The Pittsburgh Steelers have been all over the offseason headlines, although almost entirely for reasons that they wish they weren't.
It has been tied to the legal troubles and very public dramas in the life of star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
The player has been in all kinds of trouble, and was nearly brought to trial for sexual assault charges.
This has led the NFL to suspend him for at first six games, which has now been reduced to four games, which had been stated as one of the original possible outcomes of the suspension itself.
For the team, this means a quarter of the season will be played without one of their former leaders, and for the player, it means Roethlisberger will be entering the fray in week 5, largely rusty and out of practice, while the rest of the league will be firing away on all cylinders by that point in time.
How they handle these first games will be the focal point of the season, and how the club ends up faring.
Equally important to the team is the health of their other big players, such as the returning Troy Polamalu, who missed much of last year.
The defense needs Polamalu to be his usual disruptive, attacking and play making self if they want to make some more noise in the AFC playoffs.
Meanwhile, they jettisoned another player who had been in some trouble with the league, Santonio Holmes, largely sending a message to everyone else that enough is enough.
Some people project the Steelers to be headed towards the AFC championship game, and perhaps even another Super Bowl.
Whether or not that happens depends on the Roethlisberger transition, and the play of Polamalu and the other standout members of the club.