It was another frantic week around the AFC North division even though only three out of the four teams that call it home played. Two out of the three that played in Week five were able to secure victories while the other was sent home with a loss. It was another week that only made the standings of the AFC North that much murkier.
Trying to figure out how this division will shake out after the final week of the regular season is nearly impossible right now. There are a couple of teams that seem like they should be in a worse spot than they currently are. Others have lost a lot of games early but seem to be turning a corner. There is a lot of football left for these clubs to alter the standings before the playoffs commence.
The Bengals remain at the bottom despite some positives last week
Cincinnati seems to be righting the ship onto the correct course. Joe Burrow looked better against the Arizona Cardinals this past Sunday. Perhaps his nagging leg issue is starting to go away, and he can now play through that at a high level. The Bengals were highly favored to win the AFC North division coming into this year, but they have seen plenty of struggles early.
They have lost against some poor teams early, even some that resulted in getting blown out. Things will not get any easier for the Bengals this week as the Seattle Seahawks come to town. The Seahawks defense isn't as terrorizing as it used to be, but this is a tough and smart football team that should be able to compete with Cincinnati in a tough matchup.
Cleveland coasts into third place in the standings coming off a bye week
Very early bye week for the Browns this season as they just had a week off in the fifth week of the season. They seemed to need some time to regroup after getting blown out by the Ravens at home. The good news for those who root for Cleveland is this team is very much still in the hunt to try and win the AFC North division, but the road is rockier.
The Steelers beating the Ravens last week somewhat helps their cause as it keeps the division standings close. They need that to continue as well as most of these teams to compete. Even though Pittsburgh somewhat helped them in that regard, the Browns lost to the Steelers and Ravens over a couple of weeks period. They are sunk in the divisional record department and that might be too steep of a hole to climb out of.
Things are not going to get any easier for them this week as they host the San Francisco 49ers. The good news is that they have had an extra week to rest and get prepared for this game. The bad news is most teams will focus more on just getting rest rather than focusing on preparing for a game. This is a tough matchup for anyone in the NFL when the 49ers are next up on the schedule.
Cleveland's defense is their strong area of the team, but they are going up against one of the best offenses in the league. Deshaun Watson needs a stable run attack to make him more comfortable in games, but they are going up against one of the best defenses in the NFL. The 49ers have a ton of positives going in their direction leading up to this game. It'll be tough for San Francisco to leave with a win.
Baltimore lost their game this past week and will need to fix their issues
A lot of things went wrong for the Ravens last weekend as they could not do a lot of things right on offense. Lamar Jackson played nearly flawlessly, but the rest of his offense was not able to follow his lead. Their offensive line allowed a ton of pressure against one of the best edge rusher tandems in the NFL. The turnovers were the real turning point.
When it was all said and done, the Steelers only had to score more than ten points to secure a win over Baltimore. Turnovers were the big issue with the Ravens as Jackson threw an interception in the end zone and the coaching of the Ravens failed the team too. A lot of mistakes allowed Pittsburgh to stay in the game and they pounced when the opportunity struck to win the game.
After a tough loss on the road last week in a game they probably should've won, they will try and fix things quickly. They will head to Tennessee to take on the ever-rollercoaster team of the Titans. Tennessee has not been able to find consistency throughout the first portion of the schedule. They still need to find that if they want to compete this year.
Sometimes they will blow out a team and other times they will be handed a humbling loss. The Ravens will be ready for this game after making plenty of mistakes this past Sunday. They should be able to stop Tennessee's rushing attack, which will limit what Ryan Tannehill can do. It will either be a blow out or something that comes down to the wire.
Somehow the Steelers were able to win and sit on top of the AFC North standings
No one expected the Steelers to win last week, in fact, very few predicted that outcome. One thing that most knew was that Pittsburgh would likely keep it close after being destroyed by the Texans just a week prior. Not to take anything away from the black and gold because they did win, but they did get some help from the other side of the ball.
It seemed like a game that neither side wanted to play in, let alone win. Both offenses struggled to score points, even though the Ravens were able to move the ball up and down the field for a lot of the game. Kenny Pickett and company struggled again in a Matt Canada offense that has still hindered this club. There are still a lot of issues on this team.
If it wasn't for Baltimore bailing out a couple of mistakes by the Steelers, then this could have been a totally different outcome. But give credit where credit is due as Pittsburgh's defense were able to be opportunistic and make stops one way or another. They also helped create enough splash to set up the offense in winnable situations.
The dark spot on this team continues to be their offense as it nearly puts the fans both in attendance and watching on TV to sleep. Something needs to be changed and that has to be the offensive coordinator, Matt Canada. That alteration likely won't happen after a win into the bye week, but it is something Mike Tomlin will have to live with if his decision backfires on him.