Only the Steelers are 1-0 but how do the four teams rank?
Alrighty then. Week 1 is over. Last year, we took a trip around the AFC North and talked about the AFC North after every game but this year we are changing it up.
AFC North Power Rankings every week!
Power rankings are tricky for many reasons but we will try to do our best. The Pittsburgh Steelers (yes the Steelers) are the only team in the AFC North to win this week. The Cincinnati Bengals & the Cleveland Browns lost on Sunday, the Baltimore Ravens lost on opening night. Especially early in the season, teams’ records don’t tell the whole story.
Anyway, let’s do the rankings.
1. Baltimore Ravens
Looked competitive against the defending Super Bowl champs
2. Pittsburgh Steelers
Got the victory but the offense was still stuck in neutral
T-4. Cleveland Browns
Looked bad against a good team
T-4. Cincinnati Bengals
Looked bad against a bad team
Look for silver linings in the Bengals, Browns, and Ravens losses
The Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, and the Cincinnati Bengals are playoff teams with Super Bowl aspirations. With that being said, it’s Week 1, Their goals are in front of them, despite less than ideal showings.
As for Baltimore, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs, you can’t make mistakes against them or you will end up wondering what could’ve happened. Quarterback Lamar Jackson has been the poster boy of unfair criticism and he was on Thursday night. Lamar had some good plays, and some he would want back. The missed throw to Zay Flowers late in the 4th is a play he would want back. Despite the offensive lines issues they are replacing three starters so it wasn’t going to be as easy.
As for the Bengals and the Browns, they can’t play possibly worse than they did on Sunday. Both offenses looked out of sync. Chalk it up to learning new systems and other factors. Cleveland’s defense tightened up in the 2nd half despite being put in unfavorable positions but Cincinnati’s run defense has major issues (I will discuss later).
Steelers find a way to win (Don’t know how they get away with this)
If you see my posts on social media, I would refer to the Steelers winning games they don’t have business winning “Demon Slayer level plot armor” (for my pop culture enthusiasts who watch anime you know, if not I’ll explain)
- Demon Slayer is an anime show that is about a boy named Tanjiro Kamado working for the Demon Slayer Corps after his sister turned into a demon.
- Plot armor is essentially saving the main character from any harm that comes their way in order to continue the story (i.e avoiding death), Demon Slayer is an example of it with Tanjiro
Pittsburgh’s offense looked clunky and often inept at times but somehow they were able to escape a win against the Atlanta Falcons mainly because Atlanta’s offense was inept and the defense capitalized on it. Quarterback Justin Fields started due to Russell Wilson’s calf injury, and Fields was fine (?). Some good, some bad. Overall, the defense was fine but overall the team’s performance was average.
Bengals run defense a problem, offense has similar issues that the Browns had
I mentioned this numerous times but the Bengals defense as a whole isn’t nearly the same unit they were 3 years ago. To be honest, they are average at best. The run defense is bad, there is no need to sugarcoat it. New England ran the ball at will against Cincinnati and there was nothing the Bengals could do to stop it. Losing D.J. Reader and getting a solid replacement was a miss on the Bengals part.
Offensively, same issues that Cleveland ran into today. New offense. No reps in the preseason. Less than ideal results. Can both sides fix their offensive issues? Maybe. But both offenses looked unprepared and flat. Look for both offenses to work around their issues for better performances next week.
How would you rank the four teams in the division? Share yours in the comment section below
