Caffeine needed for fans

The Steelers will have five prime time games.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pittsburgh Steelers fans must stay up late to catch the end of nearly one-third of the team’s games this season.

With the Steelers coming off a 10-6 record and an AFC North championship in their first season under coach Mike Tomlin, they are scheduled for five prime-time games this season — two each on Sunday and Monday and one on Thursday.

That is the maximum any team can be scheduled to play, and none of the five will start earlier than 8:15 p.m.

The Steelers will play three home games during a 12-day stretch in November, after they begin the season with four of their first six on the road.

Four of the Steelers’ eight home games will be 4:15 p.m. Sunday starts, with only two games scheduled for the traditional 1 p.m. Sunday kickoff: the home opener Sept. 7 against Houston and the final home game Dec. 28 against Cleveland.

The Steelers will play night home games Sept. 29 against Baltimore and Nov. 20 against Cincinnati. The Bengals game closes out a home stand that begins Nov. 9 against Indianapolis and continues the following Sunday against San Diego.

Road night games will be Sept. 14 at Cleveland, Oct. 5 at Jacksonville and Nov. 3 at Washington.

Based on last season’s records, the Steelers will play the NFL’s most difficult schedule. But, because teams can differ greatly from one season to the next, such strength-of-schedule comparisons are meaningless until a season is over and records can be compared.

During one difficult stretch, the Steelers will play the Super Bowl champion New York Giants and four 2007 division champions (Indianapolis, San Diego, New England and Dallas) in a span of seven games that begins Oct. 26 and ends Dec. 7.

The team also announced Tuesday it will honor the memory of former broadcaster Myron Cope, who died in February, prior to the Sept. 7 opener. Cope was the team’s radio analyst for 35 years, the longest uninterrupted tenure of any NFL team announcer.

“Myron was a big part of the Steelers’ game day experience for so many years and we want to give our fans the opportunity to show their appreciation for all that he meant to so many people,” team president Art Rooney II said in a statement.