DK: Still time for Tomlin/Rooney to learn from London
LaMarr Woodley needed almost as long to traverse the Atlantic as he did to drag himself from the door of a London conference room to the press conference podium a few feet away. And once he finally arrived, he stood there silently, using both hands to prop himself up, and simply shook his head. Could scarcely speak.
Why?
"Can't sleep on planes," the big man would confess, drawing a loud laugh from all of us in the room. "Not even a little."
This was 2013. This was a Friday. And the game against the Vikings at nearby Wembley Stadium was set for that Sunday.
Right. A lifeloss 34-27 loss. An 0-4 start. And, not coincidentally, a whole lot of lament among not just Woodley but among several players about Mike Tomlin's striking call to stay in Pittsburgh until Thursday before flying over to England, even though the Vikings were known to be arriving earlier in the week to adjust.
I asked Tomlin that day at Wembley if his itinerary might've been a factor.
"Nope," was all I got back.
Well, get set for the sequel. Not just that it'll be the Vikings over there again, or that it'll be just across the Irish Sea when they meet Sept. 28 at old Croke Park.
No, it's because Art Rooney strongly suggested last night, in his annual interview for the Steelers' website following the NFL schedule release, that the itinerary won't be different.
"From our point of view, I don't think a lot has changed," he'd reply to interviewer Missi Matthews after she'd asked if NFL teams, in general, had changed their travel approach for international games. "I think we're planning to leave, probably, similar to what we did for the last international trip, probably leave Thursday, practice there Friday and Saturday, have the game Sunday, then fly out Sunday night. I don't think it'll be too much different from the last trip."
Oh, he can bet on that. Result and all.
"But it's been a long time since we've done it," Rooney'd add, notably. "So we'll have to look into what other teams have been doing lately."
Here's hoping.
Also, and to be fair, I'd also been told -- both at the time and since -- that some within the Steelers' orbit believed the Steelers aimed to spend as little time as possible in London to hold down travel costs. That call, of course, would be made over Tomlin's head.
The bye week's a bit early, but that's by design to recover from the international travel. The AFC North games are far more spread out. And above all, there's no absurd 11-day gauntlet through three premier opponents. Strength of schedule's 10th in the league, as we'd known, but there's not much about the full calendar that strengthens it further.
• I'm not going to be the only one who points out that the first three opponents are beatable, am I? Nor that the first 2024 playoff qualifier will be the Vikings in Ireland. Tell my why that shouldn't be 3-0, or 2-1 at the worst, upon embarking.
• This matters: No long flights after the Week 10 game against the Chargers in Inglewood, Calif., but it sure won't be welcomed by anyone that it's at night. That's a red-eye and a half.
• As was the case in 2024, though, it's far heavier toward the end: Bills, Lions, Dolphins and Ravens are the four teams leading into Christmas. Make-or-break time. But then, this also underscores, if retroactively, the importance of the Steelers bulking up the defensive front. Think of how Buffalo, Detroit and Baltimore will attack. That same attrition can't recur.
• One Monday, one Thursday, no holiday games, and half the games currently set for 1:02 p.m. local-time kickoffs? Yes, yes, hell yes, and another yes! Football on Sunday afternoons!
• I loooooooooooove finishing here with the Ravens. Imagine if that'll matter the way it usually does. And snows or something. My goodness.
THE ASYLUM
DK: Still time for Tomlin/Rooney to learn from London
LaMarr Woodley needed almost as long to traverse the Atlantic as he did to drag himself from the door of a London conference room to the press conference podium a few feet away. And once he finally arrived, he stood there silently, using both hands to prop himself up, and simply shook his head. Could scarcely speak.
Why?
"Can't sleep on planes," the big man would confess, drawing a loud laugh from all of us in the room. "Not even a little."
This was 2013. This was a Friday. And the game against the Vikings at nearby Wembley Stadium was set for that Sunday.
Remember the result?
Right. A lifeloss 34-27 loss. An 0-4 start. And, not coincidentally, a whole lot of lament among not just Woodley but among several players about Mike Tomlin's striking call to stay in Pittsburgh until Thursday before flying over to England, even though the Vikings were known to be arriving earlier in the week to adjust.
I asked Tomlin that day at Wembley if his itinerary might've been a factor.
"Nope," was all I got back.
Well, get set for the sequel. Not just that it'll be the Vikings over there again, or that it'll be just across the Irish Sea when they meet Sept. 28 at old Croke Park.
No, it's because Art Rooney strongly suggested last night, in his annual interview for the Steelers' website following the NFL schedule release, that the itinerary won't be different.
"From our point of view, I don't think a lot has changed," he'd reply to interviewer Missi Matthews after she'd asked if NFL teams, in general, had changed their travel approach for international games. "I think we're planning to leave, probably, similar to what we did for the last international trip, probably leave Thursday, practice there Friday and Saturday, have the game Sunday, then fly out Sunday night. I don't think it'll be too much different from the last trip."
Oh, he can bet on that. Result and all.
"But it's been a long time since we've done it," Rooney'd add, notably. "So we'll have to look into what other teams have been doing lately."
Here's hoping.
Also, and to be fair, I'd also been told -- both at the time and since -- that some within the Steelers' orbit believed the Steelers aimed to spend as little time as possible in London to hold down travel costs. That call, of course, would be made over Tomlin's head.
As for the schedule release itself ...
• Here's the whole thing, for starters:
STEELERS
Not bad, right?
The bye week's a bit early, but that's by design to recover from the international travel. The AFC North games are far more spread out. And above all, there's no absurd 11-day gauntlet through three premier opponents. Strength of schedule's 10th in the league, as we'd known, but there's not much about the full calendar that strengthens it further.
• I'm not going to be the only one who points out that the first three opponents are beatable, am I? Nor that the first 2024 playoff qualifier will be the Vikings in Ireland. Tell my why that shouldn't be 3-0, or 2-1 at the worst, upon embarking.
• This matters: No long flights after the Week 10 game against the Chargers in Inglewood, Calif., but it sure won't be welcomed by anyone that it's at night. That's a red-eye and a half.
• As was the case in 2024, though, it's far heavier toward the end: Bills, Lions, Dolphins and Ravens are the four teams leading into Christmas. Make-or-break time. But then, this also underscores, if retroactively, the importance of the Steelers bulking up the defensive front. Think of how Buffalo, Detroit and Baltimore will attack. That same attrition can't recur.
• One Monday, one Thursday, no holiday games, and half the games currently set for 1:02 p.m. local-time kickoffs? Yes, yes, hell yes, and another yes! Football on Sunday afternoons!
• I loooooooooooove finishing here with the Ravens. Imagine if that'll matter the way it usually does. And snows or something. My goodness.
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