The Pittsburgh Steelers do not have happy memories of London 2013. In their first-ever international regular-season game, the team left on Thursday night, arrived on Friday morning, and went straight to practice. It was defensive end Cam Heyward’s third NFL season, and he later revealed what the toll of that journey had been on the team.

“That was the first time I’ve ever seen coaches sleep in a meeting. There were players falling asleep during warm-up. It was rough,” he’d recalled.

That memory is still fresh in Heyward’s mind, and with the Steelers scheduled to head to Paris for their Week 7 matchup against the New Orleans Saints, he’s asking owner/president Art Rooney II and new head coach Mike McCarthy to do something about it.

“I don’t know how McCarthy and staff are going to do it, but we’ll be ready,” Heyward said on his Not Just Football podcast. “Personally, I’d like to fly as soon as we can to Paris, get settled in.”

Heyward has already seen what an overseas week looks like when Pittsburgh rushes it. Back in London, the Steelers lost 34-27 to the Minnesota Vikings, with their defense failing to contain running back Adrian Peterson. But their next international trip left Heyward with a much better comparison.

On the podcast, Cam Heyward noted that they arrived a little earlier in Dublin for their Week 4 matchup against the Vikings last season. The Steelers arrived in Ireland late on Thursday for the Sunday game, giving the team some time to rest. What was also different this time was the speech then-head coach Mike Tomlin gave the team about Dan Rooney and the Rooney family’s connection to Ireland, which – per veteran linebacker T.J. Watt – left the team with a chip on their shoulders.

The Steelers won their Week 4 international rematch 24-21, getting their first-ever regular-season overseas win.

This season, the Steelers once again have a one-week gap. Their Week 6 matchup is against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, before they fly to Paris for their international game against the New Orleans Saints.

If Art Rooney II & Co. replicate what he did last season, the team can be well rested and ready to create a win-streak on the Paris stage. While the international games preparations are important and the management will have to find a way to get the players prepared for the Sunday game,  Rooney secured a victory in the schedule he has been waiting for years.

Art Rooney II’s schedule win

The league handed the Steelers their very first game in France, but that wasn’t the only thing it had planned for the Steelers. The Steelers are scheduled to go up against the Atlanta Falcons for their regular-season opener on September 13, 1 p.m. ET. With Pittsburgh playing host, this will only be the second time in 12 years that the Steelers get a home-field advantage for a season opener, and Art Rooney II is immensely pleased about it.

“If you have an opportunity to open at home, open the season at home, it’s better,” Rooney said recently. “So we always look forward to when we get that opportunity. It seems like we don’t have that opportunity that often, so we appreciate the opportunity of doing that and opening up at home.”

The Steelers also got a Black Friday home game against the Denver Broncos for this season, and a final stretch that looks balanced enough not to wreck the season before December. As for the France trip, Rooney said it will be “a new experience for everybody,” and made it clear the Steelers will not be able to control the presentation the way they did in Ireland, where the sheer amount of Steeler Nation really made it feel like a home game. But this time, they’re the road team, and Rooney has shared the problem that comes with it.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have access to as many tickets we would have as the home team, and so there will be some things that are different, but that comes with the territory when you’re the road team,” Rooney said.

Getting the home game that he wanted is especially key this year because it is the start of the McCarthy era in Pittsburgh. Fans will get a chance to see what he has been doing with the team in Week 1 itself and get behind the team. While there are concerns about the international trip, the management should be able to find a solution even before the season starts.