The Pittsburgh Steelers play the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday in Week 3 of the 2014 NFL preseason. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Listen to the live radio broadcast below.
Thursday night will be a dress rehearsal for both teams' starters as the regular season approaches. Starters on both teams are expected to play well into the second half, something Steelers veteran Heath Miller believes will be a benefit to the players.
"It's good, especially from a conditioning standpoint," Miller told the team website. "This will be the closest taste we get as far as an actual game to the time we are in there. This will be a good gauge in that respect."
Steelers safety Mike Mitchell also believes the extra snaps will help the team with the regular season looming just around the corner.
"We have to play the players," he said. "Like Coach (Mike) Tomlin says physical conditioning precedes everything, so just getting the reps for most of the game will help. We have increased reps every game. We just have to continue to get reps together and continue to shore up the things that hurt us the last two games. We are going to treat this and prepare for it like it's a regular season game."
After their 20-16 loss to the New York Giants in Week 1 of the preseason, Pittsburgh bounced back with a 19-16 win against the Buffalo Bills. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger looked sharp - 8-of-11 for 128 yards and two touchdowns - and will look to build on the performance.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, has yet to win a preseason game. Eagles quarterback Nick Foles looked sharper in last week after throwing two interceptions in Week 1, but the offense as a whole will look to make a stride forward in what's likely to be their last tune-up game before the season.
