The Pittsburgh Steelers are now into the regular season, following the most unique offseason in the NFL since at least World War II. While it didn’t involve a player lockout, teams still did not have physical access to their players, though they were at least able to meet with them virtually.
Even training camp looked much different from the norm, and a big part of that was the fact that there will be no games along the way to prepare for. Their first football game of the year was to be the opener against the New York Giants.
As the season progresses, however, there will be a number of questions that arise on a daily basis, and we will do our best to try to raise attention to them as they come along, in an effort to both point them out and to create discussion
Questions like, how will the players who are in new positions this year going to perform? Will the rookies be able to contribute significantly? How will Ben Roethlisberger look—and the other quarterbacks as well? Now, we even have questions about whether or not players will be in quarantine.
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: Are the Bills the best team that the Steelers will play in the regular season?
Looking back at the Steelers’ regular season schedule, the team on their itinerary with the best record that they haven’t already defeated once this season is the Buffalo Bills at 9-3. The Cleveland Browns are also 9-3, but Pittsburgh already took them down—in fact, blew them out—a number of weeks ago.
The only other teams that they have played or will play who are 8-4 or better are the Tennessee Titans, who frankly lost to the Cincinnati Bengals, and the Indianapolis Colts. There are, of course, the Baltimore Ravens, who are now 7-5, with two of their losses coming against the Steelers. Another is from the Kansas City Chiefs. The other losses are from the Titans and the New England Patriots.
Of course, this question isn’t just about record, but also, you know, actual football, and the Bills are an actually good football team, particularly their passing game with third-year Josh Allen, who is averaging eight yards per attempt with 26 touchdowns (and six rushing) while tossing the ball around the Stefon Diggs and Cole Beasley and Gabriel Davis—a name many might not know too well, but he has five touchdowns.
Their defense is not elite, but they have some elite talent, particularly cornerback Tre’Davious White, who will be an issue, and Pro Bowl linebacker Tremaine Edmunds in the middle, not to mention Jerry Huges and Ed Oliver in the middle.
