LATROBE, PA (93.7 The Fan) – Bills head coach Sean McDermott says his starters will play a quarter-and-a-half against the Steelers in the preseason matchup Saturday night.
“Simply put, it’s to get them ready for the season,” McDermott said Thursday. “We took a little bit of a different approach last year, this year we are doing what we somewhat did in years past. We are doing right by the players to get them ready for Week 1.”
That means the Steelers defense will get a much stiffer test than Tampa Bay’s Baker Mayfield and Kyle Trask, they will get Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs, among others in the only home exhibition game.
“You want to get them ready,” McDermott said. “As many dress rehearsals as you can to put them in to get them ready to go, that’s what you do. I think it’s best for the team this year. You look at the military and what they do, they don’t just throw guys out there.
They are the best of the best in what they do and they have dress rehearsals also, so that’s what we do.”
Damar returns
It’s his home college stadium and back in his hometown in a football uniform, safety Damar Hamlin is expected to play Saturday. McDermott says he has nothing to prove and is back to a typical NFL player in their practices right now. He’s listed as a back-up safety to Micah Hyde.
“It’s not like we are playing two-hand touch in practice,” McDermott said. “There have been several thud contact points, that on top of some of the live stuff in the last game. There has been enough of a sample where he’s executed well and come out heathy.”
“From my non-medical standpoint, I think he’s checked all the boxes as far as that goes.”