NFL says Tomlin was factor in Steelers' schedule, not Rodgers - ESPN

PITTSBURGH — Despite scheduling Steelers-Jets for Week 1 and Steelers-Packers for «Sunday Night Football» in Week 8, the NFL didn't have any inside information about Aaron Rodgers' decision when it made Pittsburgh's schedule.

Instead, NFL vice president of broadcasting and scheduling Mike North said Thursday, the Steelers' national brand and body of work drove the league's decision to give the Steelers prominent slots despite the unresolved quarterback situation.

«We don't know anything more than anybody else,» North said on a conference call. «The schedule was built for Coach [Mike] Tomlin and for the Steelers, and if Aaron decides to play it probably just makes many, if not all, the Steelers games a little more interesting.»

But, North acknowledged, the league did proactively put Steelers-Packers in the «Sunday Night Football» slot for Week 8 in part because Rodgers' decision could dramatically impact viewership and give one TV partner a significant advantage over others for that week.

«If you put that game in a window where it does become something even bigger, we wouldn't want to unbalance maybe one of the partners,» he said.

«If it fell on a Sunday afternoon for instance, it becomes a dominant story of the day. Aaron's first game against his old team. So put it in a national window. If Aaron's the quarterback, it's a great story. If Aaron's not the quarterback, it's still Packer[s]-Steelers 'Sunday Night Football' in Week 8.

»We tried to play it down the middle."

North also added that if there was certainty that Rodgers would play for the Steelers, there may have been an adjustment to the Week 1 game against the Jets, Rodgers' other former team. The game is slotted for a 1 p.m. ET kickoff on CBS.

«If we knew for