Before the 2022 season even kicked off, we could tell that the Pittsburgh Steelers were going to have a brutal slate early in the season. For a team who just lost their franchise quarterback to retirement and entered the season with Mitch Trubisky at the helm, it wasn't surprising to see the Steelers go 2-6 before the bye week after getting humiliated by teams like the Bills and Eagles.
This year, fans are hoping for much better results to open the season. For months now, we've known which opponents the Pittsburgh Steelers will face in 2023; we just don't know the order in which they will face them at this point in time.
With that in mind, we wanted to create a landing spot for Steelers news and leaks about the upcoming schedule release. Here's everything you need to know.
When does the 2023 Steelers schedule release?
Though there is nothing set in stone at this point in time, reports from ESPN suggest that the league is targeting a May 11th release date for all 32 NFL schedules. This falls in line with what we have seen since the pandemic.
Regardless of what's going on at the moment, the NFL schedule release is no doubt going to soak up the spotlight, and each team will release their own schedule a bit differently. The Chargers, for example, love to release an animated short of their schedule. We will see how creative the Steelers get this year.
Who do the Steelers play in 2023?
In case you missed the initial opponent list for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2023, we have you covered. Here are all of the home and away opponents Mike Tomlin's team will square up against in 2023:
Steelers Home Opponents:
- Baltimore Ravens*
- Cleveland Browns*
- Cincinnati Bengals*
- Arizona Cardinals
- Green Bay Packers
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- New England Patriots
- San Francisco 49ers
- Tennessee Titans
Steelers Away Opponents:
- Baltimore Ravens*
- Cleveland Browns*
- Cincinnati Bengals*
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Las Vegas Raiders
- Los Angeles Rams
- Seattle Seahawks
*Indicates AFC North divisional opponents
How are the Steelers opponents determined?
If you were under the misconception that the opponents a team will face are essentially drawn from a hat, that's not how it works. In fact, there's a formula that determines who each team will face.
In addition to six total divisional games, there will be eight total games against the AFC and NFC divisions the team is assigned to play that year. Additionally, the remaining three games are determined by a team's placement at the end of the previous season -- two from in-conference opponents and one from an out-of-conference opponent.
In the case of the Steelers, Pittsburgh will have six combined games against the Ravens, Bengals, and Browns (one home and one away for each). This year, they will play the entire AFC South (Jaguars, Titans, Colts, and Texans) as well as the NFC West (49ers, Seahawks, Cardinals, and Rams). That brings the total up to 14 games. Their final three will come from 2022 seeding, in which they will face the Patriots and Raiders from the AFC while squaring up against the Packers from the NFC.