Three games in 11 days: This is how four teams prepared for an unusual stretch

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes vividly remembers his reaction seven months ago when the NFL released the 2024 schedule and watched a grueling December stretch that featured three games in 11 days.

“Not a good feeling,” Mahomes said.

While the focus should be on the Chiefs seeking the NFL’s first Super Bowl three-peat, Kansas City and three other AFC playoff contenders – the Baltimore Ravens, Houston Texans and Pittsburgh Steelers – face something almost as unprecedented. Only once since 1933 has an NFL team played three games in 11 days in December: the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011.

“You’re never going to play this many games in this short amount of time,” Mahomes said. “It’s just not good for your body. But at the end of the day, it’s your job, your profession. You have to come to work and do it.”

A stretch of three games in 11 days never happened from 2019 to 2023. This season, four teams have already done it: the New York Jets, Seattle Seahawks, New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys.

But that is another challenge. It comes at a time when the players have felt the bumps and bruises of 14 games played and now suit up for games that could decide the AFC playoff landscape.

Since the start of this demanding streak, the Steelers have lost their two-game lead in the AFC North as the Ravens surge, while the Chiefs have strengthened their grip on the conference’s No. 1 seed.

“It’s crazy,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “But at the end of the day, everybody that’s in that boat is in that boat, so we’re all going through the same things. And Coach Monk (offensive coordinator Todd Monken) said it, ‘If you’re in that type of position , that means you’re a good team and everyone in that category is playing well.'”

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin will often ask his players if they are thriving or surviving. In the last full month of the regular season, it’s more about adjusting.

With fewer days to recover between games, teams will hold fewer full-speed practices and more walkthroughs. The Ravens donned helmets for just two practices between their Dec. 15 game at the New York Giants and Wednesday’s game at Houston.

There is also an increased focus on body maintenance, which includes massage, diet, hot and cold baths and cryotherapy.

“We’re still trying to get our bodies back and it’s a quick turnaround,” Texans quarterback CJ Stroud said. “Getting your mental back is just as important. So you’re probably doing less active stuff and it’s more mental than physical. So I feel like that’s the way you can save your body. But at the same time, get the good exercises in and the good habits during the week.”

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NO ONE HAS had a more troubled season than Steelers wide receiver Mike Williams. If Williams suits up for Pittsburgh in the final two games, he and teammate Preston Smith will join Seahawks defensive end Leonard Williams as the only players in the modern era to play in 18 regular-season games.

This stretch is the result of an in-season trade. Williams was traded from the Jets on Nov. 5 before their bye week, and he joined the Steelers after their bye. Williams has played every week since September 9.

“I can use some of these rest days,” Williams said.

Williams also understands what it takes to play three games in 11 days better than anyone — the second time he’s had to do it this season. He played with the Jets when they began the season with that stretch of games.

Is it different to run this stretch early in the season as opposed to December?

“No, no, no,” Williams said. “I mean, some show up early, some show up late. We all have a job to do though, so yeah, know your schedule, know your plan and stick to it.”

The Steelers have the toughest game, as they are the only team playing three opponents with winning records: Philadelphia Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs. Road losses to the Eagles and Ravens in a span of six days took a toll on the Steelers’ standing in the AFC North.

If the Steelers lose to the Chiefs on Wednesday and the Ravens win at the Texans, Pittsburgh will fall one game behind Baltimore.

“We’ve got ambitions going into February when we’re going to play,” Steelers cornerback Donte Jackson said. “We look at every day as a day to keep our bodies in shape, keep our bodies going and feeling right. So being in my seventh year in the league, I kind of have a really good routine that I fall back on on … just do my normal thing and want to be ready to play.”

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WHEN RAVEN’S PLAYERS walked into their team meeting Dec. 9, coach John Harbaugh had a message for them on the screen.

“December football season. Commit everything. Save nothing.”

Baltimore and Houston had an advantage playing December football this year. Before the three games, the Ravens and Texans had a Week 14 bye.

Not only did the players get extra rest — quarterback Lamar Jackson described the week off as a “breath of fresh air” — but the coaching staff got more time to work on it and do some advance scouting.

“It’s good in a way that we’ll see who’s the most prepared down the stretch, and it’s really challenging for teams — everybody involved,” Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton said. “It all comes down to the culture. We could play the next day; we don’t really care. We just have to show up and do well.”

The Texans have an edge over the Chiefs, Ravens and Steelers from a travel standpoint. Houston is the only one with two home games in this three-game stretch.

“It’s a heightened sense of focus on rest and recovery as best we can, while understanding the game plan and being able to get the mental reps in,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said.

The Texans haven’t practiced in pads since the Miami Dolphins game in Week 15 and even had a helmetless practice Tuesday leading up to the Chiefs’ matchup. The Texans’ coaches made it clear that their practices would focus on mental reps and figuring out the details of players’ assignments while emphasizing recovery.

“We take care of our guys and make sure their bodies are taken care of to recover because you get taken out of a game so quickly and it takes a while to recover, especially on a short week,” Ryan said. “It’s an increased sense of focus on rest and recovery as best we can, while also understanding the game plan and being able to get the mental reps in.”

The Texans’ receiving core took a hit when Tank Dell suffered a dislocated knee and torn ACL in Houston’s 27-19 loss to the Chiefs last week. Dell’s injury occurred during a touchdown catch by Stroud on the Texans’ first possession of the second half, when Houston wideout Jared Wayne collided with Dell’s knee.

The Texans claimed veteran wide receiver Diontae Johnson off waivers from the Ravens on Monday to try to make up for the loss. Baltimore waived Johnson on Friday after seven weeks filled with drama that included a suspension and the organization exempting the receiver from team activities last week.

Houston will have to overcome the emotions of losing Dell, as he is one of the most beloved players on the team.

“That’s life. You’ve got to keep chopping wood, keep carrying water. The position we’re in, there’s not many times you can sulk in your emotions for very long,” Stroud said. “You’ve got to just keep rolling. I think that’s a testament to life in general. Everybody’s got things on their plate. Everybody’s going through something. And just because we’re in this position doesn’t mean, that you get to feel sorry for yourself or something like that.”

Wednesday games are rare. The last time a game was played that day of the week was in 2021, when a COVID-19 outbreak forced the Ravens and Steelers to postpone their scheduled Thanksgiving games to the following Wednesday.

But with all four teams playing their previous games on Saturday, it’s the same three days of rest that teams have before Thursday games.

The Ravens have a history of doing well in short weeks. Under Harbaugh, Baltimore is 11-5 in Thursday games, the third-best mark over that span.

“The key to being successful with it is sleep, recovery and leaning on the coaches, leaning on the people that are in-house to help you,” Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “If you do as many things as you can here (before), you come home, because it turns around really quickly, and the biggest thing is that you just have to be on the same page. The body will feel it, but I think it will be the same on both sides, but whoever can do the little things best will come out the most successful.”

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IF IT IS part of another championship run for the Chiefs, they would have deserved it. However, some players are not happy to play this number of games for a short period of time, since they have not had a long break since mid-October.

The two defending Super Bowl champions had the earliest bye — Week 6 — of the four teams playing Wednesday.

“This is one thing I’m doing this offseason is I’m going to the NFLPA, especially when we’re going to have three games in 11 days that we’re mandated to have a late bye week,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones said . “With our schedule, it’s a little awkward to say the least. … It’s a conversation to have in the offseason. If a team has a schedule like that, they should get a late-season bye.

“We don’t need a bye in Week 6. Give it to us in Week 8, Week 10, something like that.”

This will mark the first time the Chiefs, Ravens and Texans have played three games in 11 days. The last time the Steelers dealt with that type of stretch happened in 1939.

“I’ve never played that many games in a short amount of time,” Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins said. “I definitely think the league should definitely do something about it and give the teams some kind of mini-bye. They’re coaching or preaching player safety. I don’t feel like this is the best situation for a team to play three games in this amount of days.”

The Chiefs and Ravens have won their first two games in a short streak and could join a select group if they win on Wednesday. The only teams in the Super Bowl era to win all three games in the 11-day stretch are the 1992 Saints and the 2011 Green Bay Packers.

“I just put myself in a basketball perspective,” Hamilton said. “Those guys are playing back to back, so I guess there’s a little bit of an advantage behind us complaining about that. But they play 82 games, MLB players play 162 games and we have 17 and we’re trying to contend . them to go to 18 right now, I think it is good in a way that we will see who is most prepared.

NFL Nation reporters DJ Bien-Aime, Brooke Pryor and Adam Teicher contributed to this report.