Three games in 11 days.
No bye week, and contests against the Philadelphia Eagles, Baltimore Ravens, and Kansas City Chiefs.
That's exactly what the Pittsburgh Steelers are dealing with, and Cam Heyward is taking it on the chin, even if he disagrees with the process.
Heyward is not a fan of the NFL's scheduling
"Yeah, I think that's definitely a concern," said Heyward when asked about playing so many games in such a short period. "It's a PA [Players Association] thing as well as the NFL thing. You don't want to mess up the product, but we've been saying this since we got Thursday night games. It's not easy. I played on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you name it, we signed up for it. But what does it do to the players? And I wish we had better answers."
The answer is simple, but it will never happen. For a league that has branded itself under the guise of "player safety," having the Steelers or Kansas City Chiefs play that many games in less than two weeks as well as on a Wednesday, it doesn't seem they care.
It's all about the bottom line, which is understandable because the NFL is a business. But to coin a Mike Tomlinism, "there is a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes" and the NFL is treading dangerously close when it comes to making money and keeping players safe.
"It would better if we had a bye week before a Wednesday game," added Heyward. "We just got done playing Saturday, but I can't cry about it. It's not something I'm really focused on right now. We're not afforded that luxury of even trying to think about it. There's bigger fish to fry, and the chiefs are coming here and Christmas is that day, so looking forward to it."
