First Call: Ben Roethlisberger's 2025 Steelers predictions; early reviews of George Pickens in Dallas

Wednesday’s “First Call” has some Pittsburgh Steelers predictions from Ben Roethlisberger. He and Cameron Heyward also have a warning about going over to Europe this season.

We get an update on George Pickens in Dallas.

Plus, we preview T.J. McConnell’s chances of advancing to the NBA Finals with the Indiana Pacers.

Big Ben’s big difference

Former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger went through the Steelers’ 2025 schedule game-by-game during his most recent “Footbahlin’” podcast. He broke down each contest if the Steelers have Aaron Rodgers at quarterback and if they don’t.

“I have us at 7-10 without Aaron,” Roethlisberger said. “I have us at 11-6 with Aaron. That’s called three letters: H-O-F (Hall of Fame). That’ll get you a few more wins.”

I agree with Roethlisberger on the 7-10 front. If Mason Rudolph and/or Will Howard are the QBs for the bulk of the season, I don’t think the Steelers are bad enough to fall to six or fewer wins. But I also think they’ll have their first losing season since 2003.

I think Big Ben is being a little too optimistic with Rodgers under center, though. If Rodgers arrives in time to start Week 1, I still don’t see him lasting the whole year healthy. Even if he does do that, I don’t think there is a four-win gap between Rodgers and Rudolph.

At best, I think that’s a nine-or-10-win scenario.

When Irish eyes are … sleeping?

During the podcast, Roethlisberger warned about the trip to Ireland against Minnesota. He regretted that the Steelers went over to England late in the week when Pittsburgh lost to the Vikings in 2013, claiming the time change hurt their performance in a 34-27 loss.

Steelers defensive lineman Cameron Heyward made a similar comment on his “Not Just Football” podcast this week.

“We left Thursday night and arrived Friday morning,” Heyward said. “Everybody was asleep during practice. Everybody was falling asleep during the stretch. Then we had meetings after, everybody fell asleep there. Then, during the game, everybody was asleep in the first half. It’s rough because you’re going, what? It’ll be five hours ahead? So you’re trying to get sleep on a plane going over there. It’s not ideal.”

However, Steelers owner Art Rooney II told Missi Matthews of Steelers.com after the schedule was released last week that he isn’t expecting much of a change in plans this year.

“From our point of view, I don’t think a lot has changed,” Rooney said. “I think we’re planning to leave similar to what we did for the last international trip. Probably leave on Thursday and practice there on Friday and Saturday and have the game on Sunday and fly out Sunday night. I don’t think it’ll be too much different from the last trip.”

It sounds like that may be a mistake. However, there has also been some talk that the NFL may regulate travel and departure schedules for both teams.

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Pickens picking it up

The initial reports from Dallas are good when it comes to how George Pickens is acclimating to his new home. The former Steelers receiver was traded to the Cowboys on May 7.

According to Cowboys beat writer Todd Archer of ESPN, head coach Brian Schottenheimer is giving Pickens positive reviews.

“He is obviously a tremendous athlete, but I love watching him in meetings,” Archer posted on social media. “Because in meetings, he’s been so dialed in, taking great notes.”

Brian Schottenheimer on George Pickens: pic.twitter.com/HzrjSUvJre

— Todd Archer (@toddarcher) May 20, 2025

I’ll be really interested to see how long all of that lasts. I’m sure it’s all sunshine and daisies right now for Pickens in Texas. Let’s see what we are hearing the first time he feels like he didn’t get the ball enough during a game.

Or even a training camp drill.

Knicks are next

Chartiers Valley product T.J. McConnell and the Indiana Pacers are tipping off the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night. They’ll be in New York to face the Knicks for Game 1 at 8 p.m.

Indy had a pair of photocopied series through Rounds 1 and 2. They dispatched Milwaukee and Cleveland in five games apiece, dropping only Game 3 in both series.

Last year, the Pacers got this far as well, beating the Bucks and Knicks in the first two rounds before falling in a sweep to the Boston Celtics.

So far this postseason, McConnell is averaging 16 minutes a game. He’s posting 8.6 points, 4.4 assists and 3.2 rebounds, while shooting 52% from the floor.

In three games this season, New York was 2-1 against the Pacers. The average score was Knicks 124, Pacers 115. The Knicks are a minus-148 favorite to win the series according to FanDuel.

The Western Conference Finals began last night in Oklahoma City, with the Thunder winning at home against Minnesota, 114-88.