Thursday’s “First Call” has a complaint about the Steelers’ schedule from owner Art Rooney II. The NFL wants to add some clarity to the Aaron Rodgers angle. I’ve got an interesting quirk to the schedule that may impact your predictions.

We also examine the struggles of Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

Nothing is perfect

There is a lot less to grumble about this year with the Steelers’ schedule than in recent years.

The Steelers only have four night games (for now) as opposed to five or six. They don’t have to play on a holiday. The AFC North games aren’t as badly clustered late in the season as they were last year. They have just one Thursday night game.

And even though the bye week is early (Week 5), it comes after the international game in Ireland. So team president Art Rooney II had very few complaints about the schedule when he sat down with Missi Matthews of Steelers.com Wednesday night. In fact, he found only one gripe.

It’s the Week 10 road game in Los Angeles against the Chargers on “Sunday Night Football.”

“I look to see where the night games and the far trips (are),” Rooney said. “It fell all right. The only complaint I have is a night game on the West Coast. It’s always something I prefer to avoid. We got one of those this year. These things happen.”

#Steelers President Art Rooney II talks with @missi_matthews about our 2025 schedule & more. @laurelhighlands

????: Schedule release coverage on NFLN pic.twitter.com/VPbtYHU0zn

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) May 15, 2025

It’s not so much game day that’s the issue in those circumstances. It’s the late-night long flight back with lost hours on the time change that impacts recovery efforts and prep time for the next week.

In 2023, the Steelers had to play a road Sunday night game in Las Vegas and won 23-18. Then they got squashed the next week in Houston, 30-6.

This year, the Steelers have a home Sunday afternoon game against the Bengals after that Chargers contest.

Keep it in perspective

Here are two things to keep in mind before you do the whole “win-loss-win-loss-win-win-loss-loss” thing with the Steelers schedule.

First of all, you don’t know who the team’s quarterback is going to be. That’s kinda important.

Second, seven of the 17 games in 2025 will be against teams that will be operating with a new coach, a new starting quarterback, or both.

The Vikings, Seahawks, Patriots, Jets, Bears and Browns (twice) are all on the schedule. Each of them will be featuring a new coach, a new starting QB or both. If you want to count the Colts getting Anthony Richardson back from injury, that would be eight games.

That’s before the natural attrition of teams losing starting quarterbacks to injury, or firing a coach midseason.

Under normal circumstances, trying to predict individual results for a schedule week-to-week this far out is a fruitless endeavor. The uncertainty of the Steelers’ situation at quarterback and that of their opponents makes attempting to do so flat-out foolhardy.

Proof in the results

The NFL has no inside knowledge about whether or not Aaron Rodgers plans to sign with the Steelers. That’s according to the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning and scheduling.

Mike North made that decree Wednesday while explaining why the Steelers’ Week 1 opener against the Jets in New York is a 1 p.m. game instead of in primetime.

“You’ll see Pittsburgh at the Jets (is) on CBS at 1 o’clock in the afternoon in Week 1 along with seven other NFL games all at the same time,” North told CBS’ Jonathan Jones. “I think if the league knew, we probably would’ve scheduled that game for a national television window. So at worst, it’s Justin Fields against his old team. At best, it’s Aaron Rogers going up against one of his old teams.”

Instead, there are four other primetime games that opening week (Thursday night, Friday night, Sunday night and Monday night), and the Steelers-Jets contest is not one of them.

“Look at what we did with Aaron Rogers’ first game the last two years (both Monday night games),” North continued. “If we knew something, I think you would’ve seen it reflected in the schedule. That being said, (it’s) still a good game.”

Eh, I wouldn’t say “good.” How about, “compelling?” That may be closer to the truth.

”Good?” Hmm. We’ll see about that. I doubt either team ends up in the playoffs.

Mayday May

The Pirates managed to salvage a game from the New York Mets in their three-game series, winning Wednesday night’s contest in New York, 4-0.

That was after the Mets had won the first two games, 4-3 and 2-1. In fact, since Don Kelly took over as the Bucs manager on May 8, that was the first game that wasn’t a one-run contest.

It’s not like the Pirates’ struggling offense busted out, though. This was the 20th straight game in which the Pirates scored four runs or fewer. It’s just that five different Pirates pitchers combined to throw a shutout.

Former All-Star Bryan Reynolds is still in the midst of a horrible slump. He played again and went 0 for 3 with a walk and a strikeout. That means Reynolds’ average is down to .194 for the season.

For the month of May, the outfielder is 5 for 52 (.096). He has just one extra base hit, a homer back on May 1 versus the Chicago Cubs. Since then, he has just four RBIs, 14 strikeouts and five walks.

After Tuesday’s loss, Kelly suggested it may soon be time to give Reynolds a rest. I’d recommend doing that.

The Pirates are off Thursday, then they open a series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday. I say give Reynolds two straight days away from the game to unplug and reset.

LISTEN: Tim Benz and Kevin Gorman discuss the struggling Pirates.

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