Welcome to my weekly edition of “Steelers Nation’s Overreactions,” a weekly column where I poke fun at fans, reporters and so-called experts and try to figure out if some of these hot takes are real — or just. To attract attention.
I make fun of a lot of offseason news, but none may be more silly than the stories surrounding the NFL schedule release.
Like free agency and the NFL Draft, schedule releases have their own aura of anticipation. Unlike the other two, we already know what’s going to happen before the full calendar is announced.
I know I spent two percent of my money on mock drafts and how pointless it could be. (Especially when the season isn’t over yet.) The same can be said for free agency, when players are still negotiating with their current team, but various writers are making headlines about a star going to Team Y. Clicked in, only to see him re-sign with Team X.
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However, NFL schedule releases now may be at a level of ridiculousness that eclipses all other clickbait throughout the offseason. The league has perpetuated this madness by distributing breadcrumbs throughout the process, including being the first to announce new international game sites. The NFL then releases smaller amounts of information, but not for every team.
The best thing is when someone leak Plan the schedule a day or two in advance, so that we know at 8 pm Eastern on Wednesday that the entire leak was false. Heck, some leaks contradict each other, making it even more fake to believe. Still, fans will overreact and believe it’s true.
Right now I’m paying attention to a handful of announcements from the Kansas City Chiefs – some that are verified as posted by the team or the league, and others that are rumors.
The Steelers are no exception to this nonsense, their Week 1 game has been leaked, as new offensive coordinator Arthur Smith travels with the team to face his former employer, the Atlanta Falcons.
The other hot rumor about the Steelers is a Christmas Day game, which is already being planned as part of a new exclusive streaming partnership between the NFL and Netflix. The smoke surrounding this fire is probably true, as Netflix will likely be seeking the largest audience possible for its $150 million-per-game deal.
What’s a bigger audience for TV ratings than Steelers Nation? Not much.
Then “Who and where do they play?” It’s madness. Well, it was already decided how the NFL schedule is calculated each season. In fact, we knew all but two or three opponents before the 2023 season started, as the league is on a rotating schedule. The Steelers will always play six games against their division rivals, the Bengals, Browns, Ravens. They play these opponents twice each, one game at home and the other away.
The AFC North then challenges two other divisions altogether: one from the AFC (AFC West) and one from the NFC (NFC East). These four opponents from each division (eight games) are the Steelers, Bengals, Browns. And Ravens in every season.
This includes 14 of the 17 games on the schedule. The remaining three games are filled by finding an opponent with a common finish. Other The two AFC Division North teams are not already playing. (The AFC East and AFC South are represented by the Jets and Colts, respectively.) The final game is rotated between home and away each season, against an overall common finish opponent from the NFC. (This season it will be the Atlanta Falcons.)
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The question mark that remains is when these teams will face each other. With primetime options available on Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays in the winter, and now on Friday or Saturday nights, the curiosity of fans looking to plan to attend these games is at an all time high.
The old-fashioned tried-and-true Sunday 1 p.m. ET kickoff is long gone, so those of us who plan our weekends in the fall around the NFL schedule have been patiently waiting to see Will we even have some fair weather games if we need to extend dinner time during the holidays. stay tuned!
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