The Steelers are sitting atop the AFC North in a pretty comfortable throne right now. The North is truly theirs to lose at this point.
The Ravens just lost to the Eagles, and will be going into a bye week standing at 8-5. This will give the Steelers a chance to cushion their lead in the AFC North by two if they can beat the Browns at home on December 8th.
This by no means is an easy path to finish as division leaders. The Steelers still need to beat a red hot Eagles team who haven’t lost since late September. Afterwards they have the Ravens again in Baltimore, the Chiefs on Christmas day then rounding out the season with the Bengals at home.
If they are to win the division this weekend is going to be a pivotal game against a Browns team that isn’t looking like a team ready to throw in the towel. Jameis Winston has emerged as a real threat since taking over for Deshaun Watson. Nick Chubb has been back to full speed and what really scares me about this team is Myles Garrett. The Steelers may be the better team in this situation, however, that does not mean that the Browns just roll over when they come to town.
Provided the Steelers can pull out the win against the Browns, the real test will be the Eagles. Saquon Barkley is having his best year on record and has just four games under 100 yards, and that’s just on the ground.
What I feel is the most concerning aspect for the Steelers right now is if the defense will show up. I know it’s been the only aspect of this team that has kept them in contention for the past few years, but that isn’t looking like the case lately. Don’t get me wrong, the turnovers and key plays have been there, but so have the penalties and the chunk plays that are killing this team.
For the first time this weekend I had my doubts about Joey Porter Jr. My mother in law who comes over for most every game has been saying it for the past few weeks, but I wasn’t sold. This Bengals game has me changing my mind about Porter in a bad way. The penalties have been rolling out and so have the missed plays. It has been the offense that has been winning games for this team for the first time in a while, and the defense is being brought into question.
That being said, if the defense gets back into form, it’s one of if not the best defense in the league, and now that the offense is producing, this could be a superbowl team.
As mentioned before, the Ravens on December 21st could be the game that makes or breaks this division. Honestly, the way the Ravens have been playing, it isn’t the game I’m most worried about. Justin Tucker hasn’t been ole reliable as he has been in the past, and if he can’t get over these yipps after the bye this team could keep losing close score games. The Steelers did a great job containing Derrick Henry last time they saw each other, and even though he had a touchdown, they held him to just 65 rush yards.
If the Steelers can maintain this success on offense and keep this momentum going I see no reason the division won’t be theirs for the taking.
