How the postponed Titans game helps and hurts the Steelers
A seismic shift has occurred in the NFL as the Pittsburgh Steelers are part of another league “first”, despite the circumstances being completely out of their control.
Earlier this week news leaked that several players and personnel with the Tennessee Titans, the Steelers upcoming opponent this Sunday, had tested positive for COVID-19. As a precaution, the NFL immediately shutdown the Titans football facilities and started to make plans on what to do about matchup.
Sunday’s game, scheduled to be played at Tennessee at 1 P.M. Eastern, would’ve been the first game Titans fans were permitted to see in-person for the 2020 season. It also would’ve marked the first game that the Steelers would’ve played in front of fans, as the Giants Week 1 game as well as the Steelers first two home games in Weeks 2 and 3 had barred those from attending.
With an official announcement from the NFL coming Thursday morning, the game is now postponed later than a believed Monday or Tuesday 1-2-day shift. The change has some major ramifications on the Steelers slate, which now becomes packed with both a long string of home games and a long string of away games, as well as some other complications.
Bye Week
The Steelers were scheduled to have their bye week occur in Week 8, following two games against AFC North division opponents: Cleveland at home and away at Baltimore.
The Ravens are also scheduled to have a Week 8 bye. The Titans are scheduled to have a Week 7 bye, setting up a scenario for this weekend’s scratched game being moved around.
First things first, this would obviously affect Pittsburgh’s in-season break. Rather than a Week 8 bye, smack in the middle of the season, the Steelers would be using that break now after a 3-0 start and losing some momentum.
Moving Games
One of the suggested changes has Tennessee losing their bye and playing in Week 7: with the Ravens taking their bye one week earlier and rescheduling the Steelers-Ravens game to Week 8.
While that makes logical sense on the surface, it creates some bigger problems for the Steelers.
Competitive Disadvantages
If the above shift to Week 7 occurs, that means the Steelers will play an AFC North opponent, the Cleveland Browns, at home in Week 6, travel to play the currently 3-0 Tennessee Titans in Week 7, and then face the Baltimore Ravens, in Baltimore and following a bye in Week 8.
Furthermore, the Steelers would then travel to Dallas for Week 9 to play the Cowboys and then return home to face the Bengals in Week 10.
The Bengals are currently scheduled to have their bye during Week 9, meaning a stretch of games as follows:
- Three AFC North opponents in five weeks
- Two of those opponents coming off of a bye
- Three-straight road games
The Steelers chief division rival is Baltimore, who would greatly benefit from a bye week and being in the middle of the road slate. Both Baltimore and Tennessee made the postseason last year, with the Ravens having the best record in the league.
That’s a daunting task to say the least, not even mentioning that the Steelers hit the road again to play in Jacksonville after the single Bengals game at the tail-end of that block of games… before turning around on a short week to host the Ravens Thanksgiving night for Thursday Night Football.
Yikes.
Also consider that the steelers treated this week as a full game week, preparing for an opponent on Sunday, and they don’t fully realize a bye whatsoever, unlike any other teams in the future who may not have COVID impact their schedule.
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Competitive Advantages
The only competitive advantage that can be considered right now is that the Steelers schedule flips to having four-straight home games in a five-week span.
Unfortunately, with no fans allowed in attendance, its difficult to say how much of a true advantage this is to the Steelers. Playing four of your first five regular season games at home means half of your home games are gone for the remaining 11 on the calendar.
That’s 7 away games to close out the season – but a lot of rest upfront that could make them fresh and set them up with a nice record early on.
Other Ideas and Conclusions
As I’m writing this we’ll wait and see what the NFL decides. There’s another possibility of adding an additional week to the end of the regular season. For now, I don’t see how that benefits the Steelers or Titans either, as they would be the only teams playing in “Week 18” unless some other games get rescheduled throughout the rest of the year.
Obviously, anyone not playing in Week 18 is either going home for good, or getting a week off before Wild Card weekend.
Right now, the situation in the NFL is a mess. However, one thing is for certain: Mike Tomlin has coached his team up to face adversity in 2020 and they will be prepared for whatever lies on the road ahead.
