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About an hour ago
Here is a set of six thoughts after a first glimpse of the 2017 Steelers calendar.
1. Again? Really?
The NFL opens the Steelers in Foxborough, Massachusetts for "Sunday Night Football" on September 8th.
The evening of the banner.
Have not we suffered enough?
That's what happened in 2002 to open the Gillette Stadium after the first Super Bowl win by Tom Brady-Bill Belichick. New England rolled 30-14.
This was repeated in September 2015 after the Patriots defeated the Seahawks in the Super Bowl XLIX. New England was victorious, 28-21, in a game that was not as tight as the final score said.
Now that.
Why do the Patriots not open at home against the chiefs? Is not this a more interesting watch anyway? Kansas City opens on the road in Jacksonville at 1 pm. this Sunday.
Boring!
2. The delay
What did the planners think here?
The Steelers will not play against the Le'Veon Bell Jets until the 16th week. At this point, Bell and James Conner could be injured.
According to the records, Bell's plot against the Steelers could be a long-forgotten scenario. And he is buried at 1 pm Sunday, December 22nd.
I guess the match might be late But what a swing and miss. This seems to be tailor-made for prime time in Week 1, after two seasons of hype between the Bell and the Steelers in the field.
Network administrators must hate this abandoned pass.
3. early and often
The Steelers have their usual five games in prime time. They are all in the forefront in the first 11 weeks.
The last game of the club in prime time is the business of Thursday night against the Browns in the 11th week.
It was a smart game for network audiences. The Steelers have a large national clientele. But they just got out of a campaign that does not happen in the playoffs and they have a bunch of holes in their list. So, in a season where they could endure their under-500s first year at the time of Ben Roethlisberger, thought seems to make sense to them in as many prime-time matches as possible before 2019 could come off the rails and they're removed from the playoff controversy.
In this way, the TV types of the league have covered their bets and maximized the audience of one of their most bankable teams over what could be one of their seasons the less bankable in recent history.
And if the Steelers end up being good anyway? Awesome! They will receive good televised numbers late in the season during normal Sunday windows against Arizona and Buffalo.
4. The wind of autumn
The Steelers have to make waves from late October to early November. They will have three home games against the Dolphins, Colts and Rams between October 28 and November 10.
Two of these games are opposed to the playoff teams of last year. In total, five divisional games precede and follow this sequence.
This will be the most revealing band of the 2019 calendar.
5. Ohio trifecta
After this trio at Heinz Field, the Steelers will play back to back against the Browns (Thursday, November 14) and the Bengals in Ohio. Cleveland will then travel to Pittsburgh on December 1st. The team will have to barely travel for six weeks (seven, in fact, since the past week is prior to that of Miami).
If the Browns are as good as people think and the Bengals are as bad as people think, these divisional competitions may or may not reflect the organization's thinking about reclaiming AFC North.
6. large berth
The rivalry between the Steelers and the Ravens will be extended this season. The two opponents of the AFC North Division clashed in Week 5 at Heinz Field. They will not face each other until the last game of the season, December 29th.
If history says something, this last game will have meaning for at least one team, or both. And both will potentially look very different from how they started the 2019 season.
Tim Benz is an editor of Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be republished. All emails are subject to publication unless otherwise noted.