First Call: Eagles corner Steven Nelson talks about facing Steelers; ESPN's pessimistic Pittsburgh projections

Thursday’s “First Call” gets Steven Nelson’s view on playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers. We take a look at ESPN’s projections for the Steelers in 2021. The Baltimore Ravens receive bad news regarding this year’s first-round draft pick.

And a New York Jets wide receiver finds himself swimming … um … upstream.

The Eagle has landed

And now he has spoken, too.

Former Steelers cornerback Steven Nelson is about to play his first game as a Philadelphia Eagle on Thursday night. Fittingly, the Steelers will be the opponent.

There were signs of an acrimonious breakup between Nelson and Steelers management this offseason. But since signing in Philly last month, Nelson has dialed down that tension.

He did so again this week during training camp in advance of facing his former team.

“It’ll be cool to see old teammates and stuff like that,” Nelson said via Eagles.com. “No bad blood there. (I’m) still communicating with my teammates. But I’m an Eagle now. And that’s the way it is.”

Nelson was asked about the differences between the Philadelphia defense and the one he was a part of in Pittsburgh.

“It seems to be different,” Nelson said. “Two different coaching staffs. Two different flavors. Wherever you go in the league, it’s going to be a little bit different.”

Nelson is expected to be an opening day starter in Philadelphia at cornerback opposite Darius Slay. Nelson was released by the Steelers on March 23.

After weeks of speculation that he’d wind up down the turnpike, Nelson eventually signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Eagles on July 25.

Not lookin’ too good

ESPN’s Football Power Index projections are out for 2021. And Steelers fans probably aren’t going to like them.

The mathematical odds and stats machine churned all the predictive factors (which you can read here) and determined the Steelers would go 8.2-8.8 this season.

So maybe my 8-8-1 prediction isn’t looking so silly now, is it?

That essentially means the FPI is suggesting the Steelers will go 8-9 and give Mike Tomlin his first losing season.

The network’s odds simulator also gives the Steelers a less than impressive 32.5% chance of making the playoffs. That’s worse than 2020 non-playoff teams in the AFC such as the New England Patriots, Miami Dolphins, Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Chargers.

It’s only slightly in front of NFC teams such as the Arizona Cardinals, Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears.

In terms of winning the AFC North division, the Steelers are at 12.4%. That’s much closer to the fourth-place Cincinnati Bengals (4.6%) than it is either the favored Baltimore Ravens (42.9%) or the predicted second-place Cleveland Browns (40.1%).

Bad news for Bateman

We told you Wednesday that the Baltimore Ravens were dealing with multiple injuries at wide receiver.

Now we find out that one of them is somewhat worrisome. According to Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, Rashod Bateman will miss multiple weeks with a groin injury.

Ravens’ HC John Harbaugh said first-round pick Rashod Bateman will miss “a number of weeks” with the groin injury that he suffered at Tuesday’s practice.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 11, 2021

A rookie out of Minnesota, Bateman is expected to take on a significant role in Baltimore’s air attack during his first season.

As The Athletic’s Jeff Zrebiec recently pointed out, “of their 9 healthy WRs, only 3 of them have an NFL catch.”

Baltimore’s first preseason game is Saturday night against the New Orleans Saints.

Something is fishy

New York Jets wide receiver Denzel Mims is back up to 208 pounds. He had fallen all the way down to 197 after playing last year at 217.

How come? Was it something he ate?

Actually, it was.

Mims said he was stricken with a severe case of food poisoning from bad salmon, and it kept him out of action for a lot of the offseason program.

“It took a big toll on me,” Mims said via USA Today. “And no, I haven’t touched salmon ever since then.”

This wasn’t a good time for Mims to be sidelined. He had numerous injuries last year. And now he is trying to work into some chemistry with new quarterback Zach Wilson.

“I’m trying to do everything I can to make sure I bounce back and catch up to where they are,” Mims said.

Best of luck, Denzel. Just order the chicken or beef options from now on.