After climbing into the consensus top 10 of power rankings across the NFL landscape after a 26-18 win over the New York Giants on Monday Night Football, the Pittsburgh Steelers entered a much-needed bye week in Week 9.
Now, the Steelers are gearing up for a big Week 10 road trip to Washington to take on the red-hot Commanders, which should have the attention of many across the league.
Even with the week off, the Steelers should be viewed as a consensus top-10 team in the NFL moving forward, at least for this week.
Below is a chart of aggregate power rankings from several major outlets.
| Outlet | Rank | +/- |
| CBS Sports/Prisco | 6 | +2 |
| ESPN | 7 | +1 |
| NFL.com/Edholm | 9 | – |
| Pro Football Talk/Florio | 6 | +1 |
| The Athletic | 9 | +1 |
| Average Rank | 7.4 |
Even with the week off, the Steelers moved up in a trio of power rankings while sitting idle, which is rather interesting.
In CBS Sports’ power rankings from Pete Prisco, the Steelers moved up two spots from No. 8 to No. 6, marking the second straight week the Steelers jumped two spots in his power rankings.
For Prisco, Week 10 is a prove-it game for Steelers’ QB Russell Wilson and the offense.
“They come off their bye with a big road game against the Commanders. That will be a big prove-it game for the new-look offense with Russell Wilson,” Prisco writes regarding the Steelers in his power rankings.
Having a week off allowed the Steelers to rest up and heal their bumps and bruises as best as possible, preparing them for a gauntlet of the second half of the season, which starts on Sunday in Washington. With that extra week, it also gave the Steelers plenty of time to have a good plan going into the Week 10 matchup on both sides of the football against a 7-2 Commanders’ team that is one of the stories of the NFL this season under first-year head coach Dan Quinn and star rookie QB Jayden Daniels.
Things are rolling right now in Washington, so the Steelers have to come out of the gates following the bye week strong. It’ll be a huge test, so if the Steelers can pass that test, look out.
In ESPN’s power rankings, the Steelers moved up one spot from No. 8 to No. 7. For ESPN Steelers’ beat writer Brooke Pryor, the second half of the season is going to be a tough one for the Black and Gold, but one matchup stands above the rest as the most important in Pryor’s eyes.
That would be the Week 16 matchup on the road against the Baltimore Ravens.
“The Steelers don’t play an AFC North team until their first meeting with the Ravens in Week 11, but they exit their Week 9 bye still ahead of Baltimore. Every divisional game is important — especially for a team that hasn’t played any — but beating the Ravens could go a long way in division and playoff seeding,” Pryor writes regarding the Week 16 matchup between the Steelers and Ravens. “It also sets the tone for a potentially pivotal meeting with the Chiefs on Christmas Day four days later.”
It seems a bit silly to look ahead to a Week 16 matchup within the division when the Steelers play the Ravens in Week 11 at home, which kick-starts a stretch of four straight AFC North matchups with the Ravens, Browns, Bengals, and then Browns before a matchup with Philadelphia.
Right now, that Week 16 matchup is completely unimportant because of the AFC North matchups in front of them. The Steelers can worry about Week 16 when it arrives. There is plenty of business to take care of before then.
In The Athletic’s power rankings compiled by Josh Kendall, the Steelers moved up one spot from No. 10 to No. 9. In The Athletic’s power rankings, Kendall highlighted running back Najee Harris as one key positive thing for the Steelers so far this season.
“After being drafted 24th in 2021, Harris was fine if underwhelming the first three seasons of his career. This year, the running back is averaging career highs in yards per carry (4.4), yards after contact per carry (3.27) and yards per game (74). He’s also the Steelers’ third-leading receiver with 17 catches for 152 yards,” Kendall writes of Harris.
The fourth-year running back, whose fifth-year option was declined in May, has been playing some great football lately—easily the best of his career. He has three straight 100-yard games on the season and is ripping off chunk play after chunk play.
In the last three games, Harris has eclipsed the 100-yard mark, putting up impressive performances against the Las Vegas Raiders (106 yards), the New York Jets (102 yards), and the New York Giants (114 yards). He sits at 592 rushing yards on 136 carries, good for a career-best 4.4 yards per carry. In the last three weeks alone, Harris has averaged 6.1 yards on 54 carries.
He looks much more decisive working downhill, bringing a lot of explosiveness to his cuts and seeing the field well. That has allowed him to consistently get to the second level and make plays for the Steelers’ offense.
Obviously, it helps that QB Russell Wilson’s tendency to push the football down the field and take shots has lightened the box quite a bit, but Harris is playing great football right now, and it’s very encouraging.
We’ll see how things go in Week 10 against the Commanders on the road, but right now, things are really looking up for the Steelers. They should be viewed as a top-10 team in the NFL and arguably a top 3-4 team in the AFC.
