Ravens Inch Even Closer to Stealing Division Lead

The Baltimore Ravens looked about as down and out of the playoff race as they ever have this early in a Lamar Jackson season last month, when they entered the bye week with an impossible-looking 1-5 record.

It wasn't just they were injured or poorly-coordinated, even if those continued sticking out as big reasons for their inability to match the competition levels they were thrown up against for the first six weeks of this season. They just could not win games, while the Pittsburgh Steelers, their division rivals who weren't expected to be anywhere near the Ravens in the tiers of contention, were slicing through their early schedule with ease.

When the Ravens geared up to make the most of their time off during Week 7's slate of matchups, there stood the Steelers, clearly atop the underwhelming AFC North with a 4-1 record. They'd enjoyed their own early bye, but they've just won one of their four matchups since attempting to build on that lead.

Their most recent dropped opportunity, a 25-10 dud on Sunday Night Football, represented another untimely mistake, pulling them down to 5-4 after their exciting start. And what's worse, their division lead isn't even safe anymore, as the Ravens have surged back to pull just behind the Steelers at 4-5.

Staging the Comeback

They've completely stolen Pittsburgh's early mojo, having won three straight since emerging from their bye. Their most recent victory was just what they needed to truly frighten some of their local peers, a 27-19 win over the Vikings in Minnesota to prove that this team really is capable of stringing together wins with a squad that's getting to more closely resemble the Ravens that we remember every week.

New Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers remains the oldest starting player at his position in the league, and his age has started to show as he's creeped even further into the grueling NFL schedule. He's coming off of his worst outing of his Pittsburgh stint, having settled for one touchdown, a pair of interceptions and a season-low 51.6% completion rate in that public loss to the Chargers.