Steelers 2012 Regular Season Schedule
Date Opponent Time** (TV)
Sun., Sept. 9 at Denver 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
Sun., Sept. 16 N.Y. Jets 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Sept. 23 at Oakland 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Sept. 30 BYE ---
Sun., Oct. 7 Philadelphia 1:00 p.m. (FOX)
Thurs., Oct. 11 at Tennessee 8:20 p.m. (NFL Network)
Sun., Oct. 21 at Cincinnati 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
Sun., Oct. 28 Washington 1:00 p.m. (FOX)
Sun., Nov. 4 at N.Y. Giants 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Mon., Nov. 12 Kansas City 8:30 p.m. (ESPN)
Sun., Nov. 18 Baltimore 8:20 p.m. (NBC)
Sun., Nov. 25 at Cleveland 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Dec. 2 at Baltimore 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Dec. 9 San Diego 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Dec. 16 at Dallas 4:15 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Dec. 23 Cincinnati 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
Sun., Dec. 30 Cleveland 1:00 p.m. (CBS)
After parting ways with so many veteran players this offseason, the young Pittsburgh Steelers are going to be challenged in many ways in the 2012-13 season. The NFL still has confidence that they will put on a good show though; the Steelers have five –yes five – primetime games this year. Week one has the Steelers traveling to Denver for their playoff rematch against the Broncos. Weeks six and seven will feature the Steelers on the NFL Network at Tennessee and on NBC at Cincinnati, respectively. Also, weeks ten and eleven are primetime games, with the Steelers hosting the Chiefs on Monday Night Football and hosting the Ravens the following week on NBC.
Further Breakdown
I’ll give you the bad before I give you the good. Only three of the Steeler’s first eight games are at home. That’s not horrible –they weren’t bad on the road last year –but their bye week is also on week four. A week four bye means the Steelers will be playing 13 games in a row after that, not including playoffs. If the Steelers cannot stay healthy, they will be doomed should they make the playoffs.
Over the course of weeks 11 through 13, the Steelers play the Ravens twice. I’m not sure what to make of this one; it’s a lot better than playing the Ravens in week one, but those games are very demanding and will have a tremendous impact on the AFC North. This three week stretch, coupled with the week four bye, could potentially hurt Pittsburgh a lot.
The good news of the Steelers 2012-13 schedule seems to slightly outweigh the bad. Since most of the road games will be knocked out at the beginning of the year, five of the last eight games on the schedule are at Heinz Field.
The Steelers must travel to Denver, Oakland and Dallas this year, but two of those three games are in the first three weeks of the season. Pittsburgh must make a late season trip to Dallas which could potentially be bad, but I’m sure the Cowboys will be in the middle of self-destructing, so I don’t think they will be too big of a problem. The last three home games include the Chargers, Bengals and Browns, a great trio to prime the Steelers for the playoffs.
Conclusion
It’s quite difficult to gauge how the Steelers will perform this year; they have the 14th hardest schedule in terms of opponents winning percentage, which isn’t too incredibly hard, but they cleaned house this offseason. The veteran presence will be missed, so it will be up to the younger players, led by Ben Roethlisberger, to step up and make the plays.
Prediction
Against the AFC North: 4-2 – A loss to the Ravens and Bengals. Sweep the Browns, duh.
Against the AFC East: 3-1 – A loss to the Broncos. The Chargers cannot beat the Steelers, and the Chiefs and Raiders simply will not be good enough to beat Pittsburgh.
Against the NFC East: 2-2 – A loss to the Giants and another team from this division, although I can’t say which one. The Steelers always find a way to lose a game they shouldn’t, and the youth of the Steelers coupled with the unfamiliarity with these NFC teams will provide a loss.
Against remaining teams: 2-0 – The two remaining teams are the Jets and the Titans. The Titans always put up a fight, but they will not be able to get over the Pittsburgh hump this year. The Jets suck. Tebow is not a good quarterback and neither is Sanchez. Rex Ryan is fat and their defense is old. Steelers get the easy win.
Final record: 11-5 – The Steelers youth together with the difficulty of this schedule will earn the Steelers a wildcard spot, where they should be able to make some noise in the playoffs if they manage to stay healthy.
Written by Nathan Rothrock follow him on twitter @rothrock88
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