Pittsburgh Steelers

Steelers: AFC North Standings Week 7

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Steelers come off two rough losses. One was the trap game they always fall into. The most recent, against the Pats was without Ben. But they’re still on top of the AFC North.

The Steelers enter the bye week off a two game losing streak. The biggest factor in their ability to maintain their AFC North dominance is when Ben Roethlisberger can make it back to the field following his torn meniscus. As we all know, Ben is a terminator sent from the future to throw footballs so good chance he makes his goal of a week 9 return.

The Browns continue to be awful. The main contenders for the Steelers thrown have been extremely mediocre this season. The Ravens have not improved offensively and free agency took a big bite out of the Bengals. But as the Eagles and Dolphins games showed, the Steelers can’t take anything for granted.

Anyway, let’s run them down.

Steelers 4-3-0

It looked rough at first. Then good for a couple quarters. Then the Steelers remembered they were supposed to lose and did just that. It actually wasn’t bad. Landry Jones did fine. Ultimately what decided the game was the Pats got 7 when they got close and the Steelers only got 3. If a loss against the Pats can be attributed to 1 stat when your best player is injured then it was a good effort. But it was a loss.

Landry Jones had 281 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. He showed poise in the pocket and made good decisions. Brown had 106 yards despite at one point going to the locker room. Bell had about 150 yards. Cobi Hamilton continues to impress. Shazier, again, had injury issues but Timmons got 11 tackles. Outside of a couple big plays the pass defense did well but the run did poorly for the second week in a row.

Bengals 3-4-0

The Bengals broke their own losing streak last week. It was against the Browns, but a win’s a win. AJ Green continues to have a dominant year. The offense had a nice game on the ground and in the air. The defense tortured the Browns passing game but they gave up plenty on the ground which accounted for nearly have the yards and all of the points.

Dalton got his 300 yards, 308 to be exact, with a pair of touchdowns. One of those was to Green who had nearly 170 yards, the other to LaFell. Jeremy Hill had himself 168 yards on the ground and a touchdown on only 9 carries with Bernard adding 80 of his own and a score. Defensively they got a pair of sacks and a pair of interceptions.

Ravens 3-4-0

The Ravens lost, again. They lost against a struggling Jets squad. They got off to a good start but when Ryan Fitzpatrick replaced Geno Smith it all fell apart, not that Geno didn’t get a score before he went down. The Ravens did ok on defense but outside of Mike Wallace pretty much everyone on the offense struggled.

Flacco struggled with 248 yards and 2 interceptions. They had 11 rushing yards. I’ll say that again. They had 11 rushing yards. Wallace had 120 yards, Pitta did ok, but the offense really struggled. Their only touchdown came when the Jets ended up up snapping the ball into their own end zone on a punt. The defense did get 5 sacks but it’s tough to overcome 2 interceptions, no touchdowns, and 11 rushing yards.

Browns 0-7-0

The Browns, you guessed it, are the Browns. In the NFL’s Orange Bowl, the color, not the fruit, the Browns went down for the usual reasons. The defense could not hold up. They continued to unsuccessfully utilize multiple passers. The Browns have been rebuilding every season for two decades, no luck yet. That said, they were winning at one point and kept it close until the 4th quarter. They got spunk.

Cody Kessler had a decent game until he left with a concussion. He was replaced by Kevin Hogan who did not throw well, 100 yards and 2 interceptions, but did run for 104 yards and a touchdown. Isaiah Cromwell added 63 and a touchdown on the ground. Gary Barnidge had a solid game but the threat that is Pryor is no threat with no one to throw to him. Ogbah had a nice game but the defense struggled.

Overall things still seem pretty settled the AFC North on the top and bottom. The Bengals and Ravens still fight for the number two spot. Next week the Ravens and Steelers are both off and meet eachother when they return. The Browns will play the Jets and the Bengals will play the Redskins. See you next week.