Pat Freiermuth got a “couple hours.” Troy Fautanu slept the whole flight (and Fautanu took a two-hour nap before practice). The Pittsburgh Steelers’ trip to Ireland for the first NFL game in the country involved a lot of sleep. With Ireland five hours ahead of Pittsburgh, getting enough rest and adjusting to the time change will be crucial for the Steelers if they want to win on Sunday against the Minnesota Vikings, and the Steelers used their approximately eight-hour flight to catch some Z’s before hitting the practice field today.
“I had my own aisle, four seats laid out, I was out for the whole flight,” Fautanu said via Steelers.com, adding that the Steelers were told to limit their naps to 30 minutes when they landed in Ireland.
“Still took a two-hour nap when I got out here, but feel great.”
Fautanu did say he isn’t concerned about the team being fatigued on Sunday with the time change. The last time the Steelers played an international game in 2013, fatigue was an issue. The Steelers, who flew to London on Thursday of that week, the same day they left for Ireland this week, trailed 20-10 at the half and their late comeback fell short in a 34-27 loss. Ben Roethlisberger and Cam Heyward attributed the travel schedule and lack of sleep to the team’s shortcomings in that game, but this year’s team doesn’t think that will be an issue.
Calvin Austin III said fatigue will only affect the Steelers if they allow it to.
“It can affect the team if you allow it to affect you. Both teams had to travel, and at the end of the day, we’ll be playing football. So whether some guys may be tired or whatever, at the end of the day we get to go out and play the game that we love. So I think regardless of how people are feeling today or when they wake up, I think when we get out there on the field, we’ll be flying,” he said via Steelers.com.
Aaron Rodgers said the Steelers’ schedule this week was planned with sleep science in mind.
“There’s a lot of great sport science around all of our schedule. We start everything 90 minutes earlier this week, [head athletic trainer Gabe Amponsah] spent time with a sleep specialist…we had a lot of things we were instructed to do. I slept a little bit on the flight,” he said in a press conference this morning via Steelers.com.
The Steelers seem better prepared for the time change this time around. And unlike the London trip, the Steelers and Vikings are on the same travel schedule this time around. The Vikings arrived earlier than the Steelers back in 2013, allowing their bodies more time to adjust to the time change. On Sunday, both teams will be fighting the same battle with fatigue.
