PARIS -- Rain and gale force winds from Storm Austen forced the Pittsburgh Steelers to reshuffle their time on the field in Paris, with head coach Mike McCarthy saying the team had to alter its practice plan before the players even landed.
“The (rain) was key. But yes, we had two planes coming in, just really wanted to activate the players.
After a long flight, just based off the communication with the weather. And just in reality of the timing too, we had to make a decision before we landed just to make it put together, so.
But frankly, driving by, I wish we would have stopped, but this is part of our plan. So we thought it would definitely activate them yesterday,” McCarthy said.
Instead of a full session, the Steelers went with a mini walk-through today and are now lining up a more gxnteisve practice on Saturday, when they should finally settle in after the travel. The adjustments changed the schedule, but the team still wants to make sure the players are rested.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he would have preferred an earlier arrival, though he understood why that wasn’t possible.
“I’ve played in three countries now, and each of them we’ve left on Thursday early in the evening. It would have been nice one time to come over on a Monday,” Rodgers said.
Pittsburgh is dealing with a rest disadvantage compared to the Saints, who arrived Monday the way Rodgers would have liked. The Steelers also have a divisional game later in their schedule, while the Saints are headed into their bye week.
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