PITTSBURGH -- Most area businesses were closed on Thanksgiving, but the Pittsburgh Steelers had to show up for work.

The team met for a morning practice on Thanksgiving to prepare for Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots.

They were there for the football, but many were thinking about food. The players didn’t seem too concerned with putting on extra pounds before Sunday.

“We got three days to work it off,” said right tackle Max Starks. “It’s like you’re eating a meal. If guys are sitting there eating five or six plates then you have to worry.”

“It’s great. You get to go home, get to eat a ton of food, eat until you can’t walk anymore. (The game is) three days away, four days away. It’ll digest,” said nose tackle Chris Hoke.

“Come in in the morning with three or four pounds and by the afternoon, I’ll still be back at my same weight,” said wide receiver Nate Washington.

“I just get one big plate,” said wide receiver Hines Ward.

“I might go to… three or four people’s houses, that’s about it. Pick up a plate here and there because they got a little tradition going and I don’t. That’s my tradition, I go eat at everybody else’s house,” said right outside linebacker James Harrison.

But there were a few things the players weren’t looking forward to seeing on their Thanksgiving tables.

“Not a fan of cranberry sauce at all. You will never see it on my Thanksgiving plate,” said Starks.

“I hate cranberries, I really do. I can’t stand cranberries. I love the sweet potatoes, that brown sugar on top, but the one thing I stay away from is cranberries,” said Hoke.

“I’m one of those guys who opens up the can of Ocean Spray cranberries to at least put it out. It looks good,” said place kicker Jeff Reed.

“I don’t like squash. Sometimes they have squash out there, I’m not a big fan of squash,” said Ward.

“There ain’t too much I don’t like,” said Harrison.

So he’ll eat everything that’s put out?

“Everything… well, maybe cranberries.”