The Jets are traveling to the Steel City for their lone road preseason contest on Friday night. Head coach Aaron Glenn plans to have his starters play, as they did against the Buccaneers last week, but he has not publicly announced the status of QB Geno Smith, who missed the first preseason game with ankle soreness.

Smith has been practiced this week, but Glenn wants to be smart about his workload leading up to Week 1 against the Tennessee Titans.

"He's a competitor, and he wants to make sure he gets those reps in," Glenn said. "[His ankle] is not to a point where he can't go out. Obviously, he's out there practicing, but again, we want to make sure we're doing the right things when it comes to him playing."

Last week, rookie QB Cade Klubnik got the start against Tampa and led the Jets on two scoring drives while going 5 of 7 for 56 yards.

"Just being able to be in a really unique situation, in a unique game, and put some drives together, that was fun," Klubnik said last week.  "I still made some mistakes out there and being able to learn from those and respond from those quickly and have my teammates have my back whenever those did happen, that was good to see."

Two veteran defenders, DT T'Vondre Sweat and edge Joseph Ossai, who made their return to practice this week, have been on a pitch count during team periods. If they see any game action at Pittsburgh, it will most likely also be limited.

"We want to make sure we make the right decision on playing the guys or not," Glenn said. "I've never been a coach that was afraid of injuries because it's a part of the game, but I also want to be a coach that's smart and make sure I get our guys ready for Week 1."

Increasing the Workload
Throughout training camp,

Aaron Glenn has increased the snap count of the first units each week. Leading up to the Jets' matchup against the Steelers, they reached 40 snaps.

"This is what I'm doing to get our guys calloused to play 65 or 75 plays a game," Glenn said. "Next week, it'll be 50 reps and then we'll have a scrimmage at the very end that's going to get guys about 65 reps.

"So our guys will be ready to play Week 1when it comes to that."

Glenn stresses the importance of practicing with a game-like intensity, but preseason games are a different kind of test and preparation for the regular season.

"It's something about having how many people in the stands, being able to where the coach is not behind you, calling plays where you're on the field," Glenn said. "It's something about being able to do that live that is totally different from practice, so I think it's beneficial to be able to do that."

The first-team offense was on the field last week for one drive, which resulted in a field goal, and the first-team defense played two series and forced the Buccaneers to punt twice.

The Opportunity Ahead

For the players hoping to land on the 53-man regular-season roster, they have two more chances to prove themselves and put good plays on tape.

"I think the most important thing for me is taking a good look at [each] player for us and how he fits in what we're doing," Glenn said. "Then [assess] how is he playing? Is he playing to a point where we can't ignore how good this player is and how we need him to fit into our roster when it comes to that."

But it's not just talent that's important; a player's mentality matters, too.

"Listen, there's always going to be a talent drop-off when you go from your tip guy to the next guy, but the mentality doesn't have to change," Glenn said about using players down the depth chart when injuries happen, especially in the preseason. "That's the one way to keep your team afloat when you do have injuries, to where OK, is the talent down, yes, but this league is about mentality and how guys can come in and play the same way that the guy in front of him was playing."

Roster cut downs must be finalized by 6 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 30.