AP

With only 45,000 fans showing up two weeks ago for the season-opener and the Steelers coming to town on Sunday, St. Louis could look a lot like Detroit a decade ago, when the Steelers got their long-coveted one for the thumb in the hometown of Jerome Bettis.

Recognizing that Steelers fans travel well and Rams fans have begun to emotionally detach from the local NFL team, coach Jeff Fisher has prepared the Rams as if Sunday’s game will be on the road, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen.

The preparations have extended to the use of a silent count by the home team, in anticipation of the noise to be generated by the yelling of Pittsburgh fans and the whirring of Terrible Towels.

Home or away, the Steelers are a familiar opponent for Fisher, who coached the Oilers and Titans in the same division from 1994 through 2001 and periodically through 2010, including a winner-take-all game in December 2008 that gave the Titans the top seed in the conference and featured a desecration of the Terrible Towel by guys like running back Lendale White and linebacker Keith Bulluck, which some think sparked a curse over the franchise that still lasts to this day.

That year, the Titans lost at home in the divisional round, and the Steelers won the Super Bowl.

“I know we weren’t happy to have 10,000 people in our stadium waving those yellow towels,” Fisher said at the time. “It’s a tremendous commentary on the great fan base the Steelers have, but I’m sure our guys didn’t like it.”

If the Rams manage to win on Sunday in their home away from home, they surely won’t like seeing “those yellow towels.” However, they should think twice before stomping on or otherwise disrespecting them.