Schedule 2014

[pfelix73]

NO west Coast Games! Looks like Tenn and Jax are the farthest they have to travel. That's awesome and should be a huge advantage for them.

[SidSmythe]

We play 6 ELITE QBs this year. That's an easy schedule.

[sick beats]

That seems like one of the easiest schedules I can remember seeing in a long time. I realize the competitive balance of the league makes it tough to predict the contenders and pretenders each year, but our schedule looks to be a veritable cupcake festival. Outside of the division, only Indy, KC, New Orleans, and maybe Carolina seem to have the potential to be good...but none of them all that good. Plus we have all of them at home.

That's also easily the latest bye week I can ever remember seeing. Great chance to give the players a rest over the Thanksgiving holiday and ready for the stretch run.

That is the most advantageous bye date I can recall. I hate when it comes too early, before the team really needs it. Although this schedule seems fairly easy, we all know anything can change. A team like the Texans or even Jags could rise up and beat us. You just don't know. It's hard to tell when teams are actually improving even if their records are not. Every year some teams seemingly come out of no where to become good, like KC and Philly last year. Panthers could be a tough outing with that defense and Cam. Running QBs give us trouble, usually. Even Pryer in Oakland last year beat us. I think this could be our best year since 2008. Just got to stay healthy and allow Ben to go no huddle and we win the div.

[hawaiiansteel]

Mark Kaboly @MarkKaboly_Trib:

I guess you can call them EARLY favorites: #Steelers 5-point favorites over Cleveland Week 1.

[URL]https://twitter.com/MarkKaboly_Trib[/URL]

[fordfixer]

[url]http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=nflnation&id=124472&src=desktop[/url]



AFC NORTH
10-6
The Ravens still have the look of an 8-8 team, although a lot can happen in the draft. What really helps the Ravens is playing against the AFC South and NFC South, two of the weaker divisions in the league. The Ravens could face three teams starting rookie quarterbacks (Houston, Jacksonville and Cleveland), which will inflate the win total. -- Jamison Hensley

10-6
Because of how weak the Bengals' strength of schedule is -- 23rd -- it's hard to think they'll have anything worse than a nine-win season. With a rather favorable mix of challenging prime-time home games and a few lengthy stretches of home and road games (they play three straight at home across October and November before going on the road for three straight in November), 10 wins are possible for the Bengals. -- Coley Harvey

6-10
The Browns have made some improvements, but until the draft and until we see Brian Hoyer play, it's tough to say they're greatly improved. The schedule appeared favorable until the dates were released, but it's tough to be overly positive about a team that has not given reason for optimism for 15 years. -- Pat McManamon

10-6
The schedule is favorable with only one game out of the Eastern time zone and only two road contests against teams that had a winning record last season. The offense will carry a defense that is in transition and the Steelers will return to the playoffs after missing it in consecutive seasons for the first time under coach Mike Tomlin. -- Scott Brown

[JDSteeler]

Last season, it appeared to me, that the NFL had it out for the Steelers. MT's incident with the sideline was a major distraction, even if it really wasn't a big deal. It pissed off the NFL.

It was very obvious to me, that in no way, were the Chiefs going to beat the Chargers, and send us to the Playoffs. The refs don't miss two obvious calls, just because. The NFL wanted the Steelers OUT. Call it FIXED, or whatever you want, it was douchebaggery!

However, the NFL and Mr. Goodell have slowly softened their stance...

So I wanted to thank the NFL (still FIXED, and Soft), for a few things.

#1. Good news started for the Steelers when MT and the Steelers were told they would not lose a draft pick. Thank you NFL, Thank You!

#2. The Steelers get to open at HOME vs the Browns. Ben hates the Browns for not drafting him; add another "W" to the win column (20-1). Thank You NFL, Thank You! (1-0).

#3. The Steelers, only, TNF Game is in Week 2. The team is still fresh, after just one game, so traveling this early is no big deal. Thank You NFL, Thank You! (2-0).

#4. Four roadies in the first 6 games. Two vs teams with virtually unknown QB's, another with a hurt QB with no WR's, and a RAT! Thank you NFL! Thank You! (6-0).

#5. Three Home games in a row. Two, of which, are Prime-Time!. Thank You NFL, Thank You! (9-0).

#6. Two more roadies, in a row, vs teams with no established QB! Thank You NFL, Thank You! (11-0).

#7. The Bye-Week! Scheduled for the last possible week of the season. Thanks for letting the Steelers celebrate Thanksgiving with their families! Thank You NFL, Thank You!

#8. Scheduling the game vs the Saints in Pittsburgh during the winter!. Hopefully the field will be muddy. Thank You NFL! Thank you! (12-0).

#9. Scheduling the Saints, and the next four games at 10:00 am PST!! Flex-Schedule is N/A!! I hate waiting for 1:00pm games. Thank You NFL, Thank You!

#10. Scheduling KC in Pittsburgh, so the SteelerNation can get revenge on K Succop for screwing us out of the Playoffs!! Thank You NFL, Thank You!

#11. Scheduling Week #17 vs the Bungals. We will delight in taking the Bungals behind the Heinz Field "Wood-Shed" for a BEAT-DOWN!! Thank You NFL, Thank You!! (16-0).

There you have it, a sincere, consice break-down of the "Thank You's" to the NFL.

I will continue to THANK the NFL on a per Thank you basis, all year!!

Thanks NFL for everything so far!!!!

JD

[sick beats]

I am just glad the Jag game is in Oct. and not Sept. - early Oct., but still Oct.

Sept. games in J-ville, at 1:00 can be brutal, just in the stands. I can't imagine actually playing in that heat. Avg. temps early Oct. are in low 80s. That is a world of difference to low and mid 90's.

[url]http://fs.weatherspark.com.s3.amazonaws.com/production/reports/month/000/030/631/8a2a3575/10/daily_high_and_low_temperature_in_october_temperat ure_f.png[/url]

[sick beats]

#2. The Steelers get to open at HOME vs the Browns. Ben hates the Browns for not drafting him; add another "W" to the win column (20-1). Thank You NFL, Thank You! (1-0).

I never heard that and don't believe it. Ben knows that the Browns have been a cluster F for as long as he has been in the league, and I think he knows him as the Brown QB would not have changed that, he would be playing for a horrid team his entire career. You don't think he is glad he was drafted by Pgh instead of cLEAVEland? I mean, if it gives him extra motivation, whatever works, but I just doubt he wishes he was drafted by CLE.

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers 2014 schedule looks to be a tough battle

By Jack Finn on Apr 24 2014



The Steelers 2014 schedule was released last night, giving us full details on when and where games would be played. At a glance, the Steelers schedule appears to be a hard one, with 5 play-off teams from last year in the mix. The Steelers may struggle to bounce back from an 8-8 season.

Predicting a team's chance of success based off a schedule on paper may well be the ultimate fan fallacy, but it is one we all fall prey to.

Glancing up and down the 2013 schedule I was grinning ear to ear, almost certain the Steelers were going to go at least 10-6. But as we are all too aware that wasn't the case. The quality of a team in December is rarely what it was supposed to be in April. One need look no further than the dismal seasons enjoyed by the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Texans as proof of that. The list of things that can wreck a season is extensive, injuries being the principal culprit.

Likewise a team can rise from the ashes like the Kansas City Chiefs of 2013, scuppering any predictions that were based around them. And of course, there is a tendency to inflate your own team's ability, much like I did in 2012 and 2013.

So given all that, it's clear that schedule based predictions are far from an exact science. But it's April, we're all starved for things to talk about, and it's to look down the table and see win after win.

Only this time, I'm not filled with the characteristic confidence of a fan in April.

The Panthers, Texans, Colts, Falcons, Chiefs and Saints are six teams straight from the off that give me cause for concern. The Panthers are never going to be an easy out, possessing a fantastic defense and an offense that did just enough (sound familiar) to win often last season.

I know I used the Texans and Falcons as an example of a season gone awry above, but I think it's a fair to assume, especially in the Falcons case, a return to loftier heights is on the cards. The Texans have the two of the better defensive players in the league in Cushing and Watt (obviously), as well as two dynamic receivers, a quality running back, one of the better offensive lines and the number one slot in the draft. The Falcons have enough firepower on offense to stand toe to toe with Napoleonic France, never mind the Steelers middle of the road defense.

The Saints, Colts and Chiefs speak for themselves as three play-off calibre teams. The Colts and Chiefs only stand to get better, and although the Saints suffered a few cap casualties in the off-season a team with Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham and Sean Payton will always be dangerous.

So those are the "obvious" teams that look to provide a stern challenge for the Steelers, but when you look at the "winnable" and "easy" games, things don't get much better. The Buccaneers, Jaguars, Jets and Titans fall into the category of definitely winnable games in April, but I won't be gambling the house on the results of these games.

First of all, a team like the Steelers have no right to lay claim to winnable or easy games against lesser competition. If anything, we are now the team that other fans are circling off as winnable, if not that then they are already chalking one up in the win column.

The Bucs have boatloads of talent on both sides of the ball, and now that they are clear of the oppressive Shiano regime and under the guidance of defensive guru Lovie Smith maybe they'll put it together. Questions at quarterback could sink them, but at any rate I won't dismiss them.

The Jets were the very definition of a Jekyll and Hyde team last season, but they still boast an effective defense, with the best 3-4 defensive end tandem in the league as well as what appears to be a bolstered running game with the addition of Chris Johnson. It's certainly a winnable game, we beat them with relative ease in 2013 ,but it's not in the bank.

Everything about the Titan's screams win, but the Steelers have lost two winnable games in 2012 and 2013 to this very team, so discounting them would be foolish.

Gus Bradley has done a good job with the Jaguars, taking his energy and enthusiasm from Seattle and transporting it to Florida. However, I don't think the Jaguars are there yet. This is the only game on the schedule I'm prepared to unequivocally say the Steelers should win

Divisional games are extremely difficult to predict, because funny things can and often do seem to happen. This is amplified by the fact that the difference in talent between all the AFC North teams is, on paper at least, wafer thin.

You would like to chalk up two wins against the Browns, but that team has a lot of individual talent and two first round picks to play with. As Neal Coolong rightly pointed out, playing the Ravens coming off a short week for the third season in a row is just plain nonsense. But above and beyond that, the statistics for the last 16 games the Ravens and Steelers have played indicate an astoundingly close rivalry, there's never been any less of a sure thing. The Bengals can be seen as the cream of the AFC North crop but the ass whoopin' the Steelers handed down to them last season after losing the first tilt clearly demonstrates that this matchup is still absolutely in the balance.

Things get a little more optimistic when looking at the home/away splits. Heinz Field has not exactly been a fortress in the mould of Century Link Field the last couple of years, but playing a team at home has innumerable benefits. Taking on the Colts, Chiefs, Texans and Saints in Pittsburgh will be a huge boost in what presumes to be the Steelers most challenging match ups. Taking the Saints away from their precious dome in particular could prove the difference.

The Bucs at home could push a game that isn't necessarily a sure thing into the favour of the Steelers, whereas travelling to New York and Tennessee puts more strain on two potentially winnable games. The same could also be said of having to play in Jacksonville. Playing in Atlanta and Carolina is obviously not ideal, and makes two apparently very tough fixtures even harder.

As I've said before schedule predictions are so far from accurate it's almost a pointless exercise, but that is not going to stop anyone from trying. I expect the Steelers to win at least 4 divisional games, either both against the Browns or sneaking one in Baltimore or Cincinnati. Combine that with presumptive wins over the Buccaneers and the Jaguars and I'm fairly confident the Steelers will get a minimum of 6 wins in 2014. With two losses in the division, and my expectations of losses away to the Falcons and the Panthers, the Steelers are sitting on a hypothetical 6-4.

Above that, I honestly couldn't say what will happen. Four home games against the Colts, Texans, Chiefs and Saints will provide a statement about where this team is at, as will the two road games against the Jets and Titans. A good team, that is a play-off calibre team, will come away 4-2 from these 6 matches. But to be honest, I don't trust the Steelers to come away 3-3, never mind 4-2.

Based on my own gut feelings about where teams will be next year, I'm cautiously pessimistic of the Steelers reaching the hallowed grounds of 10-6; 6-10 seems just as likely a scenario.

[URL]http://www.behindthesteelcurtain.com/latest-news/2014/4/24/5646692/steelers-2014-schedule-looks-to-be-a-tough-battle[/URL]