After the Pittsburgh Steelers secured the victory in Las Vegas against the Raiders on Sunday night, the plan was for the team to fly back to Pittsburgh that night, enjoy the day off, and start preparations for the Houston Texans next weekend.
Fate had other plans. Pittsburgh’s charter plane was diverted to Kansas City during the team’s return to Pittsburgh for an emergency stop due to the oil pressure light coming on in the plane. The Steelers made the unplanned landing around 3:55 a.m. and were scheduled to leave Kansas City around 11:30 a.m. CST.
CB Patrick Peterson was asked about the ordeal by his cousin and fellow co-host Bryant McFadden on the All Things Covered Podcast on Tuesday. Peterson mentioned that the team spent a long time on the plane waiting for arrangements to be made to get back home, but that he’s thankful that the pilot prioritized the safety of everyone onboard.
“We were on the plane a while, man,” Peterson said on All Things Covered, which aired on the show’s YouTube channel. “It was just a freak accident. I think it said something about the oil pressure. We lost the oil pressure on the plane. So, the captain wanted to get us on the ground as safe as possible just in case we had some engine problems or whatever the case may be. But we got down safely. We had to wait on another plane to come pick us up. Rather be safe than in a grave or whatever you want to call it. So, it was definitely an eventful morning and night coming from Viva Las Vegas.”
The Steelers ended up getting back safety after the unexpected landing in Kansas City, serving back in Pittsburgh around 1:30 p.m. EST. Several players voiced their displeasure of having to wait on the tarmac for hours in Kansas City after the win, but head coach Mike Tomlin called it an opportunity to start preparations for their next opponent… that is after some much-needed rest.
“Some sleeping, some working,” Tomlin said about his time on the plane in his weekly press conference, which aired on the team’s YouTube channel. “Thankfully because of technology, iPads and so forth, we can move on. And after I got a nap, I did.”
It wasn’t an ideal situation for the Steelers, who spent the entire night and next morning on a plane, but Tomlin made the most of it by getting some rest and preparing for the Texans. Peterson mentioned that the players also watched some film in the downtime between flights, looking back at the tape from Sunday night’s performance as well as starting to dive into the next opponent. It speaks to the mentality of Tomlin and how he portrays that to his team that Pittsburgh would embrace its circumstances. They could either complain about it or make the most of it and enjoy the camaraderie while preparing for the next challenge that awaits them.
Ultimately, no one was harmed, and everyone got back safely with Pittsburgh not missing any time to prepare for next week’s game. It’ll go down as an interesting memory for the players and coaching staff, but now the Steelers can move forward being at home after winning their second-straight game as they prepare to make it three straight on Sunday.
