The Steelers travel to Atlanta on Sunday to kick off the 2024 regular season. Most sports books have installed the Falcons as three point favorites on their home field, which essentially makes this game a toss-up. With a close contest expected, the Steelers will need to lean on whatever matchup advantages they can find to win in Atlanta.

What might those advantages be? Here are three that could play a key role in determining Sunday’s outcome:

Teryl Austin vs. Zac Robinson

This may be the least obvious matchup advantage the Steelers enjoy because it doesn’t involve players. But it could be the most impactful.

Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, who enters his eighth season in the NFL in that role, and head coach Mike Tomlin, whose specialty has been defense throughout his twenty-plus year NFL career, seem to enjoy a significant X-and-O advantage over the first-time signal caller in Atlanta, Zac Robinson. Robinson spent five seasons as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator under Sean McVay with the Rams before being hired away by first-year head coach Raheem Morris to coordinate the offense in Atlanta. Like Tomlin, Morris is trained on the defensive side of the ball, so Robinson will not have his expertise as an offensive mind to draw upon. Robinson brought assistants Tim Berbenich and K.J. White with him from Los Angeles, so the three have some continuity in terms of the system they’re running. But none has ever coordinated an offense nor called plays in an NFL game, which puts them at a disadvantage in terms of experience.

This doesn’t mean Robinson will be overmatched. The McVay system has been implemented by several young coaches throughout the league, with great success. However, Austin has a track record of making life difficult on potent offenses in season openers. He did so in 2021, frustrating Josh Allen and the Bills in a 23-16 Pittsburgh victory in Buffalo. He did it in 2022 as well, forcing five turnovers from Joe Burrow in a road win at Cincinnati. That could bode poorly for Atlanta quarterback Kirk Cousins, who is coming off of an injury that sidelined him for much of last season. The matchup of Austin versus Robinson seems to tilt heavily towards the Steelers, and could play a pivotal role on Sunday.

Arthur Smith vs. His old team

The Steelers enjoy a coaching advantage on the other side of the ball as well. Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Arthur Smith coached the Falcons from 2021-2023 before being dismissed after last season. While there’s a new coaching staff in Atlanta, including defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake, the Falcons return seven starters from last year’s defense as well as several key reserves. Lake is expected to play a base 3-4, which is the same scheme the Falcons employed last season under Smith. The familiarity he will have with both their scheme and their personnel, if not Lake’s system, is significant.

Having called his offense against many of those Atlanta defenders throughout last season’s training camp, and discussed their strengths and weaknesses with his fellow coaches in meetings, Smith possesses information about them a scouting report or even a game film cannot supply. He may know, for example, that nickel corner Dee Alford, who is just 5’11-177 pounds, struggles against particular formations when he has to set the edge as a run defender. Smith may then find ways to shift and trade his offensive personnel to force Alford into that role. He may know that defensive end Grady Jarrett, who stands just 6’0 tall, struggles to separate from longer offensive tackles, and that the outside zone play is particularly difficult for him to defend. He may know that Pro Bowl safety Jesse Bates, as good as he is, is prone to biting on double moves. Maybe Smith shows Bates an out-cut from tight end Pat Freiermuth early on, only to convert that into an out-an-up later in the game when he knows Freiermuth is drawing Bates in coverage. These advantages are hypothetical, but you have to believe Smith has a data bank in his brain on Atlanta’s defensive personnel. That could prove crucial in a tight contest where every advantage matters.

Russell Wilson’s deep ball vs. Justin Simmons

Simmons, the former Bronco, is a two-time Pro Bowl safety who signed with Atlanta two-and-a-half weeks ago after being available for months on the free agent market. He is 30 yards old and coming off of a season in Denver where he earned second-team All-Pro honors. In Atlanta, he will be paired on the back end with Bates, forming what could be one of football’s best safety duos.

Still, there are those who feel the quality of Simmons’ play slipped a bit last year. And with less than three weeks of practice — and no pre-season games — to get in shape and familiarize himself with Atlanta’s system, Simmons could get off to a slow start. Lake, who has been billed as a “secondary guru” at times in his career, runs a system that is complex in its checks and disguises. Simmons operated in a fairly straightforward cover-2 scheme for much of his time in Denver. It’s possible Simmons will play a bit slowly as he acclimates to everything Lake is doing in Week One. The Steelers could use this to their advantage by putting him to an early test.

It’s no secret that Smith hopes to set the tone in his offense by running the football. That often means a defense responds by playing their safeties low in an effort to get them into the run fit. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Smith line in one formation, shift to another to pull Simmons down as a run-fitter, and take a deep shot on him off of a play-action run fake. One of the strengths of Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson is his deep ball, and Wilson excels at ball fakes as well. Luring Simmons out of position and then exploiting him with on a post or seam route could be a way for the Steelers to create an explosive play early in the contest.

Expect a tight football game on Sunday in Atlanta. Hopefully, by putting these matchup advantages to good use, the Steelers will have enough to prevail.