Steelers notebook: Mike Tomlin focused on Ravens, not other games or another Saturday kick

For the third time in four weeks, the Pittsburgh Steelers will play on a Saturday.

For the second time in that span, the Saturday kickoff was announced after the season began.

On this occasion, the advance notice for the modification in the week of preparation came during a flight home from one game and about 4½ days before the team will board its plane for the next.

But don’t expect coach Mike Tomlin to lob any public complaints about the short week leading into his team’s regular-season finale at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Baltimore Ravens.

“We have no reaction,” Tomlin said during his weekly news conference Monday. “You give us a date, a time, a game location and an opponent, we’ll be there. That’s what we do.”

Tomlin noted that the familiarity of the opponent — an AFC North rival — means a lessened need for in-depth game-planning.

Tomlin also hinted that either he’d been tipped off that the Steelers were a candidate to play Saturday, or just that perhaps he’s aware of the stature the Steelers have among the television networks. The organization figured to be a target for the higher-profile broadcast window in what is the first season of a Saturday doubleheader in the final weekend of the regular season.

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“There’s a certain level of anticipation regarding it,” Tomlin said. “I’ve been in the league a while. I kind of know how these things might unfold. It’s insignificant. We’ll be challenged at the front part of the week from a coaching strategy standpoint. It won’t affect our physical prep in terms of it being a short week, but we’re familiar with them.

“It will be no excuses in terms of how we perform on Saturday.”

No scoreboards to watch

A plausible benefit of the Saturday game is as the first game of the weekend, there will be zero chance of distraction (or possible deflation) from looking at other scores from across the NFL.

Not that Tomlin would admit it if so.

“We do not care,” he said Monday, referencing other league results. “We don’t.”

There are five scenarios from Week 18 that end with the Steelers earning a playoff berth, three of which do not involve the need for a tie and two that feature the need for a Steelers win.

The most likely paths for the Steelers are to win their game coupled with a loss by either the Buffalo Bills (who play Sunday night at the Miami Dolphins) or the Jacksonville Jaguars (who play at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Tennessee Titans).

No word on Ravens

Speaking to reporters in Baltimore, Ravens coach John Harbaugh did not divulge who might play or what players he might hold out of Saturday’s game. The Ravens (13-3) have clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC.

“We’ve got to kind of work through the injury part of it first,” Harbaugh said. “That’ll take us probably 24 to 48 hours to get a real handle on that, and then we’ll make those decisions. We’re not going to keep it a secret. We’ll let you know what we’re going to do once we start practicing (on Wednesday).”

For his part, Tomlin said the Steelers will begin their preparation assuming Baltimore’s stars, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, the MVP front-runner, will play.

“A component of what they do is schematics and is not necessarily (based on personnel),” Tomlin said. “And so, we better be ready for the schematic component of what they do. And so, (who plays or sits) is not a big deal for us.”

Injury report

Tomlin said a minor injury (undisclosed in nature) suffered by star outside linebacker T.J. Watt late in Sunday’s win in Seattle might affect Watt’s practice week but should not affect his status to play Saturday.

Tomlin did not rule out three players who missed the Seahawks game because of injury and could start on defense against the Ravens: inside linebacker Elandon Roberts (pectoral) and safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick (knee) and Trenton Thompson (neck).

“We’ll start first with partial participation on all three and check the quality of their participation, and maybe it increases or decreases based on what we see day-to-day,” Tomlin said.