NFL coaches aren’t fans of Thursday Night Football. The league has scheduled it, so almost every team will play on Thursday. Some teams play twice on Thursday, which makes for a difficult week.
The Washington Commanders (7-2) head into Sunday’s showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers (6-2) knowing they have a game the following Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles (6-2). That’s two critical games in four days for Washington.
Furthermore, Sunday’s opponent, the Steelers, are entering Week 10 after enjoying a bye week in Week 9.
Commanders offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury must create two game plans in a matter of days as Washington faces two of the NFL’s better defenses. The good news is that he has rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels.
Kingsbury certainly understands the challenge of Thursday Night Football.
“Yeah, it’s a test for everybody,” Kingsbury said Thursday. “I mean, any those Thursday games as far as NFL coaches go, I’d say you kind of just throw your hands up and say, ‘We hope we play really well.’”
Then, Kingsbury joked about the unpredictability of the short week.
“Like I’ve seen times that we didn’t practice and you’re almost like, ‘Well maybe we should just do that shit every week, because it’s like we played really well.’ But yeah, you walkthrough, you try to have as much carryover and as many things maybe that you’ve repped and didn’t get to in the game.”
That’s an idea players may get behind. Kingsbury was joking, and even if he wasn’t, this Washington team is built differently. On Thursday, wide receiver Terry McLaurin said practice no longer feels like work.
How successful can the Commanders be next week? It’s safe to say defeating Pittsburgh would be their signature win, but they won’t have much time to enjoy it if they win with an NFC East showdown days later.