A testy Bill Cowher yesterday questioned why the NFL scheduled his banged-up Steelers for only six days between playoff games while they gave the New York Jets eight, and it turns out he has good reason to be concerned.
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Bill Cowher would like to "challenge" the NFL's scheduling gurus. But then, what good would it do? (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette) |
Eight teams have been forced to play two postseason games after six days the past 10 years, and none won a Super Bowl. Only two of the eight advanced to the championship game the following week, and only one of those reached the Super Bowl.
Cowher is seething because the Steelers are forced to play in Tennessee at 4:30 p.m. Saturday after playing a Sunday game. In the meantime, the Jets will play Sunday in Oakland after winning their wild-card playoff game last Saturday afternoon.
"For us to be handed a six-day rest and another team an eight-day rest, I don't know where the justification comes in that," Cowher said. "But so be it. That is the hand that has been dealt to us, and we are going to play it out."
Asked if he had gotten an explanation from the league, Cowher snapped, "No, I don't even want one."
A spokesman at the league's offices on Park Avenue in New York City explained that the Jets were given the Sunday game because they had to travel across country to play Oakland while the Steelers only had to fly to Nashville.
"It came down to the travel issue," said Greg Aiello, the NFL's vice president of public relations. "All the competitive factors and one of them is travel, and the Jets' travel is a lot more demanding than the Steelers'. They have to go across the country, three time zones, as opposed to the Steelers, who did play at home this past week and have a shorter trip.
"Basically, it comes down to the team with the shorter trip and time-frame between games. We felt that was the fairest way to do it. The travel for the Jets erases a day. They have to go 3,000 miles."
Actually, the difference in travel time for the two teams is about four hours. It will take the Steelers almost two hours to get to Nashville and the Jets almost six to get to Oakland. For those four hours, the Jets were given two more days off than the Steelers.
Under normal circumstances, it's more difficult for a team to come back to play in six days. But the Steelers have some key injuries that could use an extra day of healing, and this is not a midseason game against the Bengals.
Two vital defensive starters, linebacker Kendrell Bell (sprained ankle) and cornerback Chad Scott (broken hand) are listed as questionable for the game. Four others are probable with sore injuries -- receiver Hines Ward (thigh), defensive end Kimo von Oelhoffen (calf), cornerback Chidi Iwuoma (bruised knee) and guard Kendall Simmons (shoulder). All but Iwuoma are starters.
Even Tennessee Coach Jeff Fisher sympathized with the Steelers' situation. The Titans will have two weeks' rest after earning a playoff bye last weekend.
"I would share the same feeling the Steelers have if I were in their shoes," he said. "It is a difficult situation, but I know Bill Cowher will make the best of it."
The last time a team had only six days between playoff games, things turned ugly for them. The Miami Dolphins beat Seattle at home Jan. 9, 2000, and lost six days later in Jacksonville, 62-7, in the last game for quarterback Dan Marino and Coach Jimmy Johnson of the Dolphins.
Two other teams in the AFC lost on a short week in the playoffs -- the Cleveland Browns to the Steelers in the 1994 season and the Raiders to the Buffalo Bills in the 1993 season. In the NFC, the San Francisco 49ers lost to the Atlanta Falcons in the 1998 season and again to the Green Bay Packers ('96), and the Chicago Bears lost to the 49ers ('94).
The only exceptions over the past 10 years came once in each conference. The Packers beat the 49ers Jan. 6, 1996, on a short week, then lost the following week to Dallas in the NFC championship. The Bills beat the Steelers Jan. 3, 1993, beat Miami the following week in the AFC championship but then lost to Dallas in the Super Bowl.
Steelers President Dan Rooney, while not happy his team got the short-week end of the playoff stick, pointed out one experience from the past that might be good news for his team.
The '92 Bills came to Pittsburgh on six days' rest after beating Houston in overtime, 41-38, the greatest comeback in NFL history after trailing, 35-3. Buffalo then defeated the Steelers, 24-3, and became the only one of the eight short-week playoff teams to reach the Super Bowl in the past decade.
The Steelers go to Nashville to play six days after they mounted the sixth-largest comeback in NFL playoff history, erasing a 17-point third-quarter deficit to overcome Cleveland, 36-33.
"I think there is something to that," Rooney said. "To ride the emotion from that game."
Said Cowher: "We have to ride this wave of emotion that we are on right now and see how far it takes us. I think that is the best way to approach it."
There's one more advantage. If the Steelers win, they will have eight days to rest before the AFC championship game. Their opponent would have seven.
Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.
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