch the movie and be ready to move on.
"Last night I went home, saw the movie and then went back to it to refresh my mind. I think it's different, I want to make sure we're not a reason to conflict."
Like his coach, Roethlisberger also needs to see how much action he expects to see on Saturday - or to get comfortable with Canada.
"I would love to get as many reps as I can," Roethlisberger said. "How many months have it been since I've stepped onto a football field to hit or play. I know it's Precision, but just the meaningful kind of reps. With the newness of it, I want to get more can do."
But how much exactly?
"It's probably a progressive kind of answer," he said. "I don't know. I guess it depends on how it's going, how it feels."
Roethlisberger lobbied to take the field the day before Saturday, expressing his desire to play a week earlier in Philadelphia to prepare for the Week 1 game in Buffalo.
"I really wanted to try and play last week because it was on the road," Roethlisberger said. “This would have been our first time playing with conditions like street crowd noise and things like that, before we got into a very hostile environment in Week 1. But coach, I’m not going to talk to him about it. could."
Roethlisberger had a heavy workload throughout the week, starting with Tuesday's practice, to prepare for Saturday's walk. In a 7-on-7 period, Roethlisberger completed 11 of 12 attempts, and in a team period, he made a deep pass out to JuJu Smith-Schuster, who beat Trey Norwood and Justin Layne to make a diving catch. .
Roethlisberger didn't take a day off in the three-practice section, switching up the routine from earlier in the camp when he did a full day off before taking half a day, followed by a day off.
"I asked the coach if I could take as many reps as I could this week just because it's been a while and I wanted to emulate a game week," he said.
To further his preparation, Roethlisberger spent extra time at home reviewing the sports film.
"If you think about it, on every play, pass game, I need to know what five guys are doing," Roethlisberger said. "It's not just one guy or what I'm doing. I want to know what's hot and what each specific person is doing. Many times I'll find out what the three of them are doing, and then it's, 'Wait, what is this man doing then?' I just have to try and freshen up in my mind."