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Mike Tomlin doesn’t want diverted flight “to become an excuse”

The Steelers’ short week was made shorter by plane issues the team encountered on the way back from Las Vegas after Sunday Night Football. They lost seven hours by an emergency landing in Kansas City.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, though, has moved on and wants his players to do the same.

“I don’t want it to become an excuse,” Tomlin said multiple times Tuesday, his first media availability since then.

The Steelers stayed on the plane for three hours instead of deplaning while waiting for a replacement plane. That arrived after 10 a.m., five hours after the Steelers were scheduled to land.

The team finally arrived at Pittsburgh International Airport after noon ET on Monday, forcing Tomlin to scrap planned work that day. Players had their usual Tuesday off day.

Planes don’t have rearview mirrors, but coaches do.

“We are going to make it a non-issue, to be honest with you,” Tomlin said, via Mark Kaboly of TheAthletic.com. “It is in our rearview now. As I stand here today, it is a non-factor. We only have so many days and hours to prepare. We haven’t lost any physical preparation opportunities with our football team or classroom opportunities with our football team. I created a few hours yesterday and today that our staff had to absorb from a preparation standpoint. Technology was a component of that.”

The Steelers’ alternate Wednesday schedule crams two days of work into one. It is the same schedule the team used before the Week 3 game against the Raiders following a Monday night game in Week 2.

The Steelers travel to Houston this weekend.