Just look at the Cleveland Browns upsetting the Green Bay Packers in Week 3 as evidence that wild things can happen on any given Sunday in the NFL. That’s why it’s important to keep a singular focus on the task at hand rather than look ahead. Mike Tomlin made sure that was the case in Week 3, especially with an unusual week ahead with the team traveling to Ireland for its first international game in 12 years.
According to Albert Breer, who spoke with T.J. Watt following the Steelers’ Week 3 win, Tomlin intentionally withheld the travel schedule from everybody until after the game.
“In an effort to keep the players’ focus where it needed to be, Watt said that Tomlin kept the schedule for the trip away from them the past couple weeks,” Breer wrote via SI.com. “As such, the 31-year-old joked that his goal now is ‘first and foremost, learning the schedule.’ After that there’ll be plenty to address.”
It’s an interesting approach from Tomlin. Obviously, the players are aware they will be traveling internationally at some point this week. And it’s not like Tomlin has an extensive history with these international games. The last one he prepared for was in London all the way back in 2013, also against the Minnesota Vikings.
The only player on the team who was around back then was Cam Heyward, and he did not have a positive experience with the travel. He has spoken multiple times about how the entire team—including coaches—were falling asleep in their meetings due to jet lag.
The Steelers left on Thursday night for London and got in Friday morning on the red eye. Heyward called that “the worst thing” they did for that trip on his podcast over the offseason. If the Steelers leave after practice on Thursday, the five-hour time difference would get them to Dublin in the early hours of the morning. Though the NFL is reportedly controlling when teams can leave for international games these days to prevent any competitive imbalance.
The Steelers are playing against experienced international game participants. The Vikings played such contests in 2022 and 2017. They have a perfect 4-0 record all-time when playing overseas.
Credit to Tomlin for trying something different, but players now need to rapidly adjust and make sure personal matters are squared away in a few short days. And that’s on top of an already busy NFL schedule to watch film from Week 3 and prepare for Week 4.
