6 Interesting Quirks in the 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers Schedule

The 2012 Pittsburgh Steelers schedule is out.

We knew the who and the where. Now we know the when.

The way the Steelers' schedule shakes out creates some intriguing "Did you know?" tidbits. Remember these fun facts, and you'll be the life of any Steelers party on Sunday afternoons or evenings in the fall.

Here's the schedule:

Sept. 9: at Denver; 8:20
Sept. 16: New York Jets; 4:15
Sept. 23: at Oakland; 4:15
Sept. 30: Bye
Oct. 7: Philadelphia; 1
Oct. 11: at Tennessee; 8:20
Oct. 21: at Cincinnati; 8:20
Oct. 28: Washington; 1
Nov. 4: at New York Giants; 4:15
Nov. 12: Kansas City; 8:30
Nov. 18: Baltimore; 8:20
Nov. 25: at Cleveland; 1
Dec. 2: at Baltimore; 4:15
Dec. 9: San Diego; 1
Dec. 16: at Dallas, 4:15
Dec. 23: Cincinnati, 1
Dec. 30: Cleveland, 1

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Steelers Go to Baltimore in December

The Steelers didn't exactly get started on the right foot last season with their 35-7 loss in Baltimore.

The schedule-makers might be doing the Steelers a favor this season by sending them to Baltimore in December.

Since 2001, the Steelers have played at Baltimore in December five times. Two of those games, in 2003 and 2007, were meaningless regular-season finales.

However, in 2001, 2008 and 2010, the Steelers won nail-biters at Baltimore in December, then met the Ravens again in the playoffs. Those regular-season victories at Baltimore helped earn the Steelers the right to host those playoff games against the Ravens, and they won all three.

Steelers Start out Behind the 8-8 Ball

Normally, the Steelers' schedule is extraordinarily easy or difficult.

Not that it matters, because the Steelers won the Super Bowl in 2008 despite having the NFL's toughest schedule since the 1976 New York Giants. Then, in 2009, they missed the playoffs despite having the league's fourth-easiest schedule.

The Steelers' 2012 schedule doesn't jump out as especially strong or weak. It's full of games that could go either way.

The first four games are all against teams that finished 8-8 in 2011. They open at Denver against Peyton Manning and the Broncos. Then they host the Jets, play at Oakland and host the Eagles after their bye week. That's one team that barely made the playoffs and three teams that missed the playoffs in 2011.

After that, the Steelers hit the road to play a couple of 9-7 teams, at Tennessee in Week 6 and at Cincinnati in Week 7. The Titans just missed the playoffs in 2011, and the Bengals just made it.

The Steelers get the 5-11 Redskins at home in Week 8. Then they play at the Giants, who won the Super Bowl but were 9-7 in the regular season, and host the 7-9 Kansas City Chiefs in Week 10.

So eight of the Steelers' first nine opponents were either 9-7, 8-8 or 7-9 in 2000. The Giants' accomplishments notwithstanding, that's the mark of mediocrity in the NFL.

Unless some of those teams improve in 2012, the Steelers barely will be tested for their two matchups in three weeks (Weeks 11 and 13) against the Baltimore Ravens.

Thursday Night in Tennessee

Historically, Thursday night hasn't been the Steelers' night.

It would have been awfully hard for the Steelers to avoid a Thursday night engagement this season with the NFL's expanded Thursday night schedule. But not only are they playing on a Thursday, they're playing on a Thursday in Tennessee, where strange things have happened to them.

The Steelers have suffered heartbreaking and humiliating defeats on Thursdays as well as injuries to key players that essentially ruined their season.

In previous Steelers visits to Tennessee, a Titans kicker admitted he acted so he'd get another chance to kick a game-winning field goal in overtime of a playoff game, Tommy Maddox was taken off the field in an ambulance and a Titans assistant coach threw coffee on Joey Porter.

The Steelers are playing on an unlucky night in an unlucky place.

It's almost like Batman having to fight the Joker and the Riddler at the same time.

Giants Are Again a Tall Task

Even though the Rooneys and Maras are related by marriage, the Steelers and Giants don't see each other very often.

When they play Nov. 4 at MetLife Stadium, it will be just the sixth meeting between the teams since 1991.

In four of those six encounters, the Giants were either defending Super Bowl champions (1991, 2008 and 2012) or on their way to the Super Bowl (2000). The Giants won all of those games.

The Steelers did catch breaks in 1994, when they faced a Giants team that finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs, beating them, 10-6. Then in 2004, the Steelers beat the 6-10 Giants, led by rookie Eli Manning, 33-30, in overtime.

The last time the Steelers easily beat the Giants was the only time the Giants have drawn the Steelers when the Steelers were defending Super Bowl champs. The Steelers won that game, 27-0, in 1976, nine years before Rooney Mara was born.

Interconference Deja Vu

The Steelers play the NFC East this year in the interconference rotation, and it's eerie how it sets up almost the same way as it did the last time the Steelers faced the NFC East in 2008.

The Philadelphia Eagles were the first NFC team the Steelers played in 2008. They were at Philadelphia in Week 3. This year, they host the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 5 on Oct. 7.

In 2008, the Steelers hosted the Giants in Week 8 and were in Washington D.C. in Week 9, on the eve of the presidential election, playing the Redskins.

This year, instead of the Giants and Redskins back to back in Weeks 8 and 9, it's Redskins and Giants back to back in Weeks 8 and 9.

The Steelers are home against the Redskins in Week 8, nine days before the election, and at the Giants in Week 9.

Like 2008, the Steelers will finish their interconference slate against the Cowboys in December. The Cowboys came to Pittsburgh in Week 14 in 2008. The Steelers return to Dallas, the site of Super Bowl XLV, in Week 15 this season.

If this schedule is a reminder of 2008, maybe the Steelers can win the Super Bowl as another reminder of 2008.

Steelers Close Against Cleveland

The Steelers will finish the regular season against the Browns for the third year in a row and the fourth time in the last five seasons.

They've won their last seven regular-season finales against the Browns, beating them last season, in 2010, 2008, 2001, 1993, 1992 and 1991.

Speaking of division games, the Steelers play five of their division games in the last seven weeks of the season. Their only division game in the first 10 weeks of the season is Week 7 at Cincinnati.