PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Tied for first heading into the bye week, the Steelers watched themselves lose ground to everyone in the AFC North and now have the same number of wins as the Bengals and Browns and a half-game behind the Ravens.
Browns is the…
Maybe they’re not the Browns, maybe Cleveland is legit. Forget the fact the Niners missed a 41-yard field goal that would have won the game in Cleveland on Sunday. Cleveland’s defense made Brock Purdy look like a seventh-round pick. The QB that breezed through the Steelers defense was 12 of 27 for 125 yards with an interception.
Christian McCaffrey, before leaving with injury, averaged 3.9 yards a rush (11 carries, 43 yards) and had three receptions for nine yards. A far cry from the 169 combined yards against the Steelers. San Fran was just three of 12 on third down conversions.
With a practice squad quarterback, the Browns outgained San Francisco by 119 yards, survived a pair of turnovers and 13 penalties to stun the unbeaten Niners. Cleveland has only played one road game, the loss to the Steelers, and travel the next two weeks to Indianapolis and Seattle.
Here comes Cincy
The offense still not what it can be, but after a 1-3 start, a second consecutive win as Joe Burrow threw a pair of touchdowns beating Seattle 17-13. One of the TDs to Clairton native Tyler Boyd as Ja’Marr Chase is heating up with 486 yards and three touchdowns over the last four weeks.
Former Steeler Mike Hilton with one of two Cincinnati interceptions and while they gave up 323 passing yards to Geno Smith, got the key turnovers and held Seattle to 3.5 yards-per-rush.
It’s the bye week now for the 3-3 Bengals. An opportunity for Burrow to get healthier before playing at San Francisco Halloween weekend and then hosting Buffalo.
Ravens back on top
It’s not that the Ravens wowed fans who got up early to watch the 24-16 win over the Titans in England on Sunday. But they found a way to win the game. In many ways it was like the Baltimore loss at Acrisure Stadium, where they let the Steelers hang around, but in this match-up Lamar Jackson made enough plays at key times to pull out the win. Justin Tucker kicked six field goals as several drives stalled, but Baltimore is now 4-2.
In the last three games tight end Mark Andrews has 15 catches for 214 yards and two touchdowns. Defensively linebackers Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith combined for 18 tackles, a sack, TFL and quarterback hit. Justin Madubuike and Jadeveon Clowney combined for four sacks and eight quarterback hits.
Baltimore hosts first-place Detroit on Sunday before going to Arizona. They won’t play the Steelers again until the regular season finale.
None of the teams in the AFC North have hit their stride and none have a losing record. Still plenty of time to go but it seems as tight as this division has been in years.