Despite the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 5-2 start and the offensive boost provided by QB Russell Wilson, they’re still thought of as the bridesmaid, not the bride. There’s plenty of praise being thrown the Steelers’ way but the national media still views the Baltimore Ravens as the AFC North favorites.
Both teams are 5-2 entering Week 8, the Ravens having technical tiebreaker and first-place advantage. Debating if the Steelers are the division favorite Tuesday on ESPN’s Get Up, former NFL cornerback Dominique Foxworth doesn’t see it as likely.
“I think that’s definitely fiction,” Foxworth told the panel of the Steelers winning the North. “I think the division, they’re gonna be competitive in division because that’s the type of team that Mike [Tomlin]always puts out. But assuming that Russell Wilson is going to be healthy and start of the rest of the season might be a bit of a stretch. But either way, I don’t think they win the division against the Ravens, especially given what we saw from the Ravens last night. They seem to be getting better every week.”
Wilson has historically been one of the NFL’s most durable quarterbacks but recurring calf injuries will be in the back of fans’ and analysts’ minds the rest of the season. One wrong step away from being shelved another month.
Still, what he showed Sunday night was promising. Getting the football to his playmakers, reading the defense pre-snap, more effectively utilizing play-action to open up the passing game. Mike Tomlin’s gamble was in the hopes of taking Pittsburgh’s offense to greater heights and a 37-point performance with five plays of 30-plus yards, the Steelers’ most in nine seasons, was the outcome he was looking for.
Foxworth isn’t the only one pumping Pittsburgh’s brakes. During his weekly “Overreaction Monday” segment, Rich Eisen believed that predicting a first-place Steelers team over the Ravens is a bridge too far.
“Dude, that’s an overreaction,” Eisen told co-host Chris Brockman. “Come on now. I know [Wilson] looked terrific. I know this is exactly why Mike Tomlin wanted to check in on him….an overreaction for them to actually win the division over a Ravens team that has over the past four weeks looked like the Ravens team we thought they would.”
Eisen’s comments were made prior to Baltimore’s Monday night 41-31 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. RB Derrick Henry was again unstoppable, busting out with a big second half to finish with 169 yards and more than 11 yards per carry. QB Lamar Jackson threw for five touchdowns and TE Mark Andrews heated up after an invisible start to the year, on the receiving end of two of them.
Perhaps Baltimore’s only issue is putting teams away, allowing comebacks to the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the season while the Bucs made things semi-interesting late.
Ultimately, the division will be decided by the two Steelers-Ravens games yet to be played. Week 11 in Pittsburgh and Week 16 in Baltimore. The Steelers have held the recent upper-hand, winners of six of the last seven, but these games are always tight.
The Cincinnati Bengals shouldn’t even be discounted, winners of three of their last four and sitting 3-4 on the year after an 0-3 start, even if they clearly still have a hill to climb. The only team that can safely be counted out is the 1-6 Cleveland Browns, giving the AFC North an early-2010s feel of a three-club race.
