Tim Benz: Why Mike Tomlin is so enthusiastic about flexed kickoff vs. Baltimore

Of course, Mike Tomlin is going to hop on a chance to leverage an emotional advantage in his team’s favor.

Especially against the Baltimore Ravens.

Especially with his franchise’s playoff fate hanging by a thread.

When word broke that the Steelers-Ravens game got flexed from a 1 p.m. start into the Sunday night primetime slot, Baltimore linebacker Patrick Queen let his disapproval be known.

Why flex that..

— ???? (@Patrickqueen_) December 25, 2022

When some Steelers fans and bloggers suggested that Queen was disrespecting the Steelers as an opponent with that tweet, Queen fired back.

Before you start your BS I meant I rather play early as a player . No disrespect to them✌???? https://t.co/Rgd2bmMVOb

— ???? (@Patrickqueen_) December 25, 2022

Regardless of why Queen was less than enthused by the schedule change, it’s clear he’s underwhelmed with the reality of kickoff moving to 8:20 p.m. Perhaps he’s not alone in that thought among Ravens players if he was so willing to put that opinion on social media.

If that’s the case, Tomlin was quick to position the time change as something the Steelers are embracing. During his opening statements at his press conference Tuesday, Tomlin — unprompted — professed deep enthusiasm for playing in primetime against the Ravens.

“When I got the call the other night that the game was flexed, I didn’t hate that. I love that,” Tomlin said. “If your games are not getting flexed this time of year, you’re not doing it right. You’re not in significant ones. We don’t run from that. We run to that. Although we do respect their environment and the hostility of that environment on Sunday Night Football, we’re not going to hate the fact that we’re there. We’re going to embrace that and smile in the face of the adversity that those variables create.”

Maybe Tomlin was aware of Queen’s tweet. Maybe he wasn’t.

It sure is coincidental if he wasn’t, though, huh? That quote reeked of, “They don’t want the game moved, so it’s something we are going to ‘love,’ whether we really do or not. They don’t want any part of it. We want every part of it. And we are going to play like we are grateful for the chance.”

Even though they’ll be spending all of New Year’s Day cooped up in Baltimore and getting back to Pittsburgh in the wee small hours of Monday morning to shorten the work week in advance of the season finale against Cleveland.

But, hey, Tomlin’s never been one to soft pedal a chance at goosing his team from an emotional standpoint. So, I appreciate his dedication to the sell.

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There is one slight problem for the Steelers when it comes to moving the game, though. It’s entirely possible that since the kickoff is at 8:20, the Steelers (7-8) could be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by the time the game begins.

If the Miami Dolphins (8-7) win their 1 p.m. game against the New England Patriots (7-8), that’ll be their ninth win. The Steelers can’t do better than nine wins. Miami already beat the Steelers head-to-head this year, so the Steelers can’t win a tiebreaker against them. Thus, if the Dolphins win, the Steelers playoff hopes are dashed.

Also, if the Jets (7-8) win against the Seattle Seahawks at 4:05 p.m., that means they’ll have eight wins as well. The Jets and Dolphins play each other next week. So even if the Dolphins lose to New England on Sunday, then the Steelers would go into Sunday night’s game knowing that they’d need the Dolphins and Jets to tie in Week 18 so they’d both finish 8-8-1, while also needing the Patriots to lose in Buffalo, so they’d finish 8-9 because — you guessed it — the Steelers lost to the Jets and Patriots earlier in the season too.

All that is assuming two Steelers victories against the Ravens and Browns to, theoretically, get to 9-8. Plus, the Steelers would lose conference tiebreakers to the Jets, Patriots and Dolphins if a multi-team tiebreaker scenario should come into play.

So it’s no wonder Tomlin is giving the full-court press about how great it is to be playing Sunday night football in Baltimore instead of being home in their beds by the time the originally scheduled Chargers-Rams game would’ve been at halftime.

Tomlin is laying a foundation for why his team should be enthused to be playing, even if the result is meaningless for them, while playoff-bound Baltimore (10-5) will still have seeding implications and AFC North divisional championship dreams alive.

“We’re excited about this matchup,” Tomlin said. “We’re familiar with them. They’re familiar with us. I think we’re all familiar with being in significant games. The new Steeler, the young Steeler, we’ll kind of educate them as I’m sure they will the new or the young Raven. I think this is the 10th time that Harbs (Ravens coach John Harbaugh) and I have played Sunday night ball together. He’s an awesome dance partner. They’re an awesome dance partner. It’s just good to be in a significant game.”

If Tomlin is as good at coaching the game on the field as he is coaching the head-game element off of it, the Steelers will pull an upset regardless of playoff circumstances or kick times.

Tomlin just better be good at both. If he’s not, then that’ll be nine defeats on the season, assuring the coach of the first losing season of his 16-year career with one game still remaining.