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NFL players have grown accustomed to games on pretty much every day of the week. But veterans still get annoyed with too many consecutive non-Sunday games.
That is certainly the case for Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward. On the January 2 episode of his podcast, “Not Just Football,” the 34-year-old ripped into the NFL for scheduling three Saturday games and a Thursday contest for the Steelers in the final five weeks of the 2023 regular season.
“One thing I want to bring up, though, that’s kind of ticked me off in December, we’ve played three Saturday games, and we’re going to have played three Saturday games and a Thursday game,” Heyward shared on January 2. “We talk so much about player safety and player health, right? We’ve literally decreased our chance to recover game to game for an entire month. That just is kind of shocking when you think about it.
“We’re trying to make strides in protecting the body, we’re trying to make strides in keeping quarterbacks upright, but like damn, like you’re taking away a recovery day that we’ve had almost every week throughout September, October, November, and then we get to December because we’re trying to sell tickets and we’re trying to push the streaming to another level.
“You know you’re screwing us in the process.”
For two of the three Saturday games Heyward referred to, the NFL flexed the Steelers into a primetime slot on that day.
NFL Flexible Scheduling for Week 18
Heyward is absolutely correct that the NFL typically doesn’t have player safety in mind with its scheduling. The league does its best to get the most popular teams, best matchups and intriguing storylines in front of as many eyes as possible.
That means primetime games on atypical days for many teams, such as the Steelers.
Despite the possibility of not being a playoff team, the Steelers will finish the 2023 season with seven marquee matchups — where the team played a game while the rest of the league didn’t.
Four of those matchups have come since December 7. The Steelers faced the Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals at 4:30 pm ET on Saturday. That will again be the kickoff time for the Steelers’ Week 18 matchup versus the Baltimore Ravens.
In the case of Week 18, the NFL has the added complication of scheduling Saturday games that won’t make other contests on Sunday meaningless.
That made the Steelers-Ravens showdown a perfect choice for Saturday. Regardless of the outcome, the other AFC Wild Card contenders will have something to play for on January 7.
And if the Steelers should win, there will be extra intrigue for Sunday’s contests. That’s exactly what the NFL wants.
The Benefit of Having Multiple Saturday NFL Games
Although it’s difficult to disagree with Heyward’s overall point, there was one hole in his argument. Multiple Saturday games in a row is actually a positive, not a detriment, to a player’s recovery process between games.
Yes, the Steelers will face the Ravens on a short week for the season finale. But the Steelers played on Thursday before their first Saturday contest and then they played again the following Saturday.
So, other than Week 18, the only short week the Steelers have faced during their unusual December schedule was in Week 14 when they faced the New England Patriots on Thursday Night Football after having played Sunday.
It’s true, playing on Saturday disrupts a players routine of having a game every Sunday. But the Steelers haven’t really lost many recovery days as a result.
Maybe the Steelers will be at an advantage in Week 18 against the Ravens, who haven’t played on a Saturday during the 2023 regular season.
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Steelers’ Cameron Heyward Sounds Off on NFL Scheduling: ‘You’re Screwing Us’