6. Pittsburgh Steelers
As far as I can recall in the post-Ben Roethlisberger era of Steelers football, the offense we’ve seen the last couple of games with Russell Wilson at the helm is the best we’ve seen.
Is that an overly difficult bar to clear? Not especially, but it’s extremely notable because the Steelers have obviously had a very good defense pretty much every year since Roethlisberger hung up the cleats, but they have struggled tremendously to take advantage of that offensively.
If these last couple of weeks are any indication, the Steelers may just be the most slept on team in the league at this point in time.
Pittsburgh is going to make it very difficult on any team in any environment because they are so consistent on the defensive side of the ball and on special teams. As good as the offense has been over the last couple of weeks, it feels like they could still be a little bit of a wild card on that side of the ball as the season goes along.
But the early returns on the Russell Wilson-led version of the offense are promising, at worst.
5. Philadelphia Eagles
It took a little while longer than most Philadelphia fans would have liked, but I think we’ve finally seen this Eagles team “get right” if you want to put it that way.
They have obviously struggled in games this year in which Jalen Hurts was turning the ball over, but it was a little more than just Hurts throwing the occasional interception at the bad time. He seemed to have a legitimate issue with ball security early in the season and even dating back to last year.
Hurts has always been good for about nine fumbles a year since he’s been in the NFL, but the Eagles needed him to start taking better care of the football and he’s done exactly that. The Eagles came out and took care of business in a big way against the Jacksonville Jaguars in Doug Pederson’s return to the City of Brotherly Love.
Right now, I think it’s safe to say the Detroit Lions are the best team in the NFC, but let’s not forget that the Eagles are not even two years removed from winning the NFC Championship and making it to the Super Bowl. And a lot of those pieces are still in place, obviously…
This Philly team looks poised to be very dangerous in the second half of this season, even if they did sort of escape against the Jaguars by the skin of their teeth.