Steely McBeam
Well-known member
- Mar 20, 2019
- 2,135
- 0
Getty Images
The Steelers have an unexpected weekend off, but it’s not like players can really take advantage of it the way they have in the past.
As Mike Tomlin pointed out to reporters Thursday in the wake of this week’s game with the Titans being postponed, this year’s rules dictate that players have to remain local during their bye week so they can continue daily COVID-19 testing.
(Of course, jumping on a plane and flying somewhere for a quick vacation might not be the best idea during a pandemic anyway.)
Tomlin’s giving his team the rest of the weekend off, so they’ll have the mandated four days off as required for bye weeks in the CBA. And after that, they have to be prepared for the possibility of playing 13 weeks in a row, though that didn’t seem to concern Tomlin.
“We do not care,” he replied, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN.com.
The league has simply said the game “will be rescheduled to later this season,” without a specific time frame. Week Seven (the Titans bye week) is a reasonable destination, as the Steelers play the Ravens that week, and the Steelers and Ravens have byes in Week Eight. So the league could push the Steelers and Ravens back a week, let the Ravens take Week Seven off instead, with minimal disruption.