Join Neil Reynolds and Phoebe Schecter live from Pittsburgh on Sunday as the Steelers host the San Francisco 49ers, with coverage beginning at 4.30pm ahead of kickoff at 6pm; Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Chargers follows on Sky Sports NFL from 9.25pm
Friday 8 September 2023 16:51, UK
On the road again! The Sky Sports NFL team will be live from Pittsburgh for the opening Sunday of the 2023 NFL season as the Steelers host the San Francisco 49ers.
Neil Reynolds and Phoebe Schecter will be on the ground at Acrisure Stadium to bring you extensive build-up coverage from 4.30pm ahead of kickoff on the Steelers' first home game of the new campaign at 6pm.
Featuring within a bumper show will be an exclusive interview with Steelers owner Art Rooney II, while two-time Super Bowl champions Max Starks and Santonio Holmes join Neil and Phoebe on the day to cast their eye over the new season.
We also hear from Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett, star edge rusher TJ Watt and head coach Mike Tomlin alongside interviews with figures such as Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Justin Jefferson from Neil's training camp tour.
"First of all, environmentally, you can expect an awesome sport environment, our fans create that," head coach Tomlin told Sky Sports. "We appreciate it. And then you're going to see a top notch effort from our group. That's our job each and every week man to go out there and give a great effort in an effort to produce victory.
Pickett enters his second season with the team after being selected in the first round of the 2022 Draft, and is all too familiar with the Pittsburgh fanbase, having played his college football for the Panthers in the same stadium.
"It's gonna feel great, I can't describe that feeling of running out of that tunnel," Pickett said. "It's a really, really special moment that you have with your team-mates, you're running out there on Sundays, something you've always dreamed of doing. So, I'm excited to get back out there and leave it on the line again."
Watt is as familiar as anybody with the raucous Steelers atmosphere, quite often playing a starring role in ramping up the noise with yet another sack to add to his tally.
"They're insane," said the former Defensive Player of the Year. "The tailgating is off the charts and yeah, the people are passionate but they're also very smart. They understand the game, they know when to get loud, they know when to be quiet."
What the Steelers hope marks a new and prosperous era at quarterback under Pickett coincides with a new era off the field after Pittsburgh were recently awarded rights to enhance their brand in Ireland as part of the NFL's 'Global Markets Program'.
The team's ties with the Emerald Isle run deep, with the Steelers having faced the Chicago Bears in a preseason game at Croke Park back in 1997, still to this date the only NFL game to have been played in Ireland. Late chairman Dan Rooney meanwhile served as the United States Ambassador to Ireland between 2009 and 2012 as a major influence in the relationship between the two.
Should all go to plan, it may well be the Steelers venturing back in this direction one day in the not-so-distant future.
"We've been to Dublin before - we didn't do the golfing so maybe we have to go back," Watt told Sky Sports.
The Steelers have already made strides in their bid to expand overseas, announcing the team's first ever watch party at Croke Park when they take on the Cleveland Browns on November 19.
"I love it, I really do," said coach Tomlin of the organisation's work in Ireland. "It's a humbling thing to be a part of the globalisation of our game. And as a franchise that wants to be out front in everything that we do, we embrace that and we're looking forward to developing that relationship.
"I know the Rooney family appreciates that, particularly with the roots that they have in Ireland and so it's just awesome to be a part of it."
The Steelers are coming off a 2022 campaign in which they missed out on the playoffs for just the sixth time in Tomlin's 16 seasons in charge.
Having teased promising signs down the stretch last year, Pickett has his sights set on establishing himself among the breadth of young quarterback talent across the AFC.
"I think the first thing that comes to mind when I talk about his development is his mental toughness," said Tomlin of the second-year play-caller.
"There's a certain amount of negativity that comes with being a young signal caller, it's called the learning process. But you better be mentally tough enough to absorb that, to flip it. And I think that's what was displayed in the second half of the season a year ago.
"His dogged determination and his talent provides a platform for us to grow and grow together."
Join Neil Reynolds and Phoebe Schecter live from Pittsburgh on Sunday as the Steelers host the San Francisco 49ers, with coverage beginning at 4.30pm ahead of kickoff at 6pm; Miami Dolphins at Los Angeles Chargers follows on Sky Sports NFL from 9.25pm
