Massages, film study important part of gameplan for Steelers on short week

At 39 years old and a recipient of 18 seasons worth of bone-crushing hits, broken body parts and countless bumps and bruises, Ben Roethlisberger needs all the time he can get to recover from an NFL game.

Usually six days provides enough rest and recovery, practice and preparation before the next opportunity.

Three days? As Roethlisberger has mentioned a couple of times this week, he often doesn’t practice on a Thursday, let alone play in a game that night.

But for perhaps the final time in his NFL career, Roethlisberger will play on short rest Thursday when the Pittsburgh Steelers take their annual turn in the weeknight spotlight, facing the Minnesota Vikings at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“Everyone has to do this throughout the year,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday. “I don’t think anybody really likes it except for the NFL and all the money they make. Players, it’s tough.”

For the Steelers, they take to the road to play an opponent they last faced in 2017, and they will do it just four days after they held on for a last-second 20-19 decision against the rival Baltimore Ravens.

“Usually, you expend a lot of energy in that game,” defensive captain Cameron Heyward said. “New challenges arise. You’ve got to get the bodies right and your mental (game) has to be up.”

That can be difficult when a player is still licking his wounds from the previous game. As a concession to his age, Roethlisberger doesn’t practice Wednesdays, and his work Thursdays recently has been limited.

Roethlisberger was listed as a full participant Tuesday when the Steelers conducted a light practice at the indoor facility at UPMC Rooney Sports Complex. The players will have a walkthrough Wednesday before heading to Minnesota.

For Roethlisberger, the preparation is more physical than mental at this stage of his career.

“Just have as many people help you as you can,” he said. “Chiropractors, masseuses, training staff. Getting in the pools and just doing whatever you can to get yourself ready.”

It is the first time since 2018 that Roethlisberger will play in a Thursday game on short rest. Last year, the team’s Thanksgiving game against Baltimore was postponed multiple times. The delay led to the Steelers facing the Washington Football Team five days later. He missed the 2019 game because of his season-ending shoulder injury.

The Steelers are 7-6 when playing on three days of rest in Mike Tomlin’s 15 seasons. That includes a 2-5 away record, the latest road victory taking place on Thanksgiving night in 2016, when the Steelers won at Indianapolis.

Tomlin doesn’t have a predetermined formula on how to approach a short practice week.

“It just really depends on your present circumstance when you get to these games,” Tomlin said. “It’s the overall health of your team, where it is occurring in the journey. There are a lot of variables. … I look at the present circumstances and the makeup of this group. For instance, last year we had a very veteran group in a lot of ways. This year, we have a very young group in a lot of ways.”

One thing the Steelers won’t do is expand the playbook. If anything, it will be condensed. But offensive coordinator Matt Canada will tailor the gameplan to Roethlisberger’s liking.

“You’ve got to do what your guys can do well,” he said. “We’ve played enough of the season that we ought to be focusing on what our guys do well. … In a short week, that matters.”

Third-year wide receiver Diontae Johnson relies on speed and separation to make plays. Like Roethlisberger, he tries to hasten his recovery by making sure his legs don’t feel heavy.

“You’re going to be sore. It’s part of the game,” he said. “It’s what you do to take care of your body. If you’ve been there before or you haven’t, you have to learn how to take care of it — massages, whatever you need to get your legs back under you.”

Johnson already had one massage this week, and he uses stretching techniques to “get the blood flowing in my legs.”

All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt is taking a more studious approach to facing the Vikings. He will spend most of the week watching film.

“I think that’s the key,” he said. “Find out where you can get that little advantage. It’s weeks like this that it’s all about where you can get that little bit of an edge over the guy across from you.”

That is coming from a guy who spent last week away from the team on the reserve/covid list and used his time to run around trees on his property to keep up his conditioning.

“No matter if I’m in the building or not in the building, I’m always going to try to approach each week the same,” Watt said. “On a short week, it gets amplified a little bit more. That’s why sometimes you see lopsided scores on Thursday games. You just don’t want to be on the wrong end of it, so I’m always going to overprepare as opposed to sit back, relax and only worry about my body.”