AFC North Power Rankings after Week 3: Ravens, Steelers win while Bengals, Browns stumble

The AFC North shockingly struggling

Week 3 brought a ton of surprises in the AFC North. Heck, the entire AFC is a bit of a surprise right now.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are undefeated (shocking), the Baltimore Ravens almost blew another 4th quarter lead. Still, they found a way, and both the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals lost games they have no business losing.

Let’s do the power rankings:

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

3-0, but offense is still a concern.

2. Baltimore Ravens

Got back to their identity but almost blew another lead in the process

3. Cleveland Browns

Offensively, the team lacks an identity

4. Cincinnati Bengals

Defensively, the team lacks an identity

Steelers are 3-0, in spite of Justin Fields

If there is one surprise in the NFL this season it’s the Steelers. Yes, the team is 3-0 and yes the defense is really good, and yes the offense still has some issues.

Quarterback Justin Fields played well enough against a stingy Los Angeles Chargers defense. He made some key throws and only had one turnover. He managed the game.

As far as the defense, they did manage to get a break with quarterback Justin Herbert being limited by a high ankle sprain but they were able to do what they do best which has been a winning formula for a while now.

Are the Steelers contenders? Not quite. Considering the opponents they faced in which the offenses looked incompetent or flat out of sync. It’s hard to consider how good this team is when they haven’t been tested yet. But 3-0 is 3-0 so you can’t hate on that.

Baltimore gets back to what they are good at offensively

On Tallysight, I specifically picked the Baltimore Ravens to win against the Dallas Cowboys despite the spread only being -1. Why? Simple. Ravens can run the ball on a weak Dallas Cowboys front. For as much scrutiny the Ravens offensive line has received, they arguably played their best game of the season on Sunday. Running back Derrick Henry had his way against Dallas including this disrespectful stiff arm.

Quarterback Lamar Jackson played well enough and came through when he needed to. As far as the defense goes, they had their way with against the Dallas Cowboys offense. However, the team did their best to give the game away but found a way to hold onto to the win. Baltimore is the best team in the division despite the Steelers being 3-0 right now and this was a much-needed win. Baltimore got back to what they are offensively, and the team seems to be heading in the right direction.

Good job, Ravens.

Browns and Bengals have an identity crisis that needs to be addressed

Both the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals had winnable games this week and somehow both found ways to lose those games.

The Browns are 1-2. The Bengals are 0-3.

Both teams aren’t really good right now and they both lack an identity.

For the Browns, obviously it’s the offense. The offensive line has injuries and it hasn’t been great, the quarterback has been a liability and the receivers aren’t catching the ball consistently. Can they fix it? Unsure. But the unit has issues and who knows if it will get fixed.

As far as the Bengals go, I’ve said it before that the defense was an issue and it showed on Monday night. Washington Commanders rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels had his way against them, he faced little to no pressure, picked apart the secondary and had a monster night. Can the Bengals fix the defense? Similar to Cleveland’s issues offensively I am unsure. Lack of interior depth on the defensive line (aside from the injuries), secondary not being great, terrible in the run game, it’s a lot to fix. But the Bengals are 0-3 right now and they lost two winnable games.

Both the Browns and the Bengals have an identity crisis on their respective sides of the ball and it’s up to those teams to fix their problems.

How would you rank the AFC North right now? Join the conversation in the comments below and provide your order