Behind the Steel Curtain
This week, Ryland and Ryan make some predictions about the Steelers AFC North foes and then breakdown some of Mason McCormick’s 2024 tape.
After our last two editions became impromptu film rooms on the Steelers’ latest big-ticket roster additions, Steelers Read & React is back to its regularly scheduled programming.
As the season inches closer, we’ll be making some way-too-early AFC North predictions, as well as bringing back our “Steelers in review” series in this week’s column.
And as always, feel free to let us know some topic ideas for future R&R topics — we’d love to do a mailbag edition at some point, but we need your questions to do so.
June and July are some of the toughest months for football writers/content creators. There are no games, we’re still weeks away from any meaningful football being played, and most of the major transactions of the NFL offseason have been made. News at this time of year generally revolves around players who are angling for a new contract, which doesn’t make for the most compelling coverage for you, our audience.
So with that in mind, we decided it was time to break out a tried and true tactic in sports media: We’re gonna make some early predictions based on our gut feelings and vibes. And because we’re certified ball-knowers, there’s surely no way these predictions will look ridiculous if we revisit them in a few months time. Right?
The premise is simple. We’ll each be making three predictions about the Steelers’ AFC North rivals, starting with a tame or mild take, and then ratcheting up the — let’s call it boldness — of each following take. We have to make a prediction about each division rival, so that means no doubling up on any single team. Let’s begin.
RP:
Mild: Kenny Pickett will start a game against the Steelers.
The Browns are a hard team to make any compelling predictions about, so I’ll use my mild take to predict the Steelers will face off against a familiar face in the regular season.
Cleveland’s quarterback room might be the worst in the league, at least on paper. Joe Flacco, 40, is the presumed Week 1 starter, but how long do we expect that to last? The team also acquired Pickett, 27, and drafted rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
If the Brown’s offense is as bad as I expect, that could lead to Cleveland starting multiple quarterbacks this year.
The Browns face the Steelers in Week 6 (Oct. 12) and Week 17 (Dec. 28). If Pickett survives roster cuts after the preseason — and that’s a big IF — that October 12 game falls on an interesting point in the calendar that could be the sweet spot for a Pickett start. The Browns open the first five weeks against the Bengals, Ravens, Packers, Lions and Vikings. The could very reasonably be 0-5 at that juncture and ready to move...
