NFL Power Rankings, Week 5: Cowboys free-falling, Bills stay perfect

The Pittsburgh Steelers ended up with an early bye as they were part of the league’s first COVID-19 rescheduling. The Steelers were set to play the Tennessee Titans but after Tennessee was hit with a rash of positive COVID-19 cases, the league elected to move the game to Week 7 — which came after toying with the idea of playing the game on either Monday or Tuesday.

In the end, this was probably the right call as it would have been a huge advantage for the Steelers had the two teams played this week. Pittsburgh has been able to practice all week and as soon as the cases began in Tennessee, the Titans stopped operations. At first, the stoppage was until Saturday, which would have given them only a couple of days to get ready whereas their Steelers would have had a full week — plus an extra day or two.

For the Steelers, they have been off to a hot start with a 3-0 record, which is identical to that of the Titans who they were supposed to play. Big Ben Roethlisberger has been great since coming back from elbow surgery, throwing for 777 yards with a 7-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio in three games. They’ve also seen glimpses of the old JuJu Smith-Schuster as the young wideout has three touchdowns in as many games.

Now, they have plenty of time to prepare for their Week 5 matchup with their in-state rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles.