Early in Friday, the Pittsburgh Steelers arrived in Paris after taking the red eye as they prepare to take on the New Orleans Saints. This will be the NFL's first game in France as part of the NFL International Series. However, the Saints and Steelers each took very different approaches to their travel plans with the Saints leaving earlier in the week to get acclimated to the travel while the Steelers pushed things right to the limit and are now in Paris with just 48 hours to the game.
Steelers players were asked about the travel, jet lag and all the things that go with it and responses were mixed but the tone was the same. This is a less-than-ideal situation.
Tight end Pat Freiermuth talked about the process and how they have been instructed
not to nap on Friday to help force acclimation to the time change and he hopes they can just get a good night's sleep.
Steelers TE Pat Freiermuth with a common-sense approach to adapting to the time change and jet lag pic.twitter.com/sAEvPYdHlU
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 23, 2026
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers was direct when he said he wished the team flew out on Monday rather than waiting until Thursday.
Aaron Rodgers wishes the Steelers woulda been like the Saints and showed up in Paris earlier in the week than just this morning in advance of Sunday’s game pic.twitter.com/A0Cyxsym4d
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 23, 2026
Linebacker Patrick Queen downplayed the issues with travel and said preparations will be the same.
Other than the jet lag, Steelers LB Patrick Queen says the routine in planing to play a game is the same in Europe as it is home pic.twitter.com/TXuUqzNpi0
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) October 23, 2026
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This article originally appeared on Steelers Wire: Steelers travel choices draw mixed reviews by players
