Previewing the Pittsburgh Steelers' Week 3 Preseason Game vs. Bills

It's dress rehearsal week for the Pittsburgh Steelers as they prepare to take on the Buffalo Bills in their third preseason game of the year.

Starters will see extended time on the field—at least the first half and maybe longer—and we'll have a better idea of what the team will look like once the regular season begins, as the play-calling will be more reflective of actual planning for the Bills rather than just being a purely evaluative exercise.

Here are the three biggest things to watch for when the Steelers face the Bills on Saturday night.

Protecting Ben Roethlisberger

It's no secret that the Buffalo Bills fully upgraded their defensive front this offseason in the hopes that the payoff is one of the meanest pass-rushing defenses in the league. That front will be giving the Steelers' offensive line some serious trouble on Saturday. 

Saturday's game will mark the return to action for left tackle Max Starks, who recently resumed practicing after recovering from last season's torn ACL and subsequent surgery. He will be the starter and plans to play at least the first quarter. Alongside him as starters will likely be left guard Willie Colon, center Maurkice Pouncey, right guard David DeCastro and right tackle Ramon Foster.

Rookie Mike Adams, who has struggled more in pass protection than in run blocking, will likely replace Starks but still play with the starters if Starks indeed only plays the first quarter. Adams needs as much in-game experience as he can get when it comes to protecting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. How he fares here as compared to Starks will be the first real sight we've seen of the blooming competition between the two.

In two preseason games, the Buffalo defense has notched a total of three sacks and 11 quarterback hits. Roethlisberger, in his two games, has been sacked just twice, both coming at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles two weeks ago.

Offensive coordinator Todd Haley has said he'd like Roethlisberger to stay in the pocket more this year, but that cannot happen if the offensive line allows him to be flushed out. With starters playing at full speed on Saturday, we'll get to see if this latest iteration of the offensive line can stand strong.

Run Game

The offensive line won't just be tasked with keeping Roethlisberger upright—they'll also need to keep the run game on track. And considering all the setbacks that area of the Steelers' game has dealt with over the past few months, they'll need all the help they can get on Saturday.

With newly-signed running back Jason Ford not traveling to Buffalo and both Rashard Mendenhall and Isaac Redman recovering from injuries, the Steelers will be dressing just three running backs: Chris Rainey, Jonathan Dwyer and Baron Batch.

Rainey has been the most impressive this offseason but Batch has been the only real disappointment. Whether this is a result of him not playing with the first team in preseason games or it's an indictment of his talent is yet to be seen; we'll only know if Batch does get more time with the starters on Saturday.

Passing

No first-team receiver has caught more than two passes in the preseason thus far, and Roethlisberger has thrown just 17 passes. This is mainly because, with so many injuries and other questions at running back, the team wanted to focus on their backs to evaluate their options.

But with holdout receiver Mike Wallace set to report to the team and sign his first-round tender this weekend, the play-calling may skew heavier towards the pass than it has in the two previous weeks as they prepare to ramp up their aerial game in next week's practices.

Further, while there's been so much attention paid to the ground game thus far, the Steelers aren't going to be incredibly reliant on the run once the season begins—not when they have so much receiving talent and a strong quarterback like Roethlisberger under center.

With this game being the closest to the regular-season Steelers as we'll see in the preseason, expect greater emphasis on passing. The Bills gave up 261 passing yards against the Minnesota Vikings last week, and this appears to be the perfect time for Pittsburgh to try to exploit their weakness against the pass.

Follow @FBALL_Andrea