Dale Lolley

We now know not only who the Steelers will face in 2025, but when they will play those games.

And that's the more important part of the equation, one the Steelers learned the hard way in 2024.

There are always little things to look for when the NFL releases its schedule. For example, does a team play three consecutive road games in three weeks? Or, as the Steelers did last season, are they forced to play three games in a short span of time?

This year's schedule includes none of those potential pitfalls for the Steelers. The Steelers also are not playing any games on holidays, another little scheduling fluke that came their way in 2024.

Heading into Week 14 in 2024, the Steelers were 10-3 and in first place in the AFC North.

Then, in the span of 11 days, they played at Philadelphia, at Baltimore and then at home on Christmas Day against the Chiefs, losing all three games.

It was a brutal stretch of games.

Some will argue the Chiefs, Ravens and Texans, the other teams forced to play on Christmas Day last season which fell on a Wednesday also faced having to play three games in 11 days, and that's certainly true. What those other teams did not have to do was play three teams who finished with a combined record of 41-10, with the first two of those games coming on the road.

The Chiefs, for example, played the Browns (3-14), Texans (10-7) and Steelers (10-7), teams who finished with a combined 23-28 record. Baltimore's stretch came against the Giants (3-14), Steelers (10-7) and Texans (10-7), which was, again, three teams with a combined 23-28 record.

The NFL doesn't know which teams are going to be good and which ones are not when it builds the schedule, but it does have a pretty good idea. That's why certain teams get more primetime games than others heading into the season.

This season, for example, the Browns have just one standalone game. That's the NFL telling us that it doesn't think Cleveland will be a compelling team to watch this season.

The Steelers have five standalone games in 2025, including their Week 4 game in Dublin against the Vikings.

The Steelers' games also are all properly spread out this year, as well. In only two instances are they playing on a short week, those coming in Week 7, when they travel to Cincinnati for a Thursday night game and in Week 16 when they travel to Detroit after hosting the Dolphins in a Monday night game.

That's a more normal schedule. Last season, they played five different games on short weeks, all of which came in their final 10 games.

Other things to look at when assessing a team's schedule include where the team is playing at certain times of the season and whether the team is breaking in a young quarterback or has a new coaching staff.

For example, playing games in Florida early in the season puts cooler weather teams at a disadvantage, while having warm-weather teams travel to cold weather cities late in the season is the opposite.

Meanwhile, a new coaching staff working with a young quarterback can take some time to iron out the kinks.

The Steelers' first four opponents in 2025 all will have some newness to them as will the Steelers.

In Week 1, rookie head coach Aaron Glenn and the Jets will host the Steelers. The Jets also will have a first-time play caller, Tanner Engstrand, coordinating their offense for new quarterback Justin Fields.

In Week 2, the Steelers face the Seahawks at home. Seattle has a new quarterback in Sam Darnold, and he'll be working with new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak.

In Week 3, the Steelers are at New England. And while head coach Mike Vrabel and offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels have plenty of experience, second-year quarterback Drake Maye, who has 12 career starts, will be learning a new offense.

In Dublin in Week 4, the Steelers play the Vikings, who will still be breaking in second-year quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who missed his entire rookie season because of injury.

The Steelers have their bye in Week 5 and come out of the bye to host the Browns in Week 6. By then, it's anyone's guess who will be starting at quarterback for Cleveland.

Meanwhile, the Steelers also host the Dolphins, a warm-weather team to be sure, in a Dec. 15 Monday night game at Acrisure Stadium. Sounds chilly.

With the trade of George Pickens to the Cowboys, the Steelers are back in the same place they were a year ago at least in theory.

They have an established go-to receiver in DK Metcalf, acquired via trade with the Seattle Seahawks. And in that regard, they might be in better shape than they were a year ago. In reality, Metcalf has a much more proven track record than Pickens did a year ago heading into his third NFL season.

That's no knock on Pickens. In six NFL seasons, Metcalf has three 1,000-yard seasons, has had over 900 receiving yards in every year and has been at 967 or more yards in each of the past five seasons. He's also averaged 8 touchdowns per year.

It's undeniable that Metcalf is a more proven commodity.

But where the Steelers are better than they were last year at this time is in their knowledge of the other players on their roster.

In 2023, Calvin Austin III had 17 catches for 180 yards and one touchdown. Last season, he had 36 receptions for 548 yards and four scores.

There is now tangible evidence that he's a viable NFL receiver.

The Steelers were in a similar spot with Austin two years ago that they are with 2024 third-round pick Roman Wilson now. Like Austin, Wilson missed his rookie season because of injuries.

The difference is that, unlike Austin, who was unable to practice at all during his rookie season, Wilson did get to come back for the final few weeks of the season and at least get onto the practice field. So, even though he was never activated from IR, the coaching staff got an opportunity to see him work.

Adding veteran Robert Woods a couple of weeks ago in free agency is comparable to having Van Jefferson on the roster. But the bottom line is that the Steelers have much more information about Austin and Wilson than they did a year ago.

Dale Lolley is co-host of "SNR Drive" on Steelers Nation Radio. Subscribe to the podcast here:Apple Podcast|iHeart [email protected]

"I know people make a comparison about last year. It's not even close to being the same," Steelers GM Omar Khan said. "We've made an investment with DK. We've had another year with some of the young guys and gotten to know them, watch them develop.

"Roman's healthy. I've seen him the last couple weeks out here and how he's doing, and we saw how he was progressing at the end of last year. Obviously he didn't get the chance to get on the field, but there was some excitement there. But we have a good group. We've seen their growth and have another year under our belt with them. And feel good about it."

That doesn't mean the Steelers won't continue to look to add to that group. But they can make the right move rather than making one out of desperation simply to add a body, any body, to the group.

That's what happened last season when they went down several different avenues to attempt to acquire another receiver before eventually settling on a trade deadline deal for Mike Williams.

Williams, who was a year removed from an ACL injury, turned out to not be the answer, catching nine passes for 132 yards and one touchdown in nine games.

Having more information about Austin and Wilson allows the Steelers the luxury of being a little more choosy about who they add to that group this time around.

In addition to the regular season schedule, the NFL announced its international slate of games earlier this week. And this year's group of games includes a twist, including the first schedule with seven international contests.

The Steelers' opponent in Dublin Sept. 28, the Minnesota Vikings, will be staying in Europe and playing the Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London Oct. 5.

Previously, the only team to play twice in Europe in the same season had been Jacksonville, which has played every season but one in London since 2013, a total of 13 games overall.

The Vikings will be the visiting team in both of their international games and the first team to play games in back-to-back weeks in different countries.

Even with a game in Dublin this season, the Steelers still have one of the shortest travel schedules in the NFL with 15,062 air miles ninth fewest. That's the beauty of playing in the AFC North, one of, if not the most, geographically correct divisions in the league.

Because of that, the Steelers aren't alone in the division in terms of little travel this season. The Bengals will log the fewest air miles in the league at 8,753. Baltimore has the third-fewest at 10,647, while Cleveland is eighth at 15,028.

The team that will log the most air miles in 2025? The Chargers at 37,086, four times as many as the Bengals will fly this season. It is 10,000 more air travel miles than the next closest team.

For comparison sake, if the Chargers decided to hop on a plane and circle the earth at the equator, they would travel just under 25,000 miles.