First Call: All-Steelers schedule edition: Thoughts, concerns on odd quirks, choppy flow, brutal 2nd half

The Pittsburgh Steelers’ schedule is hard, odd, scattered, heavy on primetime games, and light on AFC North contests until almost Thanksgiving.

So we’re dedicating all of Thursday’s “First Call” to a full breakdown of the quirks, trends, hot spots and pitfalls that the Steelers could face in 2024.

Vengeance is a dish best served … warm?

Emotions will still be hot when the weather is still hot.

Or, at least climate-controlled in Atlanta in a dome in early September.

The Steelers’ first two games are in Atlanta against the Falcons and in Denver against the Broncos. New offensive coordinator Arthur Smith was fired by the Falcons at the end of last year. New quarterback Russell Wilson was jettisoned by the Broncos after 2023.

Both storylines are absolutely delicious. In Atlanta for Week 1, it’s an immediate return for Smith, and it’s Wilson against Kirk Cousins. It’s a battle between the quarterback the Steelers could have paid to start, against the quarterback the Steelers are starting because they didn’t have to pay him since Denver is.

The next week, it’s out to Denver for Wilson to square off against the Broncos.

Sometimes the scripts just write themselves. Good job by the NFL schedule makers to put these games early just in case Wilson flames out and Justin Fields has to become the starter in Pittsburgh.

Make hay in October

On the surface, it looks like October is a chance for the Steelers to build up some wins. After starting the month at home against the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 6, Mike Tomlin’s troops visit the Las Vegas Raiders on Oct. 13, then they host the New York Jets on Oct. 20 and the New York Giants on Oct. 28.

So three of four games that month are at Acrisure Stadium, and the last three games of the month are against teams that were under .500 in 2023.

Although, it’s not going to be easy on the fans. All three of those home games are night starts. The games against Dallas and the Jets are Sunday night games. The game versus the Giants is a Monday night affair.

That said, the Steelers have 54 home wins in primetime games since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger, the second most in NFL history since that point. Only the Miami Dolphins (57) have more.

More sports

• Report: Steelers' Cameron Heyward plans to skip OTAs barring contract extension
• NFL schedule: Aaron Rodgers and Jets will face Vikings on Oct. 6 in London
• Former Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh to be inducted May 22 into Irish American Baseball Hall of Fame

Bye-bye, bye

Normally, you couldn’t argue with the timing of the bye week.

It occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, eight weeks into the 17-game trek. It also occurs before a slew of divisional games and the hardest stretch of the schedule.

We’ll get to those points in a moment.

But with the team traveling so little in October and such a back-loaded strength of schedule starting in mid-November, the club may have been better served to have a late off-week this year.

Dodging the division

In a bizarre scheduling fluke, the Steelers don’t play another AFC North team until Week 11 when the Baltimore Ravens come to town on Sunday, Nov. 17. During Weeks 11-14, the Steelers will face exclusively AFC North competition with that game against Baltimore, followed by two games against the Cleveland Browns and one in Cincinnati against the Bengals.

I tend to think this is a positive. Given all the changes that will be happening on offense, the Steelers will have nine games under their belts, plus a bye week to get in sync before they have to play a divisional foe.

That’s a good thing. It’ll also be 11 weeks of exposure for Lamar Jackson, Joe Burrow and Deshaun Watson at quarterback for the Ravens, Bengals and Browns.

Given their recent injury histories, that is another plus for the Steelers.

Of course, that’s a two-way street. We are also talking about nine games’ worth of risk on defense before T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Patrick Queen and Minkah Fitzpatrick face a divisional opponent as well.

2nd-half hysteria

The Steelers’ last eight games are against teams that finished above .500 last year.

As mentioned, they have all six of their divisional games against the AFC North where every team was 9-8 or better a season ago. They also have a road game at Philadelphia (Dec. 15) and a home game on Christmas against the Kansas City Chiefs. Both of those clubs won 11 games a year ago, and the Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

Translation? The Steelers better be good early because they are likely going to need a little cushion late.

Unfortunately over the past six seasons the Steelers have been slow starters, going a combined 10-13-1 over the first four weeks of each of those seasons.