Short week is no fun for Steelers
INDIANAPOLIS – As Mike Tomlin and the Steelers walked into the tunnel toward their locker room last Sunday in Cleveland, Pittsburgh’s head coach wasn’t in a good mood for someone whose team had just snapped a four-game losing streak.
“C’mon, let’s get in there and get out of here,” Tomlin said to the group.
When one of them protested, Tomlin simply replied, “I’m serious. I’ve got a short week.”
Tomlin wanted to pile into the buses and get back to Pittsburgh as quickly as possibly so he could begin preparation for today’s game in Indianapolis.
Such is the life of players and coaches in the NFL.
The NFL has played games on Thanksgiving Day for as long as the league has been in existence. But scheduling games on Thursday nights is a pretty new venture, having started in 2006. And you won’t find many players or coaches who are fans of the stress it puts on their bodies or minds.
“Heck no. I don’t like the Thursday game,” said center Maurkice Pouncey as the Steelers (5-5) prepared to head to Indianapolis to take on the 5-5 Colts.
“A short week, your body gets short rest and as a lineman, we go out there for 71 plays. And every one of those 71 plays, I (crash into) somebody; believe that. It’s a little bit difficult. But at the end of the day, that’s what the NFL wants and I’m going to do it.”
But they don’t have to be happy about it, especially when both teams badly need a win. Pittsburgh enters the game tied with Baltimore for the AFC North lead, while Indianapolis is one game behind Houston in the AFC South.
The NFL expanded its Thursday night package in 2015 to have a game every week of the season, with every team playing at least one Thursday night game.
In essence, the league shared the misery.
“We all know the rigors and how tough it is to play week to week. It’s always a challenge,” said Indianapolis head coach Chuck Pagano, who is 4-0 in Thursday night games. “Especially if you’re beat up, have some guys nicked up the previous Sunday. There are challenges that way. If it’s a non-division opponent, we’ve always played division opponents the four previous times we’ve done it, so you know them a little bit better. That’s a little bit of a challenge, as well.”
Pagano knows a little something about his team being beat up. While the Steelers, for once, came out of the win over Cleveland without any major injuries. The Colts were not so fortunate in their 24-17 victory over Tennessee.
Quarterback Andrew Luck and free safety Clayton Geathers suffered concussions. Cornerback Vontae Davis, arguably the team’s best defensive player, suffered an ankle injury.
With Luck out, Scott Tolzien will make his third career start. In six career games, the 29-year-old Tolzien has thrown one touchdown and five interceptions.
The Steelers are coming off one of their best defensive efforts, having recorded eight sacks, 209 total yards and forcing two turnovers in a 24-9 win at Cleveland last Sunday.
They’d like to follow that up with another solid effort.
“If it takes that, that’s what we’ll do,” said defensive end Stephon Tuitt, who had a career-high 2.5 sacks against the Browns.
It hasn’t taken that kind of effort in the previous two seasons against the Colts. Ben Roethlisberger has thrown for nearly 900 yards and 10 touchdown passes as the Steelers have outscored Indianapolis, 96-45.
But the Steelers aren’t counting on what happened in those games carrying over to this one.
“Those are in the years past. They’re a different football team. We’re a different football team,” said Roethlisberger. “We’re going to their place. It’s a short week. There are a lot of challenges this week.”
Odds and end zones
The Colts are unbeaten – 7-0 – in games played on Thursday. … The Steelers are 1-6 on Thanksgiving Day games. Their only win came in 1950 at Chicago. … Roethlisberger has 49 career 300-yard games. … Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell needs six yards to reach 1,000 total yards for the season.