2015 NFL Schedule: Pittsburgh Steelers Facing Difficult Slate Next Fall
By Harv Aronson
Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ official schedule for the 2015 season has been released, there is already signs of panic in Steelers Nation.
That’s because the Black and Gold’s opponents for next season won 120 of 207 games played in 2014.
Of the 13 teams the Steelers will play in 2015 (naturally playing the Bengals, Browns, and Ravens twice), the winning percentage of those foes is a league-leading .579.
Many are predicting a difficult road to hoe for Pittsburgh given the schedule appointed to them. Nine of the 2015 opponents were in the postseason last year. Of the 16 games to be played, including the six games against AFC North divisional teams, nine of those teams finished with records above .500.
The only sub-500 teams the Steelers will play are against the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders. In the second game of the season, Pittsburgh will be at home to host the 49ers who finished a disappointing 8-8 in 2014.
With the NFL draft still to come, is there reason to be nervous about the schedule? Given the quality of opponents it is difficult not to have some trepidation about the 2015 schedule.
But there are those who believe that to be the best, you must BEAT the best. Then there are coaches and teams who would prefer to skate to the post-season with a soft schedule and then take their chances of playing well enough to make the Super Bowl.
Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin does not seem to have that kind of attitude. Given his personality, one would believe that he’d rather face the best teams and earn a shot in the post-season.
While the schedule is certainly difficult, without key injuries and the players that make up this current roster, there is no reason to not believe this team can return to the playoffs for a second straight season.
Without knowing who the Steelers will be drafting in the process that begins next Thursday (April 30), and considering the makeup of the current roster, here’s a look into the crystal ball of what to expect for each game in 2015 follows.
NFL 2015 season opener
The Steelers get a shot right out of the gate at the defending Super Bowl champions. This will be the first Thursday night league opener between these two teams and in eight meetings in New England, Pittsburgh has won half of those games. Gillette Stadium is a difficult place to play and the crowd will be raucous in welcoming their returning champs.
Noise and adversity has never been a problem for the Steelers but not having Le’Veon Bell in the lineup for this game due to his suspension will hurt. With that said, Darrell Revis is a Patriot no more, so perhaps Ben Roethlisberger can take advantage of a weakened Patriots secondary.
10-Day Break
Pittsburgh returns home 10 days after the New England battle to host the San Francisco 49ers who will be sporting a new head coach and a rejuvenated Colin Kaepernick. The 49ers had a multitude of clubhouse and on-the-field issues in 2014 so it remains to be seen how they recover from the adversity.
Banging Hats with the Rams
For St. Louis, the Sam Bradford short lived era is over and the reigns have been passed on to Austin Davis or perhaps Shaun Hill unless another QB surpasses them on the depth chart in training camp this summer. For Pittsburgh, there should be no reason to lose this road game.
Prime Time with the Ravens
In the first of two games aginst heated rivals the Baltimore Ravens, the two teams return to national television in this Thursday night matchup that will take place at Heinz Field. These two teams have always put on a good show.
Heading West
In week five the Steelers continue the trend of one-away-one-home-one-away by flying out to San Diego to tackle a Chargers team that is determined to improve on their 2014 performance. Quarterback Philip Rivers has been the topic of many trade rumors in the off-season but if he is still wearing the powder blue for this Monday Night Football appearance he as always may give Pittsburgh fits.
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Since replacing Drew Brees in 2006, Rivers and his teams have won two of the five games played between these two clubs. That includes that bizarre 11-10 victory by Pittsburgh in 2008. Keep in mind this game is on a Monday night where Pittsburgh has an outstanding won/loss record.
Heinz Will Have Cards
The Arizona Cardinals and the Steelers have played just twice since 2009 with the game on February 1, 2009 going into the books as one of the most memorable and exciting Super Bowl battles to ever take place. All Steelers fans remember Santonio Holmes and Roethlisberger as the heroes of that Steelers victory and the two teams had a rematch in the regular season out west in 2011 won again by Pittsburgh.
Four years later almost to the date, another game will take place but this time in Pittsburgh. Since moving to Phoenix in 1988, the Steelers have won five of eight games played between these two teams.
Hello Arrowhead
The last three games in this head-to-head series have been won by Pittsburgh. All of those contests were close and two were at Heinz Field. The matchups between these two dates back to 1970. 30 games have been played and the Steelers own 20 victories. Playing in noisy Kansas City is always difficult and the Chiefs are coming off a disappointing 9-7 season after winning 11 games the season before.
Starting the Trifecta
As a three game home stand begins, Pittsburgh will start with the Cincinnati Bengals. Last year, Cincinnati was the defending AFC North Division champions but Pittsburgh unseated them and now takes the field as the new defending champs. This could and should be the year where Andy Dalton needs to get his team deeper into the post-season but like Pittsburgh the Bengals face a difficult schedule.
Don’t Tread Lightly
As the improved Oakland Raiders come to town, this represents the type of game that could prove to be a “letdown” game. The Steelers have a history of beating the best teams and losing to the worst in the regular season. They need to bring their “A” game for all 16 on the schedule and that includes this one against a team that won just three games in 2014.
Will There Be Johnny Football?
The rookie campaign of Cleveland’s Johnny Manziel was a fiasco. Now he’s been through rehab and according to the Cleveland Browns will be a better player and person. Will that reflect on his chances of starting full time? He was thrown to the wolves late last season replacing Brian Hoyer and failed to last one game leaving with an injury.
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But he is the least of Cleveland’s problems as they try to improve on the surprising seven wins they accumulated last season. The Steelers OWN the Browns having won 20 of the last 23 games played and own a 68-58 record when playing the Browns. Most of those losses came pre-1970 and since the Browns returned to Cleveland in 1999, the Steelers have won 27 of 33 games played. That includes 12 in a row from 2003 through 2009
Playing against the 12th Man
After finally getting their bye week in the 11th week of the season, the Steelers will go back west to play in CenturyLink Field not only against the defending NFC champion Seahawks but against their rabid fans known commonly as “The 12th Man.” Perhaps the most difficult place to play in the NFL, Pittsburgh will have their hands full.
Playoff Bound?
At this point in the season with five games to go, the Steelers should begin to get an idea of where they stand in returning to the post-season. The schedule does not get any easier for the remainder of the season and the final five begins with a road to trip to Indianapolis.
The Colts and Steelers had a history making game last season with Pittsburgh wiping out Indy 51-34 and Ben Roethlisberger getting into the record books with a 522-yard passing performance, six touchdown passes, and zero interceptions. Big Ben missed on only nine passes to boot. Andrew Luck was not too shabby either with 400 passing yards and three touchdown tosses. Can the two QBs repeat those performances? Highly unlikely.
Northern Stretch Run
In Pittsburgh’s final four games of 2015, three will be against divisional foes. Cincinnati comes first hosting the Steelers in week 14. The final four games could be very crucial for the Steelers as they try to return to the playoffs for a second straight season.
Peyton’s Last Stand?
Could 2015 be Peyton Manning’s farewell tour? That probably depends on the level of success he achieves and how well the Broncos play. Looking at Manning’s stats in 2014 they were as solid as ever with 4,727 yards passing and 39 touchdowns. But it was his playoff performance he’d like to forget and that is probably the sole reason the 38-year old decided to come back for at least another season.
Going Prime One More Time
In their final national television appearance of five they will make in 2015, Pittsburgh is on the road at M&T Stadium to take on Baltimore. Again, this game could prove crucial to either team’s playoff hopes.
Finishing with Cleveland Again
In the last five years, Pittsburgh and Cleveland found themselves playing against each other in the season finale four times, the Steelers winning them all. In 2011 it was by a landslide, 41-9. 2012’s version was much closer (13-9). But in 2012, Pittsburgh prevailed 24-10 and then again in 2013 20-7. For Cleveland, the 2015 game will most likely represent an opportunity to salvage another dismal season and maybe upend Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes.
16 games, 13 opponents, but how many wins? Pittsburgh ended a two-year drought of not making the post-season last year. Over the course of their history there have been only two seasons that Pittsburgh qualified for the playoffs that was sandwiched in between two non-playoff years.
The first time was in 1947 but that game in which they lost to the Philadelphia Eagles was only played to determine a division winner. The next occurrence was in 1989 as the Steelers were coming off a non-playoff season but lost to the Denver Broncos 24-23 and then failed to return to the post-season in the 1990 season.
All other playoff seasons in their history they either made it in two consecutive seasons or more. So is it feasible that the Pittsburgh Steelers could win somewhere between 9-11 of these difficult 2015 games? Judging by how the team looks right now and how their opponents shape up, it’s conceivable that they could win at least 10 games.