Steelers own the AFC North after NFL Week 5

Over the last two weeks’ worth of games played by the AFC North division, just the Steelers have a win to their names.

The wing-clipped Ravens

Baltimore knew, before their game even kicked off, that beating the Houston Texans was a tall task with injuries to QB Lamar Jackson (hamstring), CB Marlon Humphrey (calf), LB Roquan Smith (hamstring), CB Nate Wiggins (elbow), T Ronnie Stanley (ankle), CB Chidobe Awuzie (hamstring), FB Patrick Ricard (calf), WR Devontez Walker (oblique), S Kyle Hamilton (groin), C Tyler Linderbaum (calf), OLB Kyle Van Noy (hamstring), T Emery Jones (shoulder), NT Travis Jones (knee), and DE Brent Urban (finger). Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud made the Ravens’ lives more miserable by carving up a Baltimore defense that gave up 44 points.

The Ravens have given up 117 points defensively this season. That ranks as the most in a five-game span in the team’s history. For just the second time in 30 years, the Ravens sit at 1-4. Under head coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens have never given up 44 points to an opponent at home.

Harbaugh’s response to the loss spoke volumes, “I thought we would tackle better… We had good enough players out there to play a lot better than we did.”

Oof.

The bungling Bengals

Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor isn’t shying away from the possibility that quarterback Jake Browning may head back to the bench after the three interceptions he gave up to the Detroit Lions on Sunday. “After a game like that, we’re going to look at all personnel,” Taylor candidly told the media.

Browning, playing in place of injured Joe Burrow, has had consistency issues running the Bengals offense. In the three weeks before this game, he threw just 3 touchdowns to 5 interceptions while completing just 64.3 percent of his passes. Browning was also been sacked 7 times during that period. Detroit took advantage of Browning’s miscues hand the Bengals a 37-24 loss.

Week 5 was the third consecutive game in which Cincinnati scored just 3 points through the first three quarters. They didn’t find any rhythm until the fourth quarter, putting 21 points on the scoreboard.

Big Oof.

The slip-sliding Browns

On the road in London facing the Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland – who has won just a single game – continued the slip-slide to the bottom of the proverbial division barrel, losing by a score of 21-17. It was rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel‘s first NFL start, wasted.

Cleveland was ahead, 10-7, at the halfway mark. After halftime, though, the offense stalled. With the loss, Browns quarterbacks have now gone 0-17 in their first career starts since 1995 per ESPN research; that is the league’s longest streak since 1950 (when that stat started to be officially recorded).

Despite Minnesota’s loss of Carson Wentz at quarterback in the first half due to injury, he did return to play hurt with undrafted rookie Max Brosmer as the backup option. Wentz found Jordan Addison for a 12-yard touchdown with just 25 seconds left in the game for the win.

Eye-raising oof.

Steelers prepare for first divisional play

As the current division leaders, the Steelers will prepare to go head-to-head with the Browns at Acrisure Stadium in Week 6 with a .750 win percentage. In comparing the offenses, Pittsburgh has 96 points for compared to the 73 Cleveland can claim. The Steelers defense has allowed 98 points to the Browns’ 123.

While the Steelers will be considered the likely favorite, AFC North division rivalry games are never a ‘gimme’ – Pittsburgh and Cleveland have plenty left to prove.

The Steelers can’t afford to allow the momentum they’ve gained over the past two games played falter if they truly want to own the AFC North for the remainder of the season.