Two weeks from today, the Pittsburgh Steelers host the San Francisco 49ers in their first game of the year that actually means anything. They have already played three games that didn’t count, and they looked pretty impressive accruing those meaningless wins.
While it was a nice shot in the arm to execute as well as they have, nobody is going into this season in that locker room expecting the real thing to be a cakewalk based on that. This is a group that is focused and understands the objective. They know what the next 14 days hold for them.
“Focus on what we need to focus on. Focus on ourselves, not paying attention to too much outside noise”, RB Najee Harris told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website, when he was asked how the team will stay sharp during this down period.
“There’s a lot of stuff that we’ve still got to focus on. There’s a lot of stuff we’ve still got work on, too”, he continued. “It’s just coming in every day and understanding that we have to win the day and if we win the day, we’re on to the next day. Don’t look too far ahead, just worry about winning the day”.
Winning a preseason game in and of itself should not be diminished, because everything has its value in this developmental period. It’s just another day won, whether it’s practice or a scrimmage or an exhibition. All of it contributes to the growth of your team.
And every team is always going to try to win, whether the win counts for anything or not, for one simple reason: you cannot replicate game-winning circumstances. The only time you can practice a game-winning drive or a defensive stand is to be in that position. If you win, you still did something well at some point and can take something away from it.
But it’s all in service to the larger goal of getting ready for the regular season, which is now on the horizon. Two weeks away. We’ve known the opponent for a long time now. We’ve known where the game will be, and when. We just have to get there.
With only three preseason games now instead of four, teams now have what is essentially a bye week before the regular season begins. I’m sure some teams will use that time more wisely than others. Head coach Mike Tomlin has a plan for that.
“It’s a really good opportunity for the coaches to troubleshoot some technical issues”, he told reporters yesterday, via the team’s website. “We’re doing a lot of situational ball in an effort to tie up some circumstances that maybe we hadn’t put them in enough. You can’t do enough situational ball. There’s so many opportunities to teach how the game changes, certain nuances, things that we’re trying to get accomplished schematically when the field circumstances change”.
This is a work week, make no mistake. Nobody is taking a vacation. Some veterans might get some extra rest days, but nobody is sitting idle resting on the laurels of their preseason success waiting for the 49ers to roll into down. There are days to be won.
