In most areas, the Pittsburgh Steelers had their best game of the season against the Cleveland Browns last week. The defense was dominant, the offense found a strong rhythm in the second half, and the run game got going as well. The Steelers are starting to seem like a lock for the playoffs, and to be the AFC North winner.
However, analyst Marc Sessler remains skeptical of the Steelers.
“Pittsburgh to me is like, ‘We’re hanging on, we’re gonna try,'” Sessler said Monday on his Heed The Call podcast. “And I think it was just another little bit of evidence, that this is a team with a good defense that can dominate a lesser team like Cleveland. They can do enough to disrupt lesser teams and probably compile nine to 10 wins, and sneak in as a wild card team. This is just another very Steelers-esque game from this season. I’m not overly impressed; I’m not depressed by them.”
There is some merit to Sessler’s theory here, as the Steelers haven’t exactly had the most dominant wins this year. They struggled in Week 1 to beat the New York Jets, who are now 0-6. That win doesn’t look too great in hindsight, and they almost lost what would have been a heartbreaker to Minnesota in the Dublin game.
However, framing the Steelers as a group sneaking into the playoffs as a Wild Card team is interesting. Especially since they have a firm grip on the AFC North. With a win Thursday, the Steelers will be four games ahead of both Baltimore and Cleveland and will be three-and-a-half games better than the second-place Bengals.
The Steelers have some cheap wins, but they’ve had some good performances too. They beat New England on the road, and the Patriots are now 4-2 and leading the AFC East. Although they lost to Seattle, that’s another 4-2 team that the Steelers would have beaten if they hadn’t shot themselves in the foot over and over again.
And their recent win against the Browns was the most telling. Yes, the Browns are a bad team, but it’s not like they can’t play football. They’ve already knocked off Green Bay and nearly beat Minnesota as well. Sunday, the Steelers dominated them in what was easily their most complete game of the season. They may not be a Super Bowl contender yet. But simply painting them as a Wild Card contender feels like a disservice.
