Assuming that you ever have to actually get into a game, and be prepared to do so, the job of a backup quarterback can be quite a taxing one in the NFL. Like a long relief pitcher in baseball, you can never be quite sure when you will be needed, or for how long (in a backup quarterback’s case, though, it could be an entire season). You have to be ready to come in cold off the bench, with a short warm up, and take over the game trying not to miss a beat.
With the Pittsburgh Steelers having a pair—really a trio—of young quarterbacks behind quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, none of them having more than two seasons of NFL experience, and with a total of just a handful of NFL passes thrown between them, the team is trying to simulate in some way to uncertainty that comes into play with the job, as Joshua Dobbs explained to the team’s website.