After the Dolphins lost at Green Bay on a cold Thanksgiving night, Miami linebacker Jordyn Brooks said the elements made them “soft.” Brooks’s comments served only to harden the narrative that the Dolphins don’t do well when weather is a factor.
This year, the Dolphins will likely have three opportunities to change the narrative. They face the Jets in New Jersey on December 7, the Steelers in Pittsburgh on Monday night, December 15, and the Patriots in New England in Week 18, on January 3 or 4.
Miami could get lucky, what with global warming and all, for one or more of those games. They also could get unlucky, if it’s unseasonable on October 19 in Cleveland.
The good news is the Dolphins go to Buffalo early, for a Thursday night game in Week 3. Even by Western New York standards, snow would be a surprise on September 18.
Last year, Aaron Rodgers and the Jets had a slew of early-season standalone games, including a pair of Sunday-Thursday short weeks. This year, Aaron Rodgers (maybe) and the Steelers enter the schedule with only four prime-time games.
The Steelers will visit the Bengals on Thursday night in Week 7, before hosting the Packers under the lights and in front of the NBC cameras in Week 8.
In Week 10, the Steelers face the Chargers in L.A. on Sunday Night Football. In Week 15, they host the Dolphins on Monday night.
Nine Steelers games are set for a 1:00 p.m. ET kickoff, including the Week 1 opener at the Jets and Week 12 at the Bears. It’s odd, to say the least, that Rodgers’s potential return to MetLife Stadium wasn’t earmarked for a standalone spot.
Week 1 isn’t the only potential revenge game for a prominent new member of the Steelers. In Week Two, they host receiver DK Metcalf’s Seahawks.
We know Metcalf is a Steeler. We still don’t know whether Rodgers will be. If it happens, expect it to occur before the OTAs begin on May 26.
For the third straight season, Aaron Rodgers will be starting the season in a game involving the Jets.
If he signs with the Steelers. And if the report that is circulating regarding the Week 1 schedule is accurate.
Matt O’Leary of the Just Jets podcast reports that the Jets will open the 2025 season by hosting the Pittsburgh Steelers. If accurate, it means Rodgers will be back in New Jersey, right out of the gates.
First, Rodgers has to sign with the Steelers. It’s widely believed that he will.
Colin Cowherd recently suggested that Rodgers is waiting to see the schedule before making a final decision. If that’s accurate, would it make him more likely or less likely to pick Pittsburgh?
Again, if the report is accurate, it’s a very juicy option for Week 1. Too juicy, it seems, to be tucked into the full slate of early games.
Even without Rodgers on the Steelers, former Steelers quarterback Justin Fields will likely be starting for the Jets.
If Rodgers joins the Steelers, he’ll also see the Packers (in Pittsburgh) and the Vikings (in Ireland) in 2025. And he’ll get a chance to return to Chicago, where he can once again remind Bears fans that he still owns them.
It all becomes official at 8:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday night. If Rodgers hopes to upstage the schedule release, he can announce his intention to join the Steelers 15 minutes or so before the full slate of 272 games is announced.
George Pickens was the Steelers’ leading wide receiver the past two seasons. He just turned 24 and still is on his rookie contract, counting $3.656 million against the cap in 2025.
Yet, the Steelers traded him anyway.
Anytime Mike Tomlin trades a wide receiver, it’s buyer beware.
The Steelers traded Santonio Holmes in 2010 for a fifth-rounder, Martavis Bryant in 2018 for a third-rounder, Antonio Brown in 2019 for third- and fifth-rounders, Chase Claypool in 2023 for a second-rounder, Diontae Johnson in 2024 for Donte Jackson and a pick swap and now Pickens for a third and a pick swap. None performed as well with their new team.
That was a point Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward made on his Not Just Football Pod.
“I think we’ve got to look at the track record of trading wide receivers,” Heyward said. “There’s been some good history behind this and when to do it, what to expect. I was looking at a stat. There’s only been like three or four receivers that made it past the rookie contracts with the Steelers. It’s crazy.
“You had AB; you had Diontae Johnson; you had Hines Ward; I think you had JuJu [Smith-Schuster] for another year. For the most part, they know when to re-sign and when to trade, and we’ll see what happens. We could be a better team because of it.”
Heyward woke up to the news like everyone else did May 7.
He called it a surprise, though the Steelers appeared done with Pickens when they traded a second-round pick to the Seahawks and invested a five-year, $150 million contract in receiver DK Metcalf.
“I didn’t know anything about it. . . . I woke up the next morning, and he had been traded,” Heyward said. “Was I surprised? Yeah, but the game is the game. I know it benefits both teams. We get another third-round pick. They get a wide receiver to go along with CeeDee Lamb. Would I have liked to see George and DK play together? Yeah, but hopefully there’s something in the works. I don’t know.”
The Vikings’ short-straw road trip to Europe for back-to-back games against the Steelers in Ireland and the Browns in London comes with a competitive advantage. Minnesota will have two fewer traditional road games than they would have had in 2025.
Like all NFC teams in the odd-numbered years, the Vikings have eight home games and nine road games. By playing two of those games on a neutral site, the Vikings will have only seven true road games.
With none of the other NFC North teams selected for international road games in 2025, the Lions, Bears, and Packers will each have nine usual road games.
The Rams, Commanders, and Falcons are the only other NFC teams that will have a neutral-site road game.
So, yes, although the Vikings’ schedule will be disrupted by playing two games on consecutive Sundays on foreign soil, they will entire truly hostile territory two fewer times than the rest of the division, and most of the conference. And while it won’t matter if the Vikings lose both games, they’re getting an enhanced opportunity to win by not having the play in Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Especially if either or both of those games otherwise would have been scheduled for later in the season, when weather could be a factor.
The dome-team Lions, in contrast, will play their two AFC North road games at Baltimore and Cincinnati. If either or both happen after Halloween, the elements could add to the overall difficulty — along with the fact that they’ll be facing the Ravens and Bengals in their normal home environments.
When it’s time to convert the final standings into a seven-team playoff tree, the Vikings could have an edge. It won’t matter if they aren’t generally “good” in 2025. If they’re good enough to compete for a postseason berth, the two games on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean could be the difference between winning the division or finishing second — or between making the playoffs or missing out.
