2024 schedule talk

[warfelg]

https://x.com/sharpfootball/status/1790925332083605625?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA

[3rivers]

after week 10 it looks much more difficult now anyways.  Last year this team played better  near the end so if that repeats, then this might be better off. 

4 hours ago, Chieferific said:

I count 9 and 9. 

did I miss something, I thought it was a 17 game schedule.

is.500 possible now?

[JustPlainNasty]

Without even reading anybody's post yet that is some BS with that schedule.  Not only is the toughest by the numbers (both old and new metrics) the fact that they scheduled the Ravens on Sunday followed by at the Browns on Thursday Night (not to mention 2 more division games to follow those in what is by just about every legitimate opinion the toughest division in the league) and then at the Ravens on Saturday only to play the Chiefs 4 days later on a Wednesday.  Throw in at the Eagles in the middle of all that and finish up with a home game vs Bengals.  ( they kind of did this last year to Pittsburgh more than any team with the short week games, but at least that schedule was soooo much easier)

I really had significant doubts (pretty much for the first time) that the Steelers would finish over .500 before the start of the season. Seeing those factors above Id say somebody trying to make sure of it. Not that the opponents are tough but those beatdown games with little chance to recover. 

 

They better jump out to a 3-1 in the first 4 and then 6-2 or 5-3 at worst overall by the bye.  

They could very easily go on a 6 to 8 game losing streak to end the season. 

If you are fortunate enough to "split" those 9 second half games going even 4-5, that Washington game jumping out like a stinker game that Steelers come out flat and unprepared for on top of all of that. 

Im am the least enamored guy of Lamar and the Ravens but if Henry is anything this year at all they are going to be a brutal out and winning one of those games will be fortunate. split the Browns at least and then a healthy Burrow has given us all kind of issues. It would be the upset of the century in my opinion to beat the Chiefs , unless Mahomes is out thats a +8 game for us at best. We dont usually do well against Philly especially going there i believe.  so 3-6 to 4-5 is hopeful in the second half.

Edited May 16 by JustPlainNasty

[JustPlainNasty]

10 minutes ago, 3rivers said:

after week 10 it looks much more difficult now anyways.  Last year this team played better  near the end so if that repeats, then this might be better off. 

did I miss something, I thought it was a 17 game schedule.

is.500 possible now?

its 8 home 9 away.. 17 games, only way 500 is possible is to tie 

[3rivers]

52 minutes ago, JustPlainNasty said:

its 8 home 9 away.. 17 games, only way 500 is possible is to tie 

I forgot about the dreaded tie. 

.500 is possible 

what are you expecting for the final record?

It will be strange to have legit QB play and a legit deep pass  and a legit OC and OL.  

[JustPlainNasty]

1 hour ago, 3rivers said:

I forgot about the dreaded tie. 

.500 is possible 

what are you expecting for the final record?

It will be strange to have legit QB play and a legit deep pass  and a legit OC and OL.  

Im hoping for what I said in the first half  5-3 or 6-2   second half is really TBD..  Could honestly see us embarrassing us all vs Washington looking ahead to the Ravens game and everything after it. Could easily lose that game vs Baltimore if Henry is healthy and doing his thing, if not, the game will likely take its toll on us going forward. Then we go to Browns which for me this is the most brutal ask of the season. We should be ripe for the picking with all kind of walking wounded. Could easily see us losing at least 1 very important defensive player around this time for a few games . Could be 0-3 at this point or 1-2 . I'd say best hope is 2-1. Then on to Cincinatti...Joey B has made us look pretty lousy when hes been healthy. We better have our corner game together. Then vs Browns again , have we even recovered from the first game two weeks earlier?  Then we finally get a division break and head to Philly where we rarely win. Then on a short week to play at Baltimore on a national game on Saturday. Then 4 days later take on the 2x defending Super Bowl champs. Im not buying the resting your players thing, still playing for home field etc. Then one last game vs Cincy.  3-6 

My guess is 8-9 or 9-8. If the QBs don't overwhelm and or we don't have an extra advantage on the kickoff return stuff it could be worse.

[warfelg]

6 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

they kind of did this last year to Pittsburgh more than any team with the short week games, but at least that schedule was soooo much easier

Wanna talk about making things easier:

https://x.com/steelersdepot/status/1791041428464017546?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA

[rlon]

When you have a new QB, new WRs, and up to three positional changes on your OL set to occur, perhaps it’s good that the easier part of your schedule occurs early.

Also of concern,  I am watching tape of WR Sutton, and one thing really stands out. Russell Wilson just holds on to the ball too damn long. It’s like he is looking for the crutch his lost athleticism had previously provided. Sutton was very important to keeping him from looking like one of the worst QBs in the league when they play broke down for no reason other than Russell not seeing things right or pulling the trigger quickly enough. You may say Fields is the same way, but Fields can explode out and take it the distance with his feet. The OL transition, along with Russell’s tendencies, might be a bad recipe and particularly evident early in the season. It is clear that they need to get off to a good start. If they don’t, the Tomlin streak could end (if they don’t make the playoffs, it should).

I believe they know this better than I, so I do believe they trade for Sutton to help Wilson be successful. He showed great instincts, particular around the red zone, to help Wilson make unlikely, clutch completions. There is a chemistry there, at least, and if I am Sutton I want out of Denver ASAP. Nix is not Brees, and he never will be.

[Chieferific]

7 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

its 8 home 9 away.. 17 games, only way 500 is possible is to tie 

Yep. Sorry. Counted 9 away and forgot about bye. I would assume the NFL alternates teams' Home/Away ratio year to year.  

[Dcash4]

8 hours ago, JustPlainNasty said:

Not that the opponents are tough but those beatdown games with little chance to recover. 

I really think it has more to do with the first part. This was always going to be a tough schedule, no matter the timeframes. We have a chance to get off to a fast start like you are mentioning and then survive the end of the season. Personally, I think this team NEEDS that. Gell the o-line, new QB, and play caller and be more ready for November, December football. 

Like you mentioned, I can see 6 wins through Washington (ATL, DEN, LV, NYG, WAS, LAC/IND). Maybe more if you can win the other LAC/IND and get the Jets on prime time (coming off Monday night game against The Bills). If we get there, you need to go .500 over your final 8 to get 10-12 wins. 

Home primetime games against DAL, NYG, and NYJs are big. We leave EST twice, both by week 6. Our first game against Baltimore is 2 weeks off our bye, they will be playing in their 11th straight. 

I don't know -- maybe it's the salesman in me, but the schedule is always just spin. How do you want to spin it? IMO, I would rather us have it this year where we can get away early on with some potential struggles and still stack wins. But it's all going to come down to how well we can play against those big names. It doesn't matter when we play the Chiefs, but I am happier we should be hitting out stride by the time we play those types. 

[warfelg]

20 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

I don't know -- maybe it's the salesman in me, but the schedule is always just spin. How do you want to spin it? IMO, I would rather us have it this year where we can get away early on with some potential struggles and still stack wins. But it's all going to come down to how well we can play against those big names. It doesn't matter when we play the Chiefs, but I am happier we should be hitting out stride by the time we play those types. 

With this the only part that concerns me (but almost every team deals with this) is the multiple short weeks against those tough opponents. I’ve always been of the thought that if you are on a short week it should be a short trip and you were home the previous week. And I wish one of those was against an easier team where we could use base packages and win  

Locked On made a good point (I think it was them) that I don’t like about this schedule and it’s a small thing. I wish the bye week were like week 11/12. That would be a great point if you want to remove Russ for Fields to have enough time to assess Fields but you definitely won’t play him enough to escalate the trade compensation. 

[3rivers]

2 hours ago, warfelg said:

Wanna talk about making things easier:

https://x.com/steelersdepot/status/1791041428464017546?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA

i don't think they will be as much of a problem for us as others think, and not as good overall as the media is pushing

[JustPlainNasty]

17 minutes ago, Dcash4 said:

I really think it has more to do with the first part. This was always going to be a tough schedule, no matter the timeframes. We have a chance to get off to a fast start like you are mentioning and then survive the end of the season. Personally, I think this team NEEDS that. Gell the o-line, new QB, and play caller and be more ready for November, December football. 

Like you mentioned, I can see 6 wins through Washington (ATL, DEN, LV, NYG, WAS, LAC/IND). Maybe more if you can win the other LAC/IND and get the Jets on prime time (coming off Monday night game against The Bills). If we get there, you need to go .500 over your final 8 to get 10-12 wins. 

Home primetime games against DAL, NYG, and NYJs are big. We leave EST twice, both by week 6. Our first game against Baltimore is 2 weeks off our bye, they will be playing in their 11th straight. 

I don't know -- maybe it's the salesman in me, but the schedule is always just spin. How do you want to spin it? IMO, I would rather us have it this year where we can get away early on with some potential struggles and still stack wins. But it's all going to come down to how well we can play against those big names. It doesn't matter when we play the Chiefs, but I am happier we should be hitting out stride by the time we play those types. 

I don't think the first half is easy at all , just not brutal. 

Kirk is a legit QB and they have a very good Oline , two very good RBs and athletically gifted receivers.  Their defense is the question ..the game is no cake walk. 

We go to Denver at altitude, what is our road record there not great. Sean Payton is no dummy, what is Tomlins record vs him , have we won anything vs him ? 1-5 under Tomlin at Denver

Chargers have an actual football coach that isnt an absolute moron. They still have talented WRS they just arent polished yet. 

Indy I think we are better than them but this is one of those games like the Houston game last year. I dont think the QB is anywhere as gifted as a passer but . Id say we should win this one but we sadly have those games. 

Dallas on a SNF game. thats a 5 point game either way if we are legit at the qb position.

at Raiders is not easy and I wonder tbh if as many Steelers fans show up for the game this year cause the ticket prices were outrageous , Im probably not goin tbh. Had that DB picked KP8 last year that was a whole game. They made it close at the end. I trust Oconnell more than Jimmy G , you knew jimmy would screw up. 

vs jets on SNF again. I dunno bout this one I think we are better but could see the RB having a big game

vs Giants on MNF we should win this one. 

 

[Dcash4]

7 minutes ago, JustPlainNasty said:

I don't think the first half is easy at all , just not brutal. 

Kirk is a legit QB and they have a very good Oline , two very good RBs and athletically gifted receivers.  Their defense is the question ..the game is no cake walk. 

We go to Denver at altitude, what is our road record there not great. Sean Payton is no dummy, what is Tomlins record vs him , have we won anything vs him ? 1-5 under Tomlin at Denver

Chargers have an actual football coach that isnt an absolute moron. They still have talented WRS they just arent polished yet. 

Indy I think we are better than them but this is one of those games like the Houston game last year. I dont think the QB is anywhere as gifted as a passer but . Id say we should win this one but we sadly have those games. 

Dallas on a SNF game. thats a 5 point game either way if we are legit at the qb position.

at Raiders is not easy and I wonder tbh if as many Steelers fans show up for the game this year cause the ticket prices were outrageous , Im probably not goin tbh. Had that DB picked KP8 last year that was a whole game. They made it close at the end. I trust Oconnell more than Jimmy G , you knew jimmy would screw up. 

vs jets on SNF again. I dunno bout this one I think we are better but could see the RB having a big game

vs Giants on MNF we should win this one. 

 

None of the NFL is easy, but those games all have their advantages. 

Kirk is very good. He is also coming off an achilles injury that likely limits him this off-season playing on a brand new team with a new, first year OC. Game one is a GREAT time to catch them. I'd far and away rather catch them early than late. 

Same with Denver who is either starting Bo Nix in his second NFL game, Zach Wilson, or Jarrett Stidham. I'm good being Bo's second game. Better than being his 10th. 

Chargers are very much the same. Herbert's the man, but how well he and Greg Roman gell likely isn't a week 3 answer. Better in September than November. 

The Ravens, Bengals, and Browns games are going to be tough because they always are. I don't think I would sacrifice any of the situations above just to spread out the good teams. 

22 minutes ago, warfelg said:

With this the only part that concerns me (but almost every team deals with this) is the multiple short weeks against those tough opponents. I’ve always been of the thought that if you are on a short week it should be a short trip and you were home the previous week. And I wish one of those was against an easier team where we could use base packages and win  

Locked On made a good point (I think it was them) that I don’t like about this schedule and it’s a small thing. I wish the bye week were like week 11/12. That would be a great point if you want to remove Russ for Fields to have enough time to assess Fields but you definitely won’t play him enough to escalate the trade compensation. 

It's back to spin for me: What you lose in a short week you gain in a long one. 

I'd prefer playing Cleveland on Thursday where it's a bus ride away and a team we don't have to prep for vs going to Denver taking on a team we rarely play and a coach we haven't seen in years. The worst part of the Thursday night game is that we get 10 days going into Cinci.....who is coming off their bye. 

I just think this schedule was always going to be rough. You can't hide from the good teams -- but I think the way our schedule is set up we can be as prepared for them as possible. 

[warfelg]

https://x.com/steelersdepot/status/1791104214665773252?s=46&t=xd5QJpZuXv2k7qD0xqd6aA