Though we’re still 48 hours away from the NFL officially releasing its Week 1 schedule, there’s already a narrowing field of teams the Pittsburgh Steelers could open the season against. To drum up interest in the schedule release, the league has announced a handful of Week One matchups for their most marquee games. The ones we know so far all feature at least one Steelers opponent.
Ravens vs Chiefs – Thursday night
Packers vs Eagles – Friday night (in Brazil)
Cowboys vs Browns – Sunday /Fox game
The latter was just announced with the added layer of being Tom Brady’s first call in the booth as Fox’s analyst/color commentator. That game will kick off at 4:25 PM/EST.
This means that Pittsburgh won’t play any of those teams to begin the year. Pittsburgh has just nine possible opponents: the Atlanta Falcons, Cincinnati Bengals, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, New York Giants, New York Jets, and Washington Commanders.
Because the Pittsburgh Pirates will play at home throughout the weekend, the Steelers are more likely to open the year on the road. A primetime game could change that equation, but if we assume for a moment they will be on the road, as has been the case every year but once since 2014, the list is whittled down even more. Pittsburgh is left playing: Cincinnati, Atlanta, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, or Washington. That’s just six teams.
Heading to Denver is the most logical and likely guess. It would set up an immediate chance for Russell Wilson to face his former team, the one paying him nearly $40 million not to play for them. The Broncos are likely to start rookie Bo Nix, someone Sean Payton was higher on than probably anyone else in the league. Both teams will likely battle for Wild Card spots throughout the season.
Still, the other games would offer intrigue. The Falcons would pit Arthur Smith against his former team. The Colts, with a healthy Anthony Richardson, will be everyone’s favorite sleeper this season. Washington would offer a first look at No. 2 pick Jayden Daniels, and Antonio Pierce is entering his first full year as Raiders’ head coach.
While the official schedule release won’t drop until Wednesday night, leaks should begin trickling out tomorrow and definitely throughout Wednesday. We knew the entirety of last year’s Steelers schedule hours before their official announcement. In the morning, we’ll have a separate post on the five most interesting matchups the Steelers could play to begin the new year.
