The Pittsburgh Steelers are now less than 90 minutes away from their kickoff for Week 13 of the 2024 NFL season. Coming off two AFC North matchups, the Steelers have their third-straight division game as their kickoff to the month of December.

As is always the case, 90 minutes before kickoff is when teams must announce their inactive list for the upcoming game. With 48 players active for each team, the number of players on the inactive list depends on if a team makes any practice squad elevations. With the Steelers not elevating any players from the practice squad, their inactive list is five players. As for the Bengals, they have five players as well.

Keep in mind that last season implemented a modified return of the “third quarterback rule.” Every NFL team who has a third quarterback on their 53-man roster may include him on their inactive list, but he can be designated as a third quarterback and is therefore in uniform in case of injury to the two players ahead of him on the depth chart. But if one of the players is deemed healthy enough to return, the third quarterback goes back to their role on the sideline.

Here are the five players inactive for the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 13 against the Bengals according to Steelers.com.

Steelers Inactives

No. 4 QB Kyle Allen (3rd QB)
No. 13 WR Scotty Miller
No. 35 RB Jonathan Ward
No. 56 LB Alex Highsmith
No. 64 G Max Scharpling

This week, two players had already been ruled out for the Steelers coming into the game. Those players were cornerback Cory Trice Jr. and defensive tackle Montravius Adams. Neither player appears on the inactive list because they are not on the 53-man roster and remain on the Reserve/Injured List (IR) for another game.

Injuring his ankle at the end of the Steelers Week 10 win over the Washington Commanders, Alex Highsmith was able to practice for the first time this past week. Limited on both Thursday and Friday, Highsmith was listed as doubtful on Friday and did not see a change in status on Saturday. As expected, Highsmith is inactive once again for Week 13. This will be Highsmith’s fifth game of the season he will miss and his third in a row.

Two spots on the inactive list that seemed to be locked in unless there is a problem are a quarterback and on the offensive line. Kyle Allen is once again the third quarterback position and can only enter the game if both other quarterbacks are out due to injury. Now that the Steelers offensive line is back to having all players available who are not on IR, Max Sharpling finds his usual spot on the inactive list for the Steelers.

Another player who has become a fixture on the inactive list is running back Jonathan Ward. This will be Ward’s third game inactive since the Steelers signed him off their practice squad ahead of Week 11 as insurance if Jaylen Warren was unable to go. Since then, all the Steelers running backs have been available on game day so Ward has been inactive.

The final player on the inactive list this week is wide receiver Scotty Miller. Active two weeks ago when MyCole Pruitt was injured, Miller was also inactive coming out of the Steelers bye week in Washington because of the addition of Mike Williams. With all the wide receivers and tight ends healthy, Miller is back on the inactive list.

As for the Bengals inactive list, it can be seen below.

Bengals Inactives

No. 15 WR Charlie Jones
No. 16 WR Trenton Irwin
No. 55 LB Logan Wilson
No. 84 TE Tanner McLachlan
No. 98 DT Sheldon Rankins