Scoggins: Thursday games provide a unique challenge for NFL players

Harrison Phillips began a short work week with a message to his wife.

“I won’t be around much,” the Vikings veteran defensive tackle told her.

He wasn’t shirking his responsibilities. Thursday night games in the NFL leave little time for anything other than trying to get the body and mind prepared to play with three fewer days of recovery.

The entire premise of playing on Thursday night represents a contradiction to the NFL’s supposed concern for player safety. Players punish their bodies on Sunday, then are asked to do it again four days later when even the normal Sunday-to-Sunday timeline serves as a fast-ticking clock in the healing process.

Alas, players understand that business is business and complaining won’t change anything. The grind for Thursday’s game in Los Angeles started the moment they removed their pads after Sunday’s 31-29 loss to the Detroit Lions.

Phillips stayed at U.S. Bank Stadium longer than normal postgame to use cold tubs and hydrate.

“Normally after games is when I eat the worst,” he said. “Chocolate cookies and cereal and all that stuff. This week I cut back a little bit. I still had to sulk and emotionally eat a little bit of cookies.”

No judgment here. That was a tough loss.

Safety Josh Metellus’ routine in preparing for Thursday night games would make parents of a newborn envious.

“Sleep,” he said. “Sleep is the best recovery on the planet. That alone should get you back to feeling good.”

Metellus is All Pro in this department.

“I sleep more than a normal person,” he said. “I’m in the bed at 8:30 [p.m.]. I’m an early bird. We can bank a little bit more sleep just because it’s a night game, too.”

That’s the power of positive thinking, something safety Camryn Bynum also espouses in the hardest week of the season.

“I take really good care of my body so by Thursday, I’ll be completely fine,” he said on Tuesday. “I’m still young. I’m only 26. I can’t speak for everybody, but I love Thursday games because you get through the grind of the short week, the reward on the back end is to be able to go home and relax and get your mind off it.”

Players refer to the long weekend as a mini-bye. That’s the upside to playing on Thursday. The downside is everything that comes before it.

“The PA [Players Association] is not super-huge on Thursday games,” said Phillips, the Vikings player representative in the union. “From a personal standpoint I do like the mini-bye. Yes, you’re going to have a day of absolute [pain]. But you try to be mentally strong and you overcome that one grind day, then you get a mini-bye on the back end.”

Their mini-bye comes two weeks after their real bye, which is not exactly ideal. A little more space between those two would have been better.

“If any of you guys know the NFL schedulers,” Phillips joked, “we can talk to them about it.”

Players realize that every team deals with a short week at some point, so they put all their energy and attention on preparation.

Phillips arrived at the facility four hours before the first team meeting Monday to start treatment. He overheard younger players seeking advice from veterans about their routines for this unique week.

“On other weeks I might have a 90-minute or two-hour massage where I can kind of relax and meditate or pray,” Phillips said. “[Tuesday night] I’ll be watching two hours of film during my massage, just trying to double up the time.”

The normal day-after video session wasn’t on the schedule for players on Monday. Not enough time with the quick turnaround.

Players on the defensive side were in the weight room, getting in a recovery workout. They were talking about the loss and were disappointed in their performance and some things that happened. They asked coaches to meet them for an impromptu video session.

“Make sure to get that out of our system,” Metellus said.

Time is limited this week, both in digesting the loss and learning a new game plan for the Rams. Thursday games are hard on players. They also know that cannot be used as an excuse.

“I hope you get to see a mentally strong team that is not lagging from a loss and able to turn the page pretty quickly and shows maturity,” Phillips said. “You want to see a team that is running around on a short week loving the game of football.”

The cookies and cereal will taste even sweeter with a win.