NFL players have to operate on the league’s schedule. But Alan Faneca knows their bodies don’t always cooperate. Reacting to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ tough end to the 2024 season, including a Saturday-Wednesday turnaround in Weeks 16 and 17, Faneca knows the challenge that looms ahead.
Thursday morning, he took to Twitter to react to the team playing the Baltimore Ravens on Dec. 21 before facing the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day.
“It takes four days to start feeling better after a December game. Facing a conference rival and a Super Bowl champion just four days apart is a real challenge,” he tweeted.
Though the NFL initially claimed it had no intentions of playing on Christmas Day, Netflix’s $150 million for the rights to the game changed minds. The Steelers and Chiefs will kick off the day at 1 PM/EST followed by the Baltimore Ravens and Houston Texans squaring off in the four o’clock time slot. For the first time, the game will be shown exclusively on Netflix, though it will still be broadcast on television in local markets, meaning those who live in the Pittsburgh area won’t need to borrow their friend’s password to watch.
Despite pushback from some fans, Roger Goodell compared it to the same turnaround as a Sunday-Thursday slate and the four-day span obviously matches up. He’s continued to argue there’s no data to suggest player safety is impacted. But not all turnarounds are created equally. To Faneca’s point, the Steelers will face two of the AFC’s best in succession, the Ravens and Chiefs playing in last year’s AFC Championship Game. Contests against Baltimore are always physical, and the Steelers will have to find a way to stop Patrick Mahomes and company four days later. Including the playoffs, Mahomes is 3-0 against Pittsburgh with 14 touchdowns and just one interception.
These two games come in critical moments of the year. The Steelers figure to be in the thick of the playoff race come Weeks 16 and 17 and losing these two games could knock them out of whatever favorable position they’re in.
If there is good news, the Steelers have regularly beat the Ravens in recent years, including sweeping them in 2023. And last year, they went 1-1 in Thursday games, beating the Tennessee Titans in Week 9 but falling to the New England Patriots. Splitting these two games, beating the Ravens and losing to the Chiefs, would be considered a “win” overall.
