The Cincinnati Bengals have a chance to do something this season that no team has done since the AFC North was created in 2002 – win the division three times in a row. However, the Baltimore Ravens, Cleveland Browns, and Pittsburgh Steelers are all trying to prevent that from happening and each team has made big moves this offseason to prevent that.
Despite each team making moves to better themselves, ESPN’s Steelers beat writer Brooke Pryor believes Pittsburgh has the best chance to snatch the AFC North crown from Cincinnati. Writing in a column today with the other beat writers in the AFC North, she made the case for the Steelers, citing their smothering defense and offensive momentum towards the end of last season.
“I hate to make it a Steelers hat trick with my answers here, but I think Pittsburgh has a legitimate case to threaten the Bengals this season — especially if the addition of [Orlando] Brown doesn’t solve all of the Bengals’ woes on the offensive line and [Lamar] Jackson has his third consecutive injury-shortened season,” wrote Pryor. “The Steelers’ defense added and retained starter-capable talent at nearly every position, including cornerbacks Peterson and Joey Porter Jr. and defensive lineman [Larry] Ogunjobi. If the offense can continue its momentum from the end of the 2022 season and the defense builds on last year’s league-leading 20 interceptions, the Steelers are a sneaky pick to pester the Bengals.”
Pittsburgh’s success this season hangs on their defense. Last season, when they were healthy, the defense was elite, allowing only 16.9 points per game when T.J. Watt played. With the rookies they added to the defensive line in Keeanu Benton and at cornerback with Joey Porter Jr. and Cory Trice Jr., it’s possible the defense is even better this season. If Pittsburgh can hold teams under 19 points per game they should be in great shape to possibly take the division.
The biggest question mark is how good the offense will be. While quarterback Kenny Pickett looked good towards the end of the season as he got more comfortable and started taking care of the ball, we don’t know how much he will improve this season. In addition, there is a big question mark with offensive coordinator Matt Canada. Can he help the offense make a leap with another year of Pickett at quarterback and some more stability in being able to run his style, or will the offense be predictable and vanilla again? Pittsburgh’s offense certainly has talent, but Canada needs to get the most out of it.
Luckily for the Steelers’ offense and Matt Canada, the defense has the potential to be so good that scoring around 23 points per game should be enough to win most nights. The Steelers offense doesn’t need to be elite, if it just needs to be good and Pittsburgh may be able to win 12+ games.
Pittsburgh has talent and a great head coach in Mike Tomlin, if the team stays healthy and has a little luck bounce their way, it would not be surprising at all to see them win the AFC North and prevent the Bengals from three-peating for the first time in AFC North history.
