In the aftermath of the greatest comeback victory in Mike To

In the aftermath of the greatest comeback victory in Mike Tomlin's 14 seasons as an NFL head coach, which delivered his seventh AFC North championship,he was asked what approach he would take relative to his starters when the Steelers close their regular season in a game Sunday at Cleveland.Well ponder those po sibilities in the morning, he told reporters. Tonight, were going to wear our hats and T-shirts.This is the prize for winning a division title, that and a guaranteed position among the first four seeds in the Howie Kendrick Jersey AFC portion of the NFL playoffs. There is only one bye available to the qualifying teams, though, and the Chiefs secured that Sunday afternoon, when they squeezed past the Falcons. The Steelers will be either the No. 2 seed in the playoffs orNo. 3.So is there a legitimate reason for the Steelers to play full-strength against the Browns?One could engage in a vigorous internal debate about that, as Tomlin very well might:IYER:PRO: Securing the No. 2 seed does a sure the po sibility of a second playoff game at home. In a typical year, the primary benefit of playing as often as po sible at home would be obvious: a disruptive crowd of more than 68,000 working to intimidate the opposition into a substandard performance. It doesnt always work, but it never hurts.Now Heinz Field is empty save for a few family members here and there. But the Steelers still know how to play the wind in that stadium better than anyone who enters. Its their locker room, a short drive from home, no need for a plane all of that. The Steelers finished7-1 at home this season, even though they only had small Brandon Kintzler Jersey crowds for three of those games. It has to matter some.CON: Sure, but the team also is 5-2 away from Heinz. Its most significant victories to date against the Titans and Ravens were secured on the road. And the Steelers are going to even to have a chance of getting the No. 2 spot.Wouldnt it make more sense to get some rest for a team whose quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger, is 38 years old? The Steelers have four starters on each side of the ball who are over 30, including two members each of the offensive and defensive lines.The Steelers never had a true bye week. They were scheduled to play the Titans on Oct. 4, but that game was postponed because of COVID i sues relative to the Tenne see franchise. It was shipped into the middle of the season, consuming the break that had been built in for Week 8. The postponement didnt occur until three days before the Titans game, which meant theyd put in a fair amount of work for a game that didnt arrive for a month.Then COVID i sues with the Ravens postponed their planned Thanksgiving game for six days, which meant even the break the Steelers expected after a short prep for the Baltimore game was devoured. The Steelers wound up playing three games in 11 days and now have played five in 23 days. Its hard to imagine a team needing rest more than this bunch, especially with the elimination of a second playoff bye in each conference meaning the path to the Super Bowl includes three more games.MORE: PRO: Rest would be nice. Football is a brutal game. But Patrick Corbin Jersey the Steelers played so poorly following their 11-0 start, losing three in a row and failing to crack the 20-point mark each time, and at last they discovered something positive in recovering from a 24-7 deficit against the Colts.The Browns game presents an opportunity to build on the succe s of the intermediate pa sing game, which led to an unexpected offensive resurgence that included three touchdown pa ses from Roethlisberger and more than 240 pa sing yards in the second half. The defense, as well, bounced back from a dreadful first half to hold the Colts to a single field goal after halftime.Can the Steelers afford to expect that playing 30 minutes of outstanding football over the course of the seasons stretch drive has prepared them to excel in the playoffs? Playing the starters for at least a half should help sharpen them for what theyll face in what Tomlin likes to call January football.CON: The Steelers completely reversed the momentum of the Colts game, Washington Nationals Jersey and their season, in the 12 minutes comprising halftime. Why should anyone believe it can be sustained from week to week? Its more important to gain nece sary rest for the long-term veterans and such players as wideout Diontae Johnson, who was bothered by an ankle i sue late in the Colts game, and defensive superstar T.J. Watt, who developed some sort of leg i sue but continued to play.Its also Blank Jersey e sential for a team that has lost three of its top five linebackers to avoid further injury. Long-term Steelers fans might remember when the Steelers used Roethlisberger in a meaningle s game against Cleveland at the end of the 2008 season. They were a sured a bye and a No. 2 seed, but Tomlin didnt want his key players sitting for two weekends straight and planned to use most for roughly a half. Roethlisberger got hit simultaneously by two defenders while releasing a pa s and was down on the field with a concu sion for 15 minutes.Who wants to relive that scene?There is no easy answer to this conundrum. There is only the answer that seems obvious to the person selecting it. The person paid to do that job will have to decide for himself the best course in the Steelers current circumstance.