Steelers HC Mike Tomlin admits 'fatigue makes quitters of us all'

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The biggest thing COVID-19 has done to the Pittsburgh Steelers this season is by disrupting their schedule significantly on two separate occasions is to wreck the team’s rest and training schedule. First it was giving up their bye week early in the season and then pushing a game back six days forcing a stretch of three games in 12 days.

What happens, in this case, is fatigue. Physical and mental. Head coach Mike Tomlin talked about this when he spoke to Steelers team reporter Bob Labriola he acknowledged the relationship between physical and mental fatigue.

 Cumulative fatigue either creates more mistakes in people and so it messes with their quality of play, or it makes them more susceptible to injury. Those are the two critical things when you start talking about fatigue, whether it’s in-game fatigue or cumulative fatigue. You’re more susceptible to mistakes – you’re less wired in – and you’re probably more susceptible to injury as well.

Absolutely. And that’s why we say, “Physical conditioning precedes anything else.” We acknowledge fatigue makes quitters of us all. That’s a human characteristic, and that’s why we have to be in the very best condition to start a season, or to get this train out of the station, because we acknowledge that is a real component.

Going all the way back to the draft you hear Tomlin talk about physical preparedness. It’s his gauge for how soon and how much rookies get on the field. There’s no doubt this team is worn down physically. In part because the roster is built so top-heavy with such a huge chunk of the salary cap spent at the top, the talent on the back of the depth chart is somewhat subpar. This forces starters into heavier workloads and when starters go down with injuries, those remaining are under even more pressure to produce.