Friday Football Footnotes: Steelers history in openers vs. division foes; Aaron Donald's 'retirement' note; NFL revenge games

This week’s “Friday Football Footnotes” examines the Steelers’ history in AFC North season-opening games — and why this one in Cincinnati is so unique.

There are some other quirks to the NFL’s schedule to begin 2022. We get the story behind Aaron Donald’s alleged retirement letter. An old Tennessee team can prove to be a model of sorts for this year’s Pitt club as the Panthers and Volunteers lock horns Saturday.

And Duquesne looks to continue its hot play in home openers.

Trying something new

Sunday will mark the first time that the Steelers and Bengals have met as season-opening foes. But the Steelers have plenty of experience opening the season against their other division rivals.

Since the inception of the AFC North in 2002, the Steelers have played season openers six times against the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. They are 4-1-1 in those contests.

The Steelers won the 2003 opener at Heinz Field 34-15 over the Ravens and lost the first game of 2011 in Baltimore 35-7.

The 2007 Steelers began their season with a 34-7 victory in Cleveland to start Mike Tomlin’s career. They also beat the Browns 30-27 to begin the 2014 campaign. The 2017 and 2018 clubs had openers in Cleveland, winning the ‘17 game 21-18. Then they tied the Browns 21-21 at the outset of 2018.

So that’s 1-1 against Baltimore and 3-0-1 versus the Browns. And we’ll see what happens Sunday against the Bengals. I have Cincinnati winning 28-20.

A.D. nearly done

A lot of people considered the retirement talk surrounding Los Angeles Rams star Aaron Donald to be nothing but a ploy to get a new contract. Maybe it was. But it worked. Donald ended up signing a revised three-year deal worth $95 million, a raise of $40 million.

However, we are now learning that Donald and his agency “Athletes First” went beyond just threatening retirement to the Los Angeles Rams. According to NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport, on May 9, they actually sent the team a retirement letter with instructions to file it with the league.

How serious was star Aaron Donald about retiring? A letter from Donald informing the team of his plans to walk away was sent to the #Rams. It was never turned in to the NFL.

An in-depth, never-told story of how Donald returned to the Super Bowl champs: https://t.co/y7yKmcqJeG

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 8, 2022

According to Rapoport, the letter “was on Athletes First letterhead and addressed to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Simply, it stated that Donald had informed the Rams he was retiring effective on May 9. It came with instructions to send it in to the league office. But the letter was never sent to the NFL.”

Rapoport said the Penn Hills graduate and his agent had a Zoom meeting set up the next day to discuss his contract. The letter “stayed unearthed until that meeting just to be sure there wasn’t anything they could do.” The Rams allegedly then went into the conversation “simply wanting to know when and how to properly honor him for his stellar career.”

But some progress was made in contract talks, and a deal was eventually crafted. As Pro Football Talk points out, the letter amounts to nothing but theatrics, because even if Donald had gone through with public plans to retire, the Rams could have held Donald on the roster through June 1 — and beyond — for salary cap purposes, and negotiations could’ve continued.

Donald, a former standout at Pitt, is committed to the Rams for the next two years. But after those two seasons, he’ll have the choice of either retiring or returning for the final year of his contract and earning another $35 million.

Related:

• Tim Benz: How the Steelers can replicate the 2021 season-opening upset in Buffalo this year in Cincinnati
• Tim Benz: How Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt thinks he can improve upon an award-winning season in 2022

Glad to see you again?

Call them “revenge games” or “reunion games,” there are quite a few of note on the NFL calendar to open 2022.

The league’s opening weekend features the Cleveland Browns at the Carolina Panthers at 1 p.m. Sunday. That means Baker Mayfield’s first game as the Panthers quarterback will be against his former organization.

At the same time, the New York Jets kickoff with Baltimore as longtime Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is under center in place of injured starter Zach Wilson.

Later on Sunday (4:25 p.m.), the Las Vegas Raiders are in Los Angeles to face the Chargers in a rematch of the near-overtime tie in the NFL’s final regular season game of 2021. The Raiders won to make the playoffs and eliminated the Chargers in the process.

Stone-cold clutch. ❄️@DanielCarlson38 | #LACvsLV | More highlights on https://t.co/wXUK7ZZimE pic.twitter.com/CNEYzJLdw7

— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) January 10, 2022

Had the teams ended in a tie, both would’ve qualified and the Steelers would’ve been knocked out of the postseason.

Then, on Monday night, Russell Wilson and the Denver Broncos are in Seattle to play the Seahawks. That will be Wilson’s first start with the Broncos after being traded by Seattle to Denver during the offseason.

Wilson went to nine Pro Bowls and two Super Bowls and won one title during 10 years in Seattle. He told ESPN.com this week that the deal between the Seahawks and Broncos wasn’t the first time his former franchise tried to trade him.

Model to follow

Pitt hosts Tennessee at 3:30 p.m. Saturday. I can’t help but think of something with the Volunteers coming to town.

The Vols won their most recent national championship in 1998. They were 13-0. That was the year after losing their iconic quarterback Peyton Manning to the NFL Draft. In that season, Manning led Tennessee to an 11-2 mark and an SEC Championship game victory before losing to Nebraska in the Orange Bowl.

Pickett’s fifth year at Pitt was very similar to Manning’s fourth. Both decided to come back to play college football one more season after considering the NFL draft. Both were finalists for the Heisman Trophy. Both teams had a similar level of success. Both quarterbacks were taken in the first round of the draft the following spring.

Granted, Manning always had a higher pedigree and had more of a spotlight on him. The fans and media caught up to Pickett late in the game. But both were treated as centerpieces of their team’s success, and there was understandable concern around how much their teams would step back the following year given their respective departures.

Quarterback Tee Martin and company started the next season ranked No. 10 in the polls. The Panthers were 17th.

So, that Tennessee team returned more talent that this Panthers club has. Pro Bowlers like Al Wilson (LB), Chad Clifton (OT) and Shaun Ellis (DE) carried over from Manning’s last year. Martin — an eventual Steeler draft choice — had star SEC players Peerless Price (WR), Shawn Bryson (RB) and another future Steeler, Cedrick Wilson (WR), around him at the skill positions.

So maybe it isn’t quite an apples-to-apples comparison. But the depth of college rosters across the board right now isn’t as deep as it was back in the late ‘90s either, with increased early entries to the NFL.

Pitt may not have enough firepower or love from the voters to win a national title in Year 1 A.P. (after Pickett) as the Vols did in the first year A.M. (after Manning). But I’m not convinced that Martin as a junior was all that much better than what Kedon Slovis could be by year’s end. Martin only threw for 166 yards per game that year and completed 57% of his passes.

Just because Pickett is gone doesn’t mean that Pitt has to backslide in a very winnable ACC. I still think they can at least get to the conference championship game. And, who knows, perhaps win it again and go onto win a major bowl game this year.

The Panthers are roughly a 6.5-point underdog at BetRivers Saturday. Give me the points. I’m picking Pitt to at least cover, if not win outright over Tennessee.

Good to be home

The Duquesne football team plays its first home game of the year at noon on Saturday. Thomas More (NAIA) out of Kentucky will be the opponent.

The Dukes are likely thrilled to get a home game after playing two tough road contests at Florida State and Youngstown State to start the season. Duquesne lost the first game in Tallahassee 47-7 before dropping last weekend’s game in Youngstown 31-14.

The Dukes did get a stellar performance from wide receiver Abdul Janneh. He caught eight passes from quarterback Joe Mischler for 121 yards and two touchdowns. For his efforts, Janneh was named NEC Offensive Player of the Week.

???????????? ???????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????? ???????? ???????????? ????????????????@Janneh_Abdul

???? 8 receptions / 121 yards
???? 2 TDs
???? https://t.co/W12CAlWPG8 #GoDukes pic.twitter.com/CaDzPxMXmp

— Duquesne Football (@DuqFB) September 5, 2022

Duquesne has won 26 of 29 games to open the home portion of their schedule since joining the FCS ranks in 1993. Head coach Jerry Schmitt is 16-1 in home openers. The Dukes have captured a win in 13 straight home openers, including a 56-7 victory over Virginia University of Lynchburg last fall.