The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing for the Atlanta Falcons in Week 1 on the road, and this provides a unique challenge in many ways. A challenge which will have the Steelers having to adjust on the fly as the regular season gets off the ground to kickoff the 2024 regular season.

As Mike Tomlin met with media Tuesday to lead up to the Falcons game, he always touched on injuries to start the press conference.

As was reported last week, Tomlin acknowledged Isaac Seumalo’s pectoral injury, but labeled the injury as week-to-week. Tomlin would go on to say how he is optimistic about Seumalo’s return “sooner rather than later”. Filling in for Seumalo will be Spencer Anderson as the “next man up”.

Other injured players had participated in a partial capacity last week during the team’s off week, and Tomlin spoke about how their activity level this week will truly be the answer for if they play in Week 1 or not.

Those players are:

• Roman Wilson (ankle)
• Troy Fautanu (knee)
• Jaylen Warren (hamstring)
• Cory Trice (groin)

Tomlin added he is optimistic with all these players in hopes of them being ready and available for the game Sunday in Atlanta. Speaking specifically on Roman Wilson, who had limited reps last week “We’ll see, it’s what the week of work is about.” He also added there are some players who have been dealing with “short-term misery” and the hope is for no setbacks this week and them getting the green light and a clean bill of health.

Outside of injury, the Steelers will be adjusting on the fly with the fact they will be on the road to kick off the season. The Steelers played just one preseason game on the road, Week 3 in Detroit, and will have to deal with a hostile road environment. However, it should be noted the Steelers did play in Atlanta in 2022 and the game seemed more like a Pittsburgh home game than a hostile environment. With it being the season-opening game, there will likely be more Falcons fans in attendance compared to the team’s last trip to Georgia.

There were plenty of questions surrounding the Steelers offensive line situation, particularly at offensive tackle. Will Fautanu be cleared to play? Will Broderick Jones move to left tackle if that happens? Tomlin kept his cards close to the vest and said the offensive tackle situation will be determined closer to game time, citing player availability as the biggest issue the team is dealing with at this time.

The head coach did say if they needed a player who can help at tackle if need be, Spencer Anderson is in the discussion as well. Towards the end of the press conference Tomlin compared Anderson to former do-it-all lineman Kelvin Beachum who is still playing in the NFL in 2024. Otherwise, Tomlin did mention Broderick Jones’ versatility being a big asset to the team as they go into Week 1 without a clear-cut plan.

The only position which got more attention than the offensive line in this press conference was wide receiver. When asked if he was okay with the depth at the position Tomlin said he is more than comfortable with the performance and consistency of the wide receivers to date. He said the wide receivers performance in camp and the preseason made him even more comfortable, citing two players particularly, Van Jefferson and Scotty Miller. He later reiterated how he isn’t overly concerned about wide receiver, again talking about a level of comfort with who they have.

He was asked about George Pickens handling the attention he’ll get from the opposition this season, and Tomlin suggested this is something Pickens has been dealing with “his entire life” in the game of football.

Week 1 will be a lot of adjusting on the fly, and the Steelers certainly will need to be sure they are trying to start the season 1-0 before heading to Denver in Week 2. If you missed any of the Mike Tomlin press conference check out the podcast in the player below.