New England Patriots - NESN.com
The Patriots and Steelers have played many memorable games over the last two decades, but few of those clashes — just one, actually — started at the same time as when the two teams will kick off this Sunday.
The Week 3 matchup is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium. And such standard scheduling is particularly rare in one of the NFL’s more underrated rivalries.
In 1998, the Patriots visited the Steelers in a Week 14 game that started at 1 p.m. on a Sunday. The teams then went on a three-year break before reuniting in 2002. From that point through the 2019 campaign, all 16 matchups were either playoff or primetime games, or started in the late-afternoon slot (typically 4-4:30 p.m.).
So, zero 1 p.m. Sunday games for over two decades. The streak broke in 2022 when Mac Jones and the Patriots beat the Steelers in Pittsburgh in a Sunday-afternoon Week 2 game that started at 1 p.m. During the 2023 season, Bailey Zappe led New England to a road win over Pittsburgh in the Week 14 edition of “Thursday Night Football.”
The Patriots and Steelers didn’t play each other last season, but they’ll resume their rivalry on Sunday in their first meeting at Gillette Stadium since 2019. The unceremonious start time is yet another reminder that the franchises aren’t as nationally relevant as they once were.
