The Pittsburgh Steelers begin their 2004 campaign hosting their greatest AFC Rival in the 70's, the Oakland Raiders. They immediately are forced on the road by the Pirates who play home games the second and third week's of September. Baltimore and Miami on the road and then back home to face division rivals Cincinnati & Cleveland. They finish out the early stretch traveling to another huge 70's rival in Dallas. I was personally hoping for the Thanksgiving draw, but Chicago apparently was a more interesting rival on Turkey Day. With the spooks and specters out on Halloween, the Defending Champs will travel into Pittsburgh for a late afternoon game. Hopefully the Steelers can do something that they've had trouble doing over the last few seasons in beating the Patriots. They've also been soft after the bye week, so it could be a rough go. The only lucky draw here is that we get New England & Philadelphia at home back to back. Having to follow that up with Cincinnati & Cleveland on the road doesn't seem so bad. Coming back home to Joe Gibbs and the Redskins should be another interesting matchup. I wonder if it will be Brunell or Ramsey at the halfway point in the season... The Steelers have always struggled playing Brunell. Speaking of Brunell, the Steelers get to play their only prime time game against his old team. Pittsburgh travels to Jacksonville to what some might call a "yawner", but I see it as a premium matchup. Jacksonville and Pittsburgh could have two of the better AFC defenses this season so expect a battle on December 5th. The schedule is definitely softer after Philadelphia. 6 of the last 8 opponents of the Steelers had double digit losses last season and only Baltimore made the playoffs. A home game and then a road game versus the New York teams which are always a toss up and then they play host again to the Ravens. The Steelers have owned the Ravens up until the season finale last year. But even that game was closer than the critics thought it would be. The season ends in Buffalo where Coach Cowher faces his student, ex-offensive coordinator, Mike Mularkey. Buffalo in January will be a fun place to play. Hopefully Duce & Bettis still have some go left. They could definitely be pushing some snow that day. All in all, the Steelers truly did not have many bad draws. They have no West Coast trips. They play some tough games against some good teams, but the Steelers could turn things around. They are only one season removed from the playoffs and they've turned the coaching staff inside out. With a good draft, and a little bit of injury luck, the playoffs should be very attainable for these AFC North Beasts. Let's take a little more indepth look at the schedule. Sept. 12 Oakland 1:00 p.m. - Send Em Back Al & ROTR.... or Galvatron if you will.... this is a big day for both teams. I'm glad it's in Pittsburgh, not Oakland. Hopefully that will give us the edge, but it's hard to say. Both teams are overhauling and it will probably be a tough game to predict this early. Sept. 19 at Baltimore 1:00 p.m. - For some reason the Steelers seem to win on the road against these guys and lose at home. That will probably change this year as we chase Lewis around the field all day. Hopefully Polomalu will be up to speed and playing well and whatever corner we have will be playing well. I think they can win the game, I'm still not sold on Boller. Sept. 26 at Miami 1:00 p.m. - Where do I begin? BA, Dolfan Dale, The Beef, and the rest of the DWO that I've missed, what a game we have here. Both teams need to rebound from last season and make something happen. It was a good draw to play Pittsburgh in September, but I still expect a good game. The hype should be fun. Oct. 3 Cincinnati 1:00 p.m. - I don't think Palmer will be the guy. The Steelers will sweep the series if Palmer is at the helm. Oct. 10 Cleveland 1:00 p.m. - Garcia should elevate this team back to a respectable level, but then again, he's no spring chicken. It's always a battle playing the Clowns, I just hope we can at least split the series. Oct. 17 at Dallas 4:15 p.m. - We always struggle in Big D, but this might be different. Dallas still has yet to find it's offense, so hopefully we can play good enough defense to win a 10-9 game or something like that. Oct. 24 Open Date - Finally an open date that's not week 2 or 3. Oct. 31 New England 4:15 p.m. - Glenso & Pats37, you can almost chalk this one in as a victory. Coming off of a bye week is bad enough, but we just have not been able to figure out how to beat you guys. Maybe Maddox will have some answers. Kordell never did.... Nov. 7 Philadelphia 1:00 p.m. - Eagles4life & Dawk... or should I call you the "Oracle". Where do you see this game going? I like the Steeler's chances at home, not to mention, it could be a must win for us. TO scares me a bit because of what he did to us last year, but it won't be the same secondary or defensive coordinator. Nov. 14 at Cleveland 1:00 p.m. - Back in Cleveland... still hoping for at least a split. Nov. 21 at Cincinnati 1:00 p.m. - I'm of the opinion that Palmer will not be the QB by this time making this game a very good one. Hopefully the Steeler's D is clicking and the offensive line is healthy. We need to keep Duce runnin'. Nov. 28 Washington 1:00 p.m. - The Redskins have been anything but consistant over the past few years and it's hard to tell what "Life after Spurrier" will bring. I like and respect Gibbs, but I'm not so sure this team that he's putting together will gel and play well. Maybe they will play well, but I'm not so sure that they'll be unbeatable or even great. Dec. 5 at Jacksonville 8:30 p.m. - This will probably be a slug fest. Both teams should be playing great defense. Jacksonville is going to get very good, very fast with Leftwich and Taylor on offense and Head Coach Jack Del Rio running that defense. Watch out AFC South. As for this game specifically, it's tough to tell at this point in the season who will pull this out. I'm sure the Jags will be tough at home on Primetime. Dec. 12 New York Jets 4:05 p.m. - I would say we always beat the Jets, but last year we gave a game away in the snow by passing 38 times. Cowher won't make that mistake again, or should I say Mularkey won't make that mistake again? Now that he's in Buffalo, he can make Bledsoe throw 38 times in the snow and lose until his heart's content. Pennington's a stud so this game will be a good one. Dec. 18 at New York Giants 1:30 p.m. - Giants1fan I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but when the Steelers get together and play the Giants, they are almost always crappy games to watch. I hope this year is a better matchup, but over the years, I have no fond memories of these two teams playing. They play so seldomly that they have no feel for each other. I'll take the team that's the hottest in December. Right now, this could go either way in my mind. Dec. 26 Baltimore 1:00 p.m. - Oh the Ravens, how we never feared them until now. It's different not being the big kid on the block anymore. Hopefully the Steelers will remember that they've almost always been the big kid and knock Baltimore's block off, but that's some wishful thinking. If we can split the series, I'll call that a victory. Jan. 2 at Buffalo 1:00 p.m. - Should be an interesting game between two old collegues. Cowher vs. Mularkey sounds like a heavy weight battle. Hopefully it will be for something like a playoff spot or a division title. Those games are the best.
