The Pittsburgh Steelers left no room for interpretation when they voted against the NFL expanding its Thursday Night Football schedule at the League Owner's Meeting in March. They were not alone, as eight teams in total took a stand against the proposed expansion of the already controversial Thursday games. Patrick Mahomes is one of the "faces of the league" and has been vocal about views on how the shortened week impacts player health and safety, not to mention the ridiculous expectation of a full game plan to be completed in half the time. As it turns out, the league had its own passive-aggressive response to a fourth of the league being in opposition.
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Steelers owner, Art Rooney II roams the sidelines prior to a 2022 preseason game at Acrisure Stadium.
Steelers Against Both TNF Proposals
The usual week-long gap between games (six if a Monday Night Football game is in play) gives players the chance to properly recover from what is a brutal experience on the field and if anyone wonders how necessary that time is for players, San Francisco 49ers tight end, George Kittle compared the hits and stress of game day to being in several car accidents when he spoke to Theo Von on the This Past Weekend show.
“I’m in multiple car accidents every Sunday … I’ve had games where I hyper-extended my knee. That’s gonna affect your season. Or you burst a bursa sac in your knee. That’s going to be there for several weeks. And if you get lucky, you don’t have to deal with that stuff. It’s a little bit better, but you’re still getting into these car accidents. Really, now how I see it is, if I’m not doing football, I’m doing recovery.”
When you see it from that kind of perspective, anyone should be able to understand why the Steelers would be one of the teams who adamantly argued against expanding the Thursday Night Football schedule.
The league knows its own loopholes and wiggle room, though, which is why there were two proposals presented at the owner's meeting. The first was to allow the league to flex the Thursday games like they currently do with Sunday Night Football late in the season. The second was to allow teams to play two Thursdays a season despite playing the previous Sunday. The "flex plan" wasn't passed, but the second was the one that slipped by and is now in effect for the 2023 season.
In 2023 seven teams will play on Thursday night football two times after playing on the prior Sunday: Steelers, Bears, Saints, Commanders, 49ers, Lions, and Packers. According to Pro Football Talk at least six of those teams opposed the NFL's proposal.
Screenshot from Steelers.com
New Steelers CB Patrick Peterson speaks with the media
Patrick Peterson Is On The Steelers Side
For a veteran player entering his 13th season, Patrick Peterson is one of those whose opinions are listened to and respected when he chooses to give them. It's been all smiles for Peterson since he signed with Pittsburgh, but this is one of those times when Peterson recognized that it was important for him to at least share his point of view. While on the All Things Covered podcast with Bryant McFadden, Peterson did just that.
Looking back over what he has seen and experienced during his career, Peterson said that he had been concerned about the direction of the league's scheduling in the future, making that one of the few reasons he was glad his career was nearing its end. He could easily see the NFL moving to regular Wednesday games, and even to a point when the league will be more akin to the MLB or NHL's nightly games.
"Football is the No. 1 sport. They want to make sure that the product is being shown all the time."
When Peterson heard about the league scheduling the Steelers for two Thursday games, he initially thought a prank was being played on him, according to Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports. Upon finding out it wasn't a joke, Peterson told McFadden exactly how he felt about being at a late stage of his career and looking ahead to multiple weeks of shortened, more chaotic preparations.
"It's tough enough getting up for the first Thursday night game, better yet another one. I get it. They want to find ways to get ball on TV, but at the end of the day, you've got to think about our bodies. Especially with me being in Year 13, my body doesn't recover like it used to. To have two Thursday Night Football games, I think, is a bit bizarre."
Matt Freed / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin calls out players in practice.
The Steelers under Mike Tomlin have become experts at shutting out external noise and this season will be no different. For all the arguments and opposing opinions, when the season begins there will be no room left for excuses. Luckily, not giving excuses is one of the main foundations of a successful Steelers season, whether they play on Sunday, Monday or Thursday nights!
