Steelers: AFC North Standings Week 1

The Steelers started week 1 off on the right foot and are the best looking team in the AFC North. They’re currently in a three way tie for first place.

One quarter of worry and three quarters of glory. The Steelers are looking pretty good. They’re tied with the Bengals and Ravens for first place. The Browns are in last place. Overall, you have to be pretty pleased with how the Steelers season started.

Steelers: 1-0-0

The Steelers beat the Redskins 38-16. They started off slow but once they got it together everything looked great. The Steelers definitely looked like they had the highest upside of any team in the AFC North, and that was without Bell, Wheaton, Green, or Dupree. Shazier leaving the game early is a little bit of a concern though.

Ben had 300 yards and 3 touchdowns. DeAngelo Williams got more than 170 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brown also got himself a pair of touchdowns and a 129 yards. Young players like Eli Rogers, Jesse James, and Sammie Coates showed promise. Ryan Shazier looked great. Defense was a wall against the run. Next week is a bigger test, to the team and the injury list, the Steelers have the Bengals at home.

Bengals: 1-0-0

The Jets are a solid team but the Bengals barely pulled it out. What ultimately decided the game was the inability of the Jets to score. They settled multiple times for field goals in the red zone and even had a kick blocked and missed an extra point. It was a nail-biter but when the clock hit 0 the Bengals were on top and that’s what matters.

The Bengals leaned heavily on the passing offense to pull this one out, particularly the Dalton-Green connection. Dalton had 366 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown and 180 yards went to Green. LaFell and Uzomah combined for 150 themselves. Dalton did get sacked 7 times and the run game didn’t get going. The defense was pretty stout in the red zone.

Ravens: 1-0-0

The Ravens played the Bills and also came out on top. It wasn’t pretty but it happened. The score being 13-7 you can probably guess it was a defensive battle. Flacco spread the ball around well. The run defense was stout and the pass defense even better. In the end though, the game was basically decided by a classic Flacco drop back 10 yards, close your eyes, and throw it as far as you can bomb to Mike Wallace.

The Ravens got a pair of sacks. Wallace got a few long passes. Justin Tucker hit a 50 yarder. Overall the Ravens stats were not impressive. Where they succeeded was in making sure Buffalo’s stats are even less impressive. The Bills did get 5 sacks. But the Ravens came away the victors.

Browns: 0-1-0

Cleveland, Cleveland, Cleveland. The Eagles pretty much owned the game from the start. The Browns were able to bring it within 3 after the half but after a fumble that led to a safety the Eagles ran away with it. There were some long plays but the biggest takeaway was RGIII is heading to the injured reserve.

It was ugly. The offense didn’t do very well. They did get a couple of long passes. The team ran pretty well but being down throughout didn’t get much opportunity to lean on that part of the game. Carl Nassib continues to appear to be a late round gem. But overall it was a tough start for the Browns, only made easier by the fact that it was expected.

Next: Steelers: A look at the defense after week 1

The Steelers look like the top of the division so far but Sunday will be the real test. Tomlin said the Steelers are excited, according to Andrew Erickson of TribLive.com, and added, “We realize to win the game, you can’t beat yourself, so that’s something that’s a part of our everyday culture in terms of how we approach our business.” See you Sunday Steeler Nation.

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