Steelers' Paris Trip Gets Off To An Awkward Start As Mike McCarthy Questions His Own Call

The Pittsburgh Steelers have spent months preparing for Paris, but international football has a way of making even the best itinerary look foolish. A schedule can account for flights, meetings and sleep. It has considerably less authority over what happens outside the airplane window. Before Pittsburgh had even settled into its Paris hotel, its head coach was already wishing he'd made one different choice.

Head Coach Mike McCarthy admitted Friday that he regretted bypassing Stade de France after the Steelers canceled their planned walkthrough there ahead of Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints. Pittsburgh traveled overnight Thursday, hoping to get players moving at the stadium shortly after landing. Forecasted rain and strong winds forced the organization to switch plans before the aircraft touched down. The frustration came later, when the team drove past the very place it had decided to skip.

The original session was supposed to last 30 minutes. It wasn't a full practice. McCarthy wanted to get players physically activated after an overnight flight and introduce them to Sunday's surroundings. Still, a walkthrough inside the stadium would have provided something a hotel conference room can't: an early feel for the venue itself. During his Friday press conference, McCarthy explained how the call was made and why the drive toward the hotel produced second thoughts.

“We had two plans coming in. Just really wanted to activate the players, you know, after the long flight. Just based off the communication with the weather and just in the reality of the timing too, we had to make the decision before we landed just to make it, you know, put it together. But frankly, driving by it, I wish we would have stopped,” McCarthy said.

It's a wonderfully human admission from a coach accustomed to defending every decision. McCarthy had a forecast and a backup plan. Then he looked out the window and wondered whether he'd been a little too cautious. Anyone who has canceled plans because of a miserable forecast only to find conditions looking better knows the feeling. Most people aren't preparing an NFL roster for an international game.

The concern wasn't imaginary. Wind and rain hit Paris on Friday, and the Saints also faced weather-related limits on media viewing at their Versailles facility. Pittsburgh couldn't gamble on an outdoor session while arranging transportation and equipment in midair. Once the decision was made, switching everything back would have required more than telling the driver to take the next exit.

Instead, the Steelers performed their activation and walkthrough work at the team hotel, using available indoor space. That preserved the purpose of Friday's light session without adding another trip. The plan did lose an opportunity to see the game venue early, a concern because Pittsburgh already had less adjustment time than its opponent.

New Orleans arrived Monday after its game against the New York Giants and has spent the week working in France. Pittsburgh practiced at home, flew Thursday evening and landed Friday morning. The different travel approaches were already being debated before the weather complicated matters. Now the Saints have several days of local routine behind them while McCarthy's group is still trying to make Friday feel like Friday.

That contrast is particularly interesting given Pittsburgh's veteran roster. Aaron Rodgers is 42, Cameron Heyward is 37 and TJ Watt is 32. Each has his own recovery routine, and none needs sightseeing masquerading as preparation. But staying fresh and feeling comfortable in a new stadium are separate questions. A brief visit could have addressed the second without demanding much of the first.

Rodgers has said he would have preferred an earlier European arrival for once. McCarthy defended his shorter schedule by considering the roster's age, the previous game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and next week's divisional matchup with the Cleveland Browns. Those factors aren't going away because a walkthrough was canceled. In fact, they explain why the head coach put so much emphasis on maintaining the routines he believed would help his players recover.

Steelers Have Left Themselves Little Room For Error

McCarthy deserves some pushback for the thin margin his itinerary created. When a team arrives later than its opponent, every opportunity to get comfortable carries more weight. Missing a 30-minute walkthrough won't decide Sunday's score, and pretending otherwise would be ridiculous. But Pittsburgh's margin for logistical mistakes is thinner by design. If the staff believed seeing Stade de France on Friday was valuable enough to schedule, losing that chance shouldn't be waved away as irrelevant simply because the backup plan worked.

Of course, McCarthy has evidence that a late flight can work. Pittsburgh followed a similar timetable before beating the Minnesota Vikings 24-21 in Dublin last season. The trip to Ireland didn't require a weeklong acclimation process to produce a victory. Still, winning once under one set of circumstances doesn't make weather, sleep or unfamiliar surroundings permanently harmless.

Sunday will be the NFL's first regular-season game in France. By kickoff, Pittsburgh will have had time to examine the field and get its bearings, but Friday's lost visit cannot be rescheduled into the past. The Saints have the benefit of a longer stay; the Steelers have a coach convinced his approach serves the entire schedule, including Cleveland the following week.

McCarthy's regret won't show up in the box score. If Pittsburgh starts slowly, however, that drive past Stade de France will be remembered as the moment its head coach saw an opportunity he'd already passed up. The French weather might have won Friday's argument. McCarthy still needs his team to win Sunday's.

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