It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time for a weekly Steelers links roundup at BTSC. But first, let’s take a look around the AFC North:
- Browns’ Quinshon Judkins making his case as the NFL’s best rookie running back (Dawgs by Nature)
- Bengals break 2 unfortunate records in historic loss to the Vikings (Cincy Jungle)
- Ravens Report Card, Week 3: Struggles in the trenches lead to defeat (Baltimore Beatdown)
And a new category: what’s the latest on the Steelers’ upcoming opponent?
- Donovan Jackson to Miss Two Games Following Wrist Surgery (Daily Norseman)
- Jordan Addison Officially Reinstated by NFL (Daily Norseman)
Now, onto some Steelers news and discussion:
Week 3 NFL Takeaways: Pittsburgh Steelers
(From Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer): The next chance the Steelers have to find it will be in Dublin next week, in Pittsburgh’s first international game in 12 years. In an effort to keep the players’ focus where it needed to be, Watt said that Tomlin
kept the schedule for the trip away from them the past couple of weeks. As such, the 31-year-old joked that his goal now is “first and foremost, learning the schedule.” After that, there’ll be plenty left to address.
The Steelers’ upcoming Dublin game — and its 9:30 a.m. EST kickoff — is sure to throw a wrench in the players’ usual game week routines. As a result, ahead of the first ever regular-season NFL game in Ireland, it appears that Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin decided to make sure the travel plans wouldn’t become a distraction.
Insider Reveals Steelers Return Plan for Will Howard
(From SI’s Jack Markowski): “Will Howard comes off the IR in one more game after this,” Dulac said. “He will come off IR before Skylar Thompson, and so probably what that means is they will try to get him some work, not necessarily though with the first or second team, but just to be able to get Will Howard out there with the scout team and at least get him doing something.
The Steelers currently have just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster with both Skylar Thompson and Will Howard on injured reserve. Howard, who had already ascended to QB3 before a hand injury sidelined him in training camp, appears likely to return to the Steelers roster ahead of Thompson.
Steelers LB Patrick Queen calls out criticism of communication after win
(From Steelers Wire’s Curt Popejoy): However, when one X user took to social media to call out what they perceived as a communication problem with the Steelers defense from Sunday, linebacker Patrick Queen was quick to speak up and correct them.
Queen has always had an online presence and he isn’t shy to rebut fan critiques. That isn’t to say he thinks he doesn’t have anything to work on:
Breer: Detailing Patriots’ offseason trade pursuit of DK Metcalf
(From NBC Sports Boston’s Sean T. McGuire): Metcalf’s camp reset and checked in with the Packers and Colts, among others. The group learned the Steelers and Patriots were two teams willing to make a “big-time trade” and hand out a “big-time contract,” according to Breer.
“Metcalf’s camp checked in with both those teams, and then the Patriots came back to the Seahawks and said, ‘Yeah, he’s not coming here,'” Breer said. “So, Seattle moved forward in doing a deal with Pittsburgh.”
The Steelers have had a lot of shared connections early in the 2025 season: Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields faced off against their old teams in Week 1, and D.K. Metfalf took on his former Seahawks in Week 2. And in Week 3, he apparently took on a team he chose not to be a part of during the trade process this spring.
While the Pittsburgh offense didn’t light the world on fire in 2024, it appears Pittsburgh still has some draw over other teams.
Steelers’ Mike Tomlin Throws Wild Stray At NFL Quarterback While Discussing Week 4 Matchup
(From Steelers Nation’s Brogan Noey): “We were in a similar situation a year ago when we were playing in Indianapolis man,” Tomlin said. “I commented to the guys, you know, ‘Keep [Anthony] Richardson upright. Don’t put Flacco in the game.’ You know, Flacco ended up in the game. I think that’s often times some of the things that you can run into when you run into a veteran guy. At least from a short-term perspective.”
Ahead of facing a backup quarterback this week as Carson Wentz has replaced the injured J.J. McCarthy in the Vikings’ lineup, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin reminisced to the media about the Steelers’ loss last year to the Indianapolis Colts. In that game, backup Joe Flacco took over for an injured Anthony Richardson. The veteran diced up the Steeler secondary en route to two passing touchdowns and a 27-24 win.
Tomlin apparently wanted to play against Richardson over Flacco. And after the game’s final score, who can blame him?
Russell Wilson Benching Tanks Steelers Draft Plans
(From SI’s Jacob Punturi): The Steelers stood to gain from their multiple free agents losses this past offseason. Because of the contracts they signed with their new teams, the Steelers had the chance to collect multiple additional compensatory draft picks for next year’s draft, set to take place in Pittsburgh. That included a projected third-round pick that will likely drop to a fifth-round pick awarded to the Steelers due to (Russell) Wilson joining the Giants.
Wilson’s playing time contract incentives with the Giants determine his compensatory pick value for the Steelers — and after being benched following Week 3 for rookie Jaxson Dart, it’s a bad sign for the Steelers getting a high pick from Wilson in the upcoming draft.
Dublin braces for influx of Americans as Steelers-Vikings play Ireland’s 1st regular-season NFL game
(From the Associated Press’ Ken Maguire): The Gaelic Athletic Association, which owns Croke Park, stands to gain from an expected crowd of 75,000. Alan Milton, the GAA’s head of communications, said “hopefully it will not be a one-off.”
The Irish government allocated up to 9.95 million euros ($11.7 million) to support the game, according to the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, which said in a statement it is open to hosting “future NFL games.”
A nice read on the larger logistics and effects of the upcoming Dublin game.
Should the Steelers play more international games?
This is a topic I don’t care strongly about, but with the NFL being up to 17 games a season, having one novelty international matchup isn’t a big deal.
To be fair, the Vikings having back to back games across the pond is probably a bit much, but once per season is a perfectly reasonable lift for teams. It grows the sport as well.
There’s always reason to worry that the NFL will get overzealous overseas — a London Super Bowl would be a travesty. But for now, the odd international Steelers game is a fun addition to the regular season. In fact, Pittsburgh hasn’t played overseas since 2013 — maybe they should a bit more often.
What are your thoughts on the Steelers’ international schedule? Join the BTSC community and let us know in the comments!
