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Question: Ed, how important is it to the Steelers to get Rian Wallace and Arnold Harrison some playing time during the season so they will be ready to step in, like last Sunday, when there is an injury to one of the regular starters?

Dan Finnegan, Bremerton, Wash.

BOUCHETTE: It's always good to be able to turn to someone who has experience when a starter is injured. However, you often can't play someone just to get them experience. For example, if both Joey Porter and James Harrison were healthy, you'd only see Arnold Harrison on special teams. They wouldn't throw him out there for a few series just to get him experience, at least not with a game on the line. At other positions, though, they do ease players into the lineup to get them experience. You're seeing that now with receiver Santonio Holmes. They also like to rotate their defensive linemen, but that's more to keep them fresh than it is to get their backups experience. The original plan with Ben Roethlisberger as a rookie was to play him late in some games that were runaways. We all know how that worked out.