Knee-Jerk Reactions to the Steelers 2021 regular-season schedule

Knee-jerk Reactions are immediate responses to a situation without taking the time to analyze the situation. As sports fans, we typically do this every time our team takes the field or is in the news for one reason or another. Steelers’ fans are no different. As is the custom, knee jerk thoughts are recorded in real time and are published immediately after each Steelers game. It’s the BTSC version of shooting first and apologizing later. So with that being said, I’m going to employ that philosophy here during the NFL schedule release. Here are my initial reactions to the Steelers season-to-be.

• We found out officially this morning the Steelers will visit the Bills in Week 1. Make it seven straight seasons opening up on the road.
• Already lots of leaks, now it’s time to see if they were right
• If the NFL wants to repay the Steelers for no bye in 2020, they should give them a late one this year.
• So much for the late bye
• Week 7 isn’t the most horrible thing ever, but it’s 11 straight games to finish the season.
• Five 1 PM games at home is nice for fans who travel from out of town.
• To nobody’s surprise, the Steelers are scheduled for five prime time games.
• Having to travel to Minnesota on a short week after playing the Ravens? Yikes!
• Last year the Steelers were scheduled to be done playing the Ravens before December. This year they don’t see them until December.
• No holiday games will make Jeff Hartman happy, unless you count Halloween. Do they give out Tofurkey for trick-or-treat?
• Having back-to-back home games early in the season against teams that didn’t make the playoffs last year could help the Steelers get on a roll. Or it could have them in trouble if they can’t pull those games out.
• We knew the Steelers had the toughest schedule in the league before they even announced when the games are being played, so it’s not like there’s any really big surprises.
• The more I think about the bye week, the angrier I get. With 18 weeks, the Steelers are stuck with an early bye yet again.
• The end of the season is a pretty tough stretch. Five of the final six games are against teams that made the playoffs in 2020. The only team that didn’t is on the road on a Thursday.
• As Mike Tomlin always says, all you can do is play the team you are scheduled to play. Now we know who those teams are going to be. Can’t wait!

There you have my knee jerks. I’m going to sleep on these and we’ll see how they hold up in the morning.