The Pittsburgh Steelers are out of Latrobe and back at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex, also referred to as the South Side Facility. We are already into the regular season, where everything is magnified and, you know, actually counts. The team is working through the highs and lows and dramas that go through a typical Steelers season.
How are the rookies performing? What about the players that the team signed in free agency? Who is missing time with injuries, and when are they going to be back? What are the coaches saying about what they are going to do this season that might be different from how it was a year ago?
These are the sorts of questions among many others that we have been exploring on a daily basis and will continue to do so. Football has become a year-round pastime and there is always a question to be asked, though there is rarely a concrete answer, as I’ve learned in my years of doing this.
Question: Can the Steelers kick their division opponents while they’re down?
The Steelers had about as good a bye week as they could ask for yesterday, at least as it concern their own division, as all three of their AFC North rivals suffered defeat on the day, the two that mattered most being the Cincinnati Bengals and especially the Baltimore Ravens, as the latter already has a head-to-head victory in Pittsburgh.
With those losses, the Steelers, as I’m sure you are aware by now, have moved into first place for the time being, their winning percentage from their 3-2-1 record being just a wisp better than the 4-3 records that Bengals and Ravens share.
Next on deck for Pittsburgh, though, is Cleveland coming to Heinz Field and then a very important rematch with the Ravens in Baltimore. That game is shaping up to possible be the most important of the schedule remaining to them.
So the question is, can the Steelers kick their division rivals when they’re down? They don’t get to face the Bengals again until the regular season finale, but hey get the other two games in consecutive games coming off their bye week.
The Browns have already well surpassed their win total from the previous two seasons combined, but are still a struggling team that is starting to become embarrassed. Following a blowout the week before, they were handed yet another overtime loss on the longest field goal ever kicked in extra time.
Up next for the Ravens is the Panthers, who while owning a 4-2 record have only crept past the Giants and Eagles over the last three weeks, losing to Washington in between. They already rank in the bottom half of scoring and Baltimore’s defense will surely like to prove that yesterday’s game was a fluke.
