When Mike Tomlin was growing up, “Monday Night Football” wasn’t just a game. It was the only opportunity for many to see what happened across the NFL the day prior.
“Somebody that loves football, that grew up pre-SportsCenter, man, Howard Cosell gave you the highlights from the day before — and that’s about all you saw,” Tomlin said during his weekly news conference Tuesday. “And then after halftime, my mom would make me go to bed.”
At 50, Tomlin can stay up later now. In fact, the Pittsburgh Steelers coach said he did not sleep at all Monday into Tuesday. The weariness was a little easier to take, though, after his team beat the Indianapolis Colts, 24-17, on Monday evening.
The victory improved Tomlin’s record on “Monday Night Football” to 19-3, prompting a reporter to ask him Tuesday if he had anything he could attribute that to.
“I don’t,” Tomlin said. “Man, I get singularly focused on each opportunity. I respect ‘Monday Night Football.’ I make sure our team does. I just appreciate it from a fan’s perspective.”
No update on Harris
Tomlin typically is less than transparent with injury news during his weekly news conference, and that is exacerbated when his team finished playing a game roughly 13 hours earlier.
The Steelers’ most notable injury coming out of Monday’s game was an abdominal ailment beset on running back Najee Harris. Tomlin said he had “no update” on Harris’ condition.
“Just not enough time since we landed in getting that looked at,” Tomlin said, “but as always, his participation in practice and the quality of that participation will be our guide in terms of developing a role for him and what that might look like.”
Other players Tomlin mentioned fell under the heading of “bumps and bruises associated with play.” In that group, Tomlin mentioned safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, outside linebacker T.J. Watt, defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi and inside linebacker Myles Jack.
“We don’t anticipate any of these guys missing time,” Tomlin said. “But these guys, along with others, because we’re working on a short week, may be limited, particularly the early portions of the week.”
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