Steelers Lead AFC North After 5 Weeks

Miraculously, through all of their offensive struggles, the Pittsburgh Steelers are in first place in the AFC North after five weeks at 3-2. Sunday’s 17-10 win over the Ravens gives the Steelers a slight edge over Baltimore due to the tiebreaker. Overall, Pittsburgh is 2-0 in the division. The Cleveland Browns (2-2) are in third place, followed by the Cincinnati Bengals (2-3) in last. The Browns had a bye in Week 5, while the Bengals defeated the Arizona Cardinals, 34-20, on the road.

Mike Tomlin said after the game that he’s glad to go into the bye week with the Steelers leading the AFC North.

“It’s good to go into the bye sitting atop of the North, particularly with all that we’ve been through,” Tomlin said. “Still very much a group in growth and development. There’s a lot out there, obviously, that we didn’t like. But that’s life in this business, as well. Our job is to win, and we got the business done today.”

Despite being 3-2 and at top of the division, the Steelers have been out-scored 79-110 in five games this season (16 of the Steelers’ 79 points were off  two defensive touchdowns and a safety). The defense carried the team to two of their three wins. Kenny Pickett found George Pickens for a 41-yard game-winning touchdown pass against Baltimore, which shows progress, but they still need more out of their offense. Scoring just one touchdown a game isn’t a sustainable way to win. The Steelers will have to figure out something during their bye week to help jumpstart their offense. The slow starts are crushing them.

The Steelers are fortunate that the Ravens’ wide receivers had a dreadful afternoon with seven drops, two of which would have been touchdowns. The Ravens also messed up a field goal opportunity at the end of the first half, as Ravens center Tyler Linderbaum thought the Steelers jumped into the neutral zone and snapped the ball to get a penalty. Jackson’s pass fell incomplete and Baltimore turned the ball over on downs. Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said they were planning on kicking the field goal and were just trying to draw the Steelers offsides on fourth-and-2.

The Steelers’ offense needs to come out of the gates faster and help out the defense. If it wasn’t for several mishaps by Baltimore, they would have faced a larger deficit than 10-3.

After their bye next week, the Steelers will travel to Los Angeles to face the Rams in Week 7. The Ravens play the Tennessee Titans in London next Sunday at 9:30 a.m. EST, while the Browns host the San Francisco 49ers at 1 p.m. The Bengals will host the Seattle Seahawks at 1 p.m on Sunday, as well.