Just how good or bad are the Pittsburgh Steelers as they get ready to start the second quarter of their 2019 regular season? We should be able to better answer that question on Sunday afternoon after the Steelers play the 2-2 Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field. Ahead of that game happening, however, Pro Football Focus has the Steelers ranked right near middle of the league in their pre-Week 5 power rankings.
According to PFF’s latest ELO power rankings, the Steelers are ranked 13th overall following their 27-3 home beatdown of the Cincinnati Bengals Monday night and below is what they have to say about the 1-3 team entering Week 5 of the 2019 NFL regular season, who were also ranked 13th overall last week.
The Steelers came away with a victory Monday night against the struggling Bengals to maintain their PFF ELO ranking. We’ll reiterate that these rankings do not account for mid-season quarterback changes, only the results of games. The Steelers have fallen from ninth to start the year, and the fall will likely pick up again next week without improved quarterback play with the Ravens and Chargers next on the schedule.
While not much of a defense for the Steelers, their three losses so far this season have come against three teams ranked higher than they currently are as the New England Patriots are ranked 1st, the Seattle Seahawks are ranked 10th and the San Francisco 49ers are ranked 11th this week, per PFF.
Interesting enough, the Steelers enter Week 5 of the 2019 regular season as the highest-ranked AFC North team. Their Week 5 opponent, the Ravens, are ranked 15th this week following their Week 4 home loss to the Cleveland Browns, who enter Week 5 ranked 17th overall. The lowly Bengals, not surprisingly, enter Week 5 ranked 28th overall by PFF.
Below is what PFF thinks about the Ravens ahead of them playing the Steelers on Sunday.
Back-to-back losses have dropped the Ravens from top-six to mid-teens in our rankings. Lamar Jackson received much of the hype after two weeks, and his performances have been worse the last two weeks (combined EPA of 8.3 vs. 43.4 in Weeks 1 and 2). But there’s been more turbulence with a defense that has now given up the second-highest EPA per play this season. Some of that is a function of an uptick in the offensive competition (Chiefs, Browns), but it’s still something to watch moving forward.
Entering Sunday’s game at Heinz Field between the Steelers and Ravens, PFF essentially has both teams as being mediocre and that’s understandable. Neither team can really afford to lose on Sunday as both appear to be headed down a path of needing to win the AFC North or bust. The Ravens already have one loss in the division and a second one Sunday to the Steelers would really put them behind the eight ball.
As strange as it might sound, the Steelers could wind up tied for the division lead with the Browns come Monday night should they wind up beating the Ravens and Cleveland loses to the 49ers on the road on Monday Night Football.
