Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin pulled out a few surprises for last night’s game in terms of personnel, decisions that seemed to be driven by the desire to reward players who have performed well with the opportunity to face a higher level of competition, even if it came in a setting designed to be temporary.
That was the case last night for fifth-year nose tackle Daniel McCullers who was given the opportunity to start for the defensive line ahead of Javon Hargrave, the 2016 third-round pick who beat out McCullers for the starting job as a rookie, and who is going to be the starter when the season opens.