Lolley's 10 Thoughts: Scheduled for success

The Steelers' newly released 2020 schedule -- wait for it -- is one of the easiest in the NFL based on 2019 records.

Of course, we know that last year's records mean nothing when it comes to 2020. Some teams get better. Others get worse. Nobody stays the same.

But in the case of the Steelers, they're the only team in the AFC getting a Super Bowl-winning quarterback back onto the field. Couple that with what should be a top-five defensive unit, and the Steelers have the look of a team capable of winning 10 or 11 games based on that schedule. Maybe more with a little good luck.

Will that be enough to catch Baltimore?

We'll see. The Ravens aren't winning 14 games again in 2020. But they shouldn't win less than 11 or 12, assuming Lamar Jackson stays healthy. That's their floor.

Some of the Steelers' more difficult games come at Heinz Field. We knew that already. But they set up well based on when they're being played.

For example, playing the Colts, an indoor team with an aging quarterback in Philip Rivers, who has played his whole life in good weather, at Heinz Field in December? That's a very good time to play them.

Or how about the second meeting with the Ravens being a prime time game on Thanksgiving? Think the Steelers will have an advantage in that game considering Baltimore will be coming off a short week having played the Titans, the team that manhandled them in the playoffs last season?

Even a road game in Dallas -- one of the more difficult away games -- comes after a bye week.

And the travel? It's nonexistent.

With the playoffs expanding to seven teams from each conference in 2020, it will be a crime if the Steelers aren't one of them. What they do from there is up to them.

But know that with Tom Brady now out of the conference, Ben Roethlisberger's 13 career playoff wins are as many as the rest of the quarterbacks in the AFC combined.





• If there is a time for a team to have the potential to play five preseason games, this year is it. With OTAs cancelled and minicamps likely to follow suit, the Steelers and Cowboys get the advantage of an extra preseason game and week of on-field practice -- assuming the Hall of Fame Game is played.

• If things hold true, the Meadowlands could be a very important place for Steelers fans this season.

First, the Steelers' fourth preseason game -- Week 3 for everyone else -- will be at MetLife Stadium against the Jets. If Roethlisberger is going to play at all in the preseason, that will be the week.

Then, a few weeks later, the Steelers are scheduled to open the regular season there against the Giants.

This all assumes, of course, games are permitted to be played in New Jersey or anywhere near New York, which has been the epicenter for coronavirus deaths in the country -- no, make that the world.

• Of the Steelers' 16 games this season, six will come against new head coaches, including their first opponent, the Giants, in Joe Judge.

They also have six games against quarterbacks who will be in their second year or less, as things currently stand. Some of those teams are the same. For example, the Giants have both a new head coach and a quarterback with less than two years experience in Daniel Jones.

But the Steelers should be favored to win five of those games, with the game against the Cowboys being the only one in which they won't be giving points.

• Why don't I think the Ravens will win 14 games again?

Look at their schedule. They play at Houston in Week 2, then turn around and host the Chiefs in a prime-time game in Week 3. Those will both be difficult games.

The weekend before they play the Steelers for the first time in Week 7, they have to travel to Philadelphia for a game that won't be a gimme.

And how about this stretch leading into the Thanksgiving game with the Steelers? The Ravens are at Indianapolis, at New England and then host the Titans -- the team that wiped them out in the first round -- before playing the Steelers on a short week. Coming out of that game, they host the Cowboys in a Thursday night game, then are at Cleveland for a Monday night game.

That will be brutal.

And I don't even think the Patriots will be an especially good team this season.

Then again, the Ravens might have the easiest stretch in football to close things out. Their final four are against Browns, Jaguars, Redskins and Bengals. And it doesn't matter where those are played.

• While on the subject of the Patriots, everyone nationally seems so concerned with who the backup quarterback in Pittsburgh will be, yet ignores that New England appears to be ready to hand things over to Jarrett Stidham with 35-year-old Brian Hoyer being the only other option.

Between the two, they have 52 career touchdown passes against 35 interceptions. Hoyer has never started more than 13 games in a season in his career, that coming all the way back in 2014 for the Browns.

And the Patriots have games this season at Seattle, at Kansas City, at Buffalo and at Houston, with home games against the Ravens, Bills and 49ers. And that doesn't mention a little Dec. 6 and 10 double play at Los Angeles, where they'll face the Chargers on Sunday and turn around and play the Rams on a Thursday night.

New England's defense will still be good enough to possibly get them to 8-8. But to get to 8-8, they'll need decent quarterback play. And they might not have anyone capable of providing it.

• Turns out Jameis Winston will be playing at Heinz Field this season after all. He'll visit Pittsburgh as the backup quarterback for the Saints Aug. 23 in a nationally televised game.

What are the chances the completely false report Winston was offered more money by the Steelers comes up?

How wrong was the report that Winston had received an offer from the Steelers? I'm told his agent, Joel Segal, called a member of the Steelers' front office after it came out to assure the team he wasn't the source of the false report and didn't know where it had come from.

• It's kind of surprising the Steelers only got four prime-time games. Typically, they're scheduled for the maximum five.

Maybe the league is taking it easy on them because the Steelers also are playing in the Hall of Fame game, assuming it's played. But with three of those prime-time games in the final six weeks, the league still didn't do the Steelers any favors.

Anyone think playing a night game in Buffalo in December will be a pleasant experience? How about Cincinnati?

Many times, Steelers fans look forward to setting a little vacation to a warm locale in the colder months. They won't have that option this year. The best option will be a Nov. 22 game at Jacksonville. But everyone expected Steelers fans to take over that stadium for that game anyway.

• I still expect the Steelers to be in the market for a veteran safety and inside linebacker. But it seems bringing Mark Barron back isn't an option.

Barron typically wasn't able to practice regularly during the season, which held back his development and learning of the Steelers' defense. It also hurt his ability to mesh with rookie linebacker Devin Bush.

And yet he still played more than Vince Williams did last season.

• The Browns could struggle out of the gate again in 2020.

They are at Baltimore in Week 1 before hosting the Bengals in a Thursday night game and then the Redskins the following week. Sounds nice, right. After that, they are at Dallas, play the Colts at home, then travel to Pittsburgh.

At best, the Browns would be fortunate to be 3-3 and are more likely looking at a 2-4 start. If that happens, a team still trying to build a winning culture could see the wheels come off yet again.

Just for giggles, the league once again has the Browns hosting the Steelers in Week 17 in what has typically been the everyone-is-getting-fired game.