It took an unnerving second half, but the Steelers saw off the Tennessee Titans in Week 7 to become the AFC’s last unbeaten team.
With the Seattle Seahawks loss in prime time, the Steelers became the entire league’s final perfect team, as well. The division order is currently Pittsburgh (6-0), Baltimore (5-1), Cleveland (5-2), Cincinnati (1-5-1).
Much has been said about the win and the missed field goal that prevented overtime and iced the game for Pittsburgh. Besides, there was only one other AFC North game this past weekend, with the Ravens on their bye week, so I thought I’d mention a few interesting things about the game’s coverage on CBS.
As the Steelers were attempting to prevent a full unraveling of their 20-point lead late in the fourth quarter, technical difficulties added another layer of stress to what was shaping up to be another heart attack game, the type this team so loves to put the fans through:
Some broadcast issues in Tennessee pic.twitter.com/LfS4DaZLsZ
— Vikings Blogger (@firstandskol) October 25, 2020
I noticed that the FOX broadcast of Ohio State vs. Nebraska on Saturday presented an extra camera angle voted on my fans; at first, I thought that odd camera angle CBS cut to in an attempt to correct the problem was just another innovation from the college game brought to the NFL. Luckily, the problem was fixed relatively quickly, and we got to see Ben Roethlisberger react to the Titans’ chances of victory slipping away in the final seconds:
Big Ben's reaction to Gostkowski's missed field goal is amazing:
— Samuel Gold (@SamuelRGold) October 25, 2020
"Did he miss that?" pic.twitter.com/8nyiI3RXlq
Awful Announcing elaborates:
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"When the broadcast finally went dark, the feed cut to commercials and returned to the CBS studio as James Brown explained the issues to the audience. “Some technical difficulties” were the dreaded cause. The issues were blamed on the weather, though it was unclear what kind of inclimate weather was happening in Tennessee at the time."
The clash of (no pun intended) AFC titans was broadcast nearly nationally, with only Steelers fans living too close to Buffalo; New York, Cleveland, or Cincinnati unfortunate enough to miss it.
Ohioans instead got to see the two other AFC North teams in action, the Cleveland Browns, and the Cincinnati Bengals, go at it. The Associated Press recap went with the headline “Hard-luck Bengals keep letting close games slip away,” and I know I shouldn’t laugh at a rookie, but the photo they used is absolutely priceless.
To be fair to Burrow, he and his 406 yards and three touchdowns weren’t the problem. A 24-yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield (22 of 28, 297 yards, 5 touchdowns, 1 interception) to Donovan Peoples-Jones with 11 seconds left gave Cleveland the 37-34 win.
This weekend, the Browns take on the Raiders at home while the Bengals host the Titans, but the division’s real show comes on Sunday at 1:00 when the Steelers travel to Baltimore.