The 2024 schedule release came on Wednesday evening, and the Pittsburgh Steelers will open up the season on the road against the Atlanta Falcons. There are a lot of interesting storylines to be excited about for this matchup. There is Mike Tomlin vs. Raheem Morris, noted friends facing off as head coaches. There is Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins making their debuts with their new teams, and the return of Arthur Smith to Atlanta after being fired as the head coach just a handful of months ago.
But there is an underlying storyline that is being overlooked. Both teams, to varying degrees, are going to be working in new systems on offense, defense, or both (in Atlanta’s case). Falcons TE Kyle Pitts recently spoke about the challenges of learning a new system and feeling out his new coaching staff.
“I would say I’m a super rookie,” Pitts said via the Falcons’ website on Tuesday. “I’m not a rookie, rookie, but we’re all in this new offense, new regime, new schedule. We’re all in this fresh.”
While he obviously isn’t a rookie, and has a lot of general knowledge about how to prepare his body and minds for NFL matchups, Pitts is admitting that there is a different kind of learning curve with the new coaching staff. Out with Arthur Smith, Dave Ragone, and Ryan Nielsen and in with Raheem Morris, Zac Robinson, and Jimmy Lake.
Football fundamentals remain the same, but specific ways of doing things, different techniques, and a whole new playbook are included in these challenges. To add another layer on top of that, the Falcons have a new quarterback who comes with a wealth of experience in his own right. Cousins will have his own expectations for his offense and help coach up the young players in his own way.
Both the Steelers and Falcons will be facing some of the same issues, as the Steelers have a new offensive system, a new quarterback, and some new position coaches. But it will be to a lesser degree in Pittsburgh as the Steelers have the continuity of Mike Tomlin and much of the same position coaches still around on the team.
Whichever team best overcomes the learning curve obstacles will likely walk away with a 1-0 record after Week 1 of the 2024 season. The opening spread slightly favors the Falcons by 2.5 points, but there are so many moving parts on both teams that present a lot of unknowns in Week 1.
