Tag: Steelers Schedule

Steelers in rare company among NFL winners this season

Only the Steelers and Lions are undefeated against teams with winning records this season.

When it comes to the NFL, you can only beat the teams that get put on your schedule. So for some teams, the sledding can get pretty tough once the best teams in the league start to show themselves. If you want to win in the postseason, a team needs to be able to step up against the best teams and win.

This is the case for the Pittsburgh Steelers this season. Among the entire NFL, only the Steelers and Detroit Lions are undefeated against teams with a winning record. Third on the list are the Kansas City Chiefs who sit at .800 against winning teams.

The problem for the Steelers has been the good teams. It’s been the bad ones. All three of the Steelers losses this season were to teams with records under .500. Pittsburgh squares off with another one of those teams this weekend in the Cincinnati Bengals. Pittsburgh needs to pull off this win to keep pace and stay ahead of the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

What should the Steelers do with Justin Fields the rest of the season?

Cast your vote and let us know if you want to see more Fields or less the rest of the season.

In the last two weeks, we’ve seen the Pittsburgh Steelers work backup quarterback Justin Fields into the game plan on a limited basis. The results have been mixed but there is no denying that despite being benched, Fields brings a dimension to the offense that Russell Wilson cannot.

The Steelers currently sit at 8-3 and while they are in first place in the AFC North, their hold on the top spot is tenuous at best. With six brutal games left and the Steelers struggling in the red zone, we wouldn’t blame head coach Mike Tomlina nd offensive coordinator Arthur Smith if they chose to integrate Fields more into the offense, especially in the red zone.

Our vote is for Pittsburgh to use Fields more, with one caveat. If the Steelers want to put Fields out there more, it has to be more than just quarterback runs. If Fields doesn’t give opposing defenses a little more to think about, it makes his presence on the field more of a negative than a positive.

Cast your vote and let us know what you want to see the Steelers do with Fields going forward.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Steelers wins prove they are Super Bowl contenders

The Steelers have beaten five teams with winning records in 10 games this season.

In a league where any team can win on any given week, the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to find ways to get it done. Despite very modest preseason projections, the Steelers sit at 8-2 after 11 weeks and atop in the AFC North.

But with any team that has success, critics try to find ways to pick that success apart. For the Steelers, the criticism has been about the strength of Pittsburgh’s schedule so far.

However, if only takes a few minutes to look at the current NFL standing and understand this argument doesn’t hold water.

Of the Steelers’ eight wins, five of them have come against teams currently with a winning record, The Baltimore Ravens, Washington Commanders, Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons and Los Angeles Chargers are all over .500. No other team can make the claim they’ve beaten five teams with winning records already this season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Steelers must navigate brutal 2nd-half stretch to pose legit AFC playoff threat

The first half of the 2024 NFL season was just a warm-up, and the Steelers had better be ready for what’s next — because it’s a doozy.

The first half of the 2024 NFL season was just a warm-up, and the Pittsburgh Steelers had better be ready for what’s next — because it’s a doozy.

The Steelers have this Week 9 bye to regroup and recoup before an onslaught of games that includes the resurgent Washington Commanders, all three AFC North opponents twice, the Philadelphia Eagles and reigning Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs. These next nine games are as close as it’ll get to playoff football until the real thing.

Despite a below-average offense, the Steelers have made it to their bye with a surprising 6-2 record, thanks to their top-10 defense and a best-on-the-block special teams unit. The NFL schedule makers gave Pittsburgh a layup to start the season. However, the team faces the 2nd-toughest schedule going forward.

For the Steelers to pose a legitimate threat in the AFC, they must navigate this brutal remaining schedule as flawlessly as possible.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Steelers vs Falcons: Steelers Wire staff picks

Steelers Wire staff make their picks for this week’s game.

It’s finally time to see the Pittsburgh Steelers kick off the regular season. This week the Steelers travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons in a reunion with Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur Smith to the team he used to coach. This is one of those games where neither side knows what to expect from the other.

Our staff decided to make their picks for this week’s game and you can see the whole thing below as we call for a sweep of the Falcons this week.

The Steelers understand how important it is to get off to a fast start. So much will depend on the quarterback position and since we don’t know who will actually start for Pittsburgh, it muddies the waters even more. The Steelers defense is so good and we just don’t know what we will get with Falcons quarterback Kirk Cousins. I expect the Steelers defense to attack Cousins and keep him off balance, making life easier on the Steelers offense. Pittsburgh pulls off the close win thanks to the foot of kicker Chris Boswell. Steelers 20, Falcons 17 – Curt Popejoy, Managing Editor

———————————————————

Predicting the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first week of the season is tough. With a new quarterback and coordinator, no one knows what this offense will look like. Though Falcons safeties Jessie Bates and Justin Simmons will make life harder on the passing game, I think Russell Wilson won’t commit turnovers and manage the game well enough to pull out a win. The defense will do what it does best and keep Kirk Cousins and Company under wraps. The Steelers will start the season 1-0 in a fairly low-scoring game Steelers 13, Falcons 10 – Allison Kohler, Contributor

———————————————————

Steelers’ offense will prove that its struggles in the preseason were the building blocks needed to vastly improve from last year’s offensive woes, ultimately resulting in a satisfying victory over Atlanta. Steelers 31, Falcons 17 – Andrew Vasquez, Contributor

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Should the NFL go to an 18-game schedule?

The NFL and NFLPA are talking about adding another game to the schedule.

According to NFL writer Mark Maske, The NFL and the players union have begun discussions to see if the league can adopt an 18-game regular season. Maske says that if both sides can work out the details, this could be adopted ahead of the new CBA.

Lloyd Howell said during a meeting Monday with Washington Post reporters and editors at the NFLPA’s headquarters in D.C. that the talks between the union and the league have not yet progressed to formal negotiations. But the discussions between the two sides, which have not been previously reported, indicate that the latest pursuit by the league and team owners of an 18-game season has moved beyond the hypothetical stage.

We already talked about the proposal for an 18-game schedule that Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow offered up and we are on board with the notion of moving the Pro Bowl to a second bye week.

Obviously the biggest hurdle from the NFLPA point of view will be compensation. If the players are going to play another game, they should be compensated for it. This would create ripples into the salary cap as well as roster size to accommodate teams over an even more grueling schedule.

Cast your vote and tell us if you think the NFL should move to an 18-game schedule or leave it as is for now.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Does Bengals QB Joe Burrow have the perfect plan for an 18-game season?

Is this how an 18-game NFL schedule would work?

It isn’t often we are willing to give credit to a player on a rival AFC North team, so mark your calendars.  But the proposal Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow offered for how to make an 18-game NFL regular-season schedule work was just too good not to share.

Burrow was on the “Padron My Take” podcast and when they asked him about it, you could tell immediately he had been giving this some thought.

Burrow’s plan would include two bye weeks for every team with the entire league getting a bye week in Week 13 and that’s where he would hold the Pro Bowl. He thinks this would be a great way to encourage more viewership.

We are here for it all, Joe. All of it.

The league expanded to 17 games for the 2021 season and eliminated one preseason game. We assume when the league eventually goes to 18 games, the preseason will be shortened to two games because the money is in the regular season.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

NFL analyst on the Steelers making the Super Bowl: ‘It ain’t happening’

Are the Steelers Super Bowl contenders?

If the Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t happy that most NFL pundits and analysts don’t take them seriously when it comes to the playoffs and the Super Bowl, they have no one but themselves to blame.

The Steelers have grossly underachieved over the course of the last decade. Few teams have done less with more under head coach Mike Tomlin. This team has boasted some of the best players at their respective positions but hasn’t found a way to win a playoff game since the 2016 season.

NFL analyst Jason McIntyre hosted The Herd and he did his NFL team tier list. It’s pretty obvious from his comments, that McIntyre isn’t a fan of what the Steelers have done this offseason.

“The Pittsburgh Steelers, I’m sorry guys, as much as I have liked Russell Wilson, it ain’t happening,” McIntyre said. That team is not very good, schedule is daunting, no thank you.”

There’s no reason for anyone to take the Steelers seriously until they can show up in the playoffs. This brutal schedule doesn’t make it any easier but there are no more excuses for this team to fail to be competitive.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Did the NFL load the Steelers schedule intentionally for ‘Hard Knocks’?

The Steelers have a brutal stretch run this season, and it will all be televised on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”

I am not a conspiracy theory guy, but sometimes things just don’t add up. When the NFL released the regular-season schedule, we were puzzled about why the league decided to backload it so much for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers play all six of their AFC North matchups in the final eight games with showdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles thrown in for good measure.

Crazy, right?

Maybe not. Maybe it was all a plan. HBO is doing something unprecedented with their “Hard Knocks” docuseries as they will feature all of the AFC North, including the Pittsburgh Steelers, in the in-season version of the show. It begins on Dec. 3 and runs through the end of the season.

Why does this matter? This will mean the series will show the Steelers during the final five games of the season, which includes one game against each of Pittsburgh’s division foes, and those two games against the Eagles and Chiefs.

Was this all orchestrated so HBO gets one of the most popular teams in the NFL during what could be a spiral after a strong start? These shows are all about ratings, and it feels like a behind-the-scenes look at a struggling Steelers team would translate to huge viewership.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]

Steelers TE Connor Heyward ready to contribute on offense

The Steelers need to find ways to get Connor Heyward more involved on offense.

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted tight end Connor Heyward not just because he was the younger brother of Cam Heyward but because he was an excellent tight end and running back at Michigan State.

But so far, through two seasons, Heyward hasn’t found a spot in the regular offense and has mainly impacted the team on special teams. Something Heyward wants to change this year.

“It’s hard to get hype for the game when you’re not playing as much offense or defense because growing up, that’s part of the game,” Heyward said. “Special teams is fun, but you want to be out there for offense and defense.”

We are cautiously optimistic that Heyward will have a breakout season in 2024 with new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith in charge. Heyward can operate out of the backfield, inline and in the slot which gives them plenty of ways to get him more involved in the rushing and passing game.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3]