The Pittsburgh Steelers and the rest of the other teams in the NFL recently learned when they will play the opponents on their respective schedules in the 2024 season. While teams knew who their opponents would be for a while, it's always fun for fanbases to know who and when their favorite team plays. From a player's perspective, releasing the full schedule is often just a formality. Still, in 2008, former cornerback Bryant McFadden said the schedule release and the reaction to it from the media gave him and the team extra motivation.
In 2007, Pittsburgh had a fairly successful season under first-year coach Mike Tomlin, replacing Bill Cowher. The team finished 10-6 and won the AFC North because they had defeated the Cleveland Browns twice. However, the season ended with a heartbreaking loss in the Wild Card round to the Jacksonville Jaguars. With :40 seconds left in the game, the Jaguars kicked the game-winning field goal, and then Ben Roethlisberger fumbled away the team's last chance at a comeback.
McFadden told Mike J. Asti on a recent episode of Mike Drop that he remembers the 2008 schedule release like it was yesterday. He was in South Florida during the offseason and recalled all the initial feedback on what looked like a daunting task for the Steelers in 2008.
"We had the hardest schedule in the NFL based on the opponents and how they finished along with the quarterback star power we were facing. Everyone came out to the schedule and said, 'Oh my gosh, the Pittsburgh Steelers, best case they might finish third in the division.' I remember I got on the phone with a few of my teammates and it was like, okay, y'all hearing what everyone is saying about us. Instantly, we got into a mindset to show everyone that y'all got us effed up. This is the hardest schedule, and we're going to run through it."
McFadden recalled there was a hype train behind the Browns in that offseason. The team had finished with a 10-6 record, and quarterback Derek Anderson made the Pro Bowl. McFadden said the other teams in the division were also improving too.
Pittsburgh opened the 2008 season 4-1 before a bye in Week 6. The team continued to roll after the break, losing only three games to finish the season 12-4. The team could've been the top-seeded team in the AFC, if not for a Week 16 loss to the Tennessee Titans. Despite not getting the top spot in the conference, Pittsburgh beat the then-San Diego Chargers and Baltimore Ravens before a Super Bowl for the ages against the Arizona Cardinals.
Steelers' McFadden Optimistic About 2024 Despite Daunting End To The Schedule
Pittsburgh doesn't face a divisional opponent until Week 11 when the Baltimore Ravens come to town. The remaining Ravens game, contests against Cleveland and the Cincinnati Bengals, with the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs spliced in there are in the final seven weeks of the season. It will be a challenging way to end the season, but McFadden believes they can do it because of their results against the division in the recent past.
He noted that in the last five seasons, Pittsburgh has managed to post a 19-11 record against AFC North teams. Even as the Steelers have been navigating through a weird stretch of starting quarterbacks, they've managed to stay five games above .500. While he acknowledged the teams have changed through those years, the Steelers have had a constant with Tomlin.
If Pittsburgh wants to take a step forward from the 2023 season, where they had to travel to Buffalo for a snowy playoff game, they will also have to take care of business against the rest of their opponents. Every year, there's a team that will get a schedule that looks daunting in one way or another, it's just how the cookie crumbles. McFadden said it's still your job as a team to eat up those crumbles.
Have you heard McFadden's story about the 2008 schedule release before?
