Odd NFL rule impacts Steelers travel plans for 'Thursday Night Football' vs. Browns — SkimNews
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- NFL rule requires visiting teams to arrive in the host city at least 19 hours before kickoff, a regulation Mike McCarthy said he "failed to realize" until this week while plotting a same-day bus ride to Cleveland.
- McCarthy had wanted the Steelers to make the 2-hour bus ride on Thursday morning so players could "sleep in your own bed" the night before, calling the importance of sleep a factor in his thinking.
- McCarthy carries a 17-8 record on Thursday nights and a 16-6 mark on short weeks, experience the Steelers hope can end their 0-4 skid in Cleveland on Thursday nights (and 0-9 all-time in road Thursday games against divisional foes).
- The Browns are 6-1 at home against Pittsburgh since 2019, including Thursday night wins over the Steelers in both 2022 and 2024.
- Thursday's game will determine sole possession of first place in the AFC North after three weeks — all four division teams sit at 2-1, with the Steelers holding the tiebreaker via their lone divisional win.
- The Steelers are coming off a 30-27 win over the Bengals — their first time scoring 10+ first-quarter points in 98 games — while the Browns have won two straight, including Sunday's 21-18 victory over the Panthers.
- McCarthy, a Pittsburgh native, said he grew up watching the Steelers-Browns rivalry in the 1970s and is looking forward to coaching in his first Pittsburgh-Cleveland game.
Why it matters: Thursday's winner takes sole possession of first place in the AFC North at 3-1, and the 19-hour rule deprives the Steelers of a potential recovery edge heading into a building where they have never won on a Thursday night.
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