PITTSBURGH - At least Pittsburgh Steelers fans won't have to worry about waking up bleary-eyed on a Tuesday morning after watching their team play the night before.

For only the second time in 13 seasons, the Steelers won't play a Monday night game. A season after playing once on Monday night and twice on Sunday night, the Steelers have only one prime-time TV game in 2004: at Jacksonville Sunday, Dec. 5.

Coach Bill Cowher's team was last missing from the Monday night schedule in 2000, when, like this season, the Steelers were coming off a 6-10 season.

The Steelers open at home Sunday, Sept. 12 against Oakland, the Raiders' third consecutive visit to Pittsburgh and fourth in five seasons after previously not playing there since 1980.

That 1 p.m. start will mark Pittsburgh's first regular-season baseball-football doubleheader since 1967, unless the Pirates alter the time of their 1:35 p.m. home game against the Astros.

The Steelers have played an exhibition game on the same day as a Pirates home game since both teams moved into new stadiums several blocks apart in 2001. But all such conflicts saw one team play in the afternoon and the other at night.

The two teams share parking lots, so the Sunday afternoon twin bill could result in traffic problems for both teams.

The last time the Pirates and Steelers were home together on a Sunday afternoon was Sept. 17, 1967. The Pirates beat the Giants 5-4 at Forbes Field and the Steelers - then members of the NFL's Century Division - opened by beating the Bears 41-13 at Pitt Stadium. The two stadiums were located about a half-mile apart in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood.

The teams shared Three Rivers Stadium from 1970-2000.

The Pirates could ask the Astros to change to a late-afternoon start, although such a switch would not totally alleviate the traffic congestion. The Astros are scheduled to fly to St. Louis after the game, but are off on Monday, Sept. 13.

"We have had discussions with the Pirates about asking them to move their game, which I think they're considering," Steelers president Art Rooney II said.

The Steelers' schedule also includes home games against the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots (Sun., Oct. 31) and division champions Philadelphia (Sun., Nov. 7) and Baltimore (Sun., Dec. 26).

After opening against Oakland, the Steelers travel to Baltimore and Miami, then return home to play Cincinnati and Cleveland,

From Oct. 3-Nov. 7, a stretch that includes their bye week, the Steelers are at home for four of five games, leaving only to play at Dallas on Oct. 17.

The Steelers start the second half of the season at Cleveland and Cincinnati, then return home to play Washington. After traveling to Jacksonville, they play what could be four consecutive cold-weather games: at home against the Jets (Dec. 12) and Ravens (Dec. 26) and at the New York Giants (Sat., Dec. 18) and Buffalo (Sun., Jan. 2).

The Buffalo game will match Cowher against his former offensive coordinator, new Bills coach Mike Mularkey. Tom Donahoe, the Steelers' former director of football operations, also is Buffalo's general manager, and former Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Clements is the Bills' offensive coordinator.

"It will be a cold day in Buffalo," Rooney said.

The games against the Patriots, Jets and Cowboys are scheduled for late afternoon starts.