There won’t be many compelling reasons to tune in to Thursday night’s game between the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers.
But here’s one: the possibility that Malik Cunningham could see some playing time for the offensively inept 2-10 Patriots.
New England had not announced as of midday Thursday whether it planned to elevate the undrafted rookie quarterback/receiver from the practice squad for its Week 14 matchup at Acrisure Stadium, but Cunningham revealed on his Instagram story that he traveled with the team to Pittsburgh.
Typically, teams must announce their practice squad elevations the day before a game. But that deadline is pushed back for Thursday night contests. The Patriots and Steelers are not required to finalize their elevations until 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Cunningham traveling does not guarantee he’ll suit up against the Steelers — inactive practice squadders sometimes join the team for road games — and even if he does, the Patriots might decide not to use him. That’s what happened last week, with New England elevating Cunningham but choosing not to play him in a shutout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Asked this week whether Cunningham could see playing time over the final five games, head coach Bill Belichick replied: “That’s an option.”
“There’s other players that are options, as well,” Belichick said in an interview with WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.” “It’s just really a question of time and commitment, and how much you can do and how well you can do it. The more time you commit to some things, that’s less time you commit to something else. You just have to pick your priorities.
“But, yeah, we have some options here, and we’ll look at them. If we feel like there’s an advantage to be gained, then we’ll try to do it. And if there isn’t or we think it’s marginal, then we might not be able to do it. So we’ll just have to see how that goes.”
Cunningham said coaches told him before the Chargers game to be ready to play at QB or wideout. The Louisville product has just six snaps of regular-season NFL experience, all of which came in an October loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Though he’s unproven at the pro level, Cunningham was a productive dual-threat quarterback in college and could add a new element to a Patriots offense that’s totaled 13 points over its last three games. New England, which is expected to start Bailey Zappe behind center for the second straight week, ranks dead last in the NFL in scoring this season (12.3 points per game).
Kickoff on Thursday night is set for 8:15 p.m. ET.
