The Steelers Are Really Downplaying Their Current Situation
PITTSBURGH -- As unusual and twisted as the last 24 hours have been for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they are handling it precisely like everyone expected them to.
Anyone who was out there talking about how this is going to blow up the Steelers' practice week or shake them up for next weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles hasn't paid attention to a word Mike Tomlin has said in 14 years.
As of now, the Steelers and Titans are preparing as if they'll play on Monday night. That would leave the Titans with one - maybe two - days of practice. It forces the Steelers to move to a short week the following weekend. But really, they seem to care less.
"Right now, there's a strong possibility that it's Monday, so that has been our focus as we prepared today," Tomlin said following practice Wednesday. "I'm not concerned about next week, to be honest with you. We live one week at a time. We've got an undefeated team that we're scheduled to face at the end of this week, so that's been our focus as we prepare today."
Earlier on Wednesday, Stephon Tuitt said there is worry about keeping players safe for their families once they return home. That worry is limited by the NFL's medical experts guiding teams into Tennessee.
Then Mike Hilton took the stage after practice and said there's really no worry for a team to travel to a stadium and face a team that has had eight players/personnel test positive for COVID-19 this week.
"It's nothing different. Just doing what you've been doing," Hilton said. "Be careful about what you're touching, how much stuff you're touching. Doing all the right protocols and being safe. We know we're going into an environment that had an outbreak, but we feel like if we do what we're supposed to, we'll be fine."
It seems as if nothing bothers these players or coaches. Ben Roethlisberger spoke on how the Steelers were informed during training camp that they could end up playing with minimum practice days if they had an outbreak during the season. He seemed very set that the team expected this to be the Titans' unfortunate event to deal with.
An hour later, the NFL announced the game would be postponed. Then Tomlin and Hilton took over Zoom, and the attitude changed immediately.
"This whole offseason, this is what teams were building up and preparing for," Hilton said, referring to the Steelers having to adjust game days. "This is the first one to have an outbreak. We know they're going to do everything they can to keep it control, and every other team is going to stay positive and follow their protocols."
Maybe it's just me, but trying to prepare physically and mentally for an NFL game that doesn't even have a date yet would have me a little on edge. There's more that goes into prepping for a Sunday than practice.
Players need days off. Injuries can occur. There needs to be rehabilitation sessions for those battling bumps and bruises. And meetings are now just coasting as if it's normal when they could go two days without practice before a game.
"No mental issues for us," Tomlin said. "It was a Wednesday for us. We had a base preparation day today. We tried to stay focused on that. This COVID environment with closed locker rooms and so forth has really provided us an opportunity to do that probably easier than normal circumstances."
I guess the reason I'm on this side of the media Zoom calls is more than my 5'8, un-athletic frame because the Steelers seem much too calm for what was thrown at them Tuesday morning.
Noah Strackbein is a Publisher with AllSteelers. Follow Noah on Twitter @NoahStrack, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
