Ravens lead AFC North, Steelers not going away
The Pittsburgh Steelers just beat a 5-2 Indianapolis Colts team. The Steelers are now 4-4. While the Ravens are in the driver’s seat in the AFC North, their biggest rival isn’t going away:
There was a lot of NFL action as the Ravens waited to take on the New England Patriots. There were two games featuring the Ravens AFC North rivals. The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Indianapolis Colts. The Cleveland Browns dropped their sixth game of the year, losing to the Denver Broncos. While Cleveland has slipped all but completely out of the mix, Pittsburgh is still in the hunt.
One advantage the Steelers have is their remaining schedule. The Colts were one of the toughest teams left on their for them to play. The Steelers have two battles with the Browns. They face the Bengals, Cardinals, Bills and Jets before taking on the Ravens in the season finale. The Steelers have four wins at the moment and there are a minimum of three wins in there for Pittsburgh.
Even with Mason Rudolph as their quarterback instead of the injured Ben Roethlisberger, the Steelers are not a bad team. Their defense which has young talent like T.J. Watt, Devin Bush and Minkah Fitzpatrick is a rock solid group. It hasn’t always been pretty, yet Mason Rudolph is getting the job done.
The Steelers obviously have some fight in them. They lost their starting quarterback and dropped the first three games of the season. Since starting 0-3 the Steelers have won four out of five games. The one loss in that stretch came to the Ravens, who kind of lucked out in an overtime battle. Pittsburgh may not be in it’s most fearful form, yet they have a chance to go to the playoffs. They cannot be written off yet.
The Ravens don’t want to hear about Pittsburgh today. Baltimore just took center stage in the football world with a win over the New England Patriots. Lamar Jackson was incredible and the Patriots were hopeless to stop the Ravens’ offense. The Ravens looked like a Super Bowl team on Sunday Night Football.
If you look at the remaining schedule for Baltimore, there isn’t a team on the list that they can’t beat. The Ravens probably won’t go 14-2 yet they have a good chance to win every game moving forward.
Related Story. Ravens beat the Patriots: 3 game balls. light
Their next game is in Cincinnati against a bad Bengals team that they already beat once. The Ravens then have a Monday Night Football appearance against the Los Angeles Rams. They then take on the San Francisco 49ers in Baltimore before heading up to New York to battle the Buffalo Bills. Then it’s the New York Jets, the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers to end the season.
The Rams haven’t looked like the Super Bowl team they were last year. They are 5-3 and they are still one of the tougher teams in the league. Jared Goff and company have had a bumpier road than they did in their 13-3 2018 run to the Super Bowl. When the Rams have lost their defense has looked suspect. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers dropped 55 on them. The Seahawks scored 30. The Jalen Ramsey trade helps them, however Jackson has seen much tougher defenses.
The 49ers are the best team in the NFC right now. The trade for Emanuel Sanders was huge for them. Marlon Humphrey can take Sanders out of the game plan for the 49ers. If the Ravens stop Tevin Coleman they have a good shot at beating another Super Bowl contender.
The Bills are a good team, not a great team. If it was in Baltimore, this would be marked as a win. It’s in Buffalo and this game could be more of a toss up than the Ravens Flock would like to admit. The Jets lost to the Dolphins, they’re not beating the Ravens. The Browns is a revenge game and Cleveland is going in the wrong direction. They’re 2-6. The Browns got the Ravens at the right time; Cleveland does not have a good football team. The Steelers game is always interesting, yet the Ravens should win at home.
The Ravens should be favored in almost every game the rest of the way. They have some margin of error because of how the standings are at the moment. The goal should be to have a 12-4 record.
To accomplish this, Baltimore must go 6-2 the rest of the way. If they come away from their back to back NFC West games (Rams and 49ers) with one win, they have a good shot of accomplishing this. The Ravens have a few tough games and some games they should be expected to win. Knowing the Ravens, they will win all but one of the more difficult games and drop a game they shouldn’t. 12-4 is realistic. 11-5 is likely. 10-6 has to be the worst record the Ravens can get if they stay relatively healthy from this point.
Next. Ravens dominate the Patriots: The good, bad and ugly. dark
John Harbaugh must shoot for 12-4. That should win the division. The Steelers are better than we thought they were a few weeks ago, they just aren’t going to run the table. Baltimore Ravens, just keep playing like this.