18. Pittsburgh Steelers
Last week: 21st
After a tough loss on Thursday Night Football in Week 4 against the Cleveland Browns, the Pittsburgh Steelers came out firing against the Colts in Week 5, notching a very important win to keep pace with the rest of the division.
The Steelers are now 3-0 at home to start this season, and 0-2 on the road. Of course, as fate would have it, they are heading on the road to face off against the no-longer-winless Buccaneers in Week 6, but their next three games are looking very favorable, at least on paper.
They head to Tampa Bay to take on the Bucs on the road, then they have two home games back-to-back against the Saints and Browns.
The way the Pittsburgh offense has come to life over the past three weeks, I’m looking at this team in a completely different light from what we saw earlier on in the year. They are starting to look like a bit of a threat in the AFC, or at the very least, their ceiling is higher than expected.
17. Cleveland Browns
Last week: 11th
The Cleveland Browns couldn’t quite keep their magical run going after a 3-1 start, dropping a close one on the road against the New York Jets.
The weather was a factor – for both teams – but Deshaun Watson was sacked a disgusting 8 times in this particular game. He fumbled three times.
You obviously just hope to make one less mistake than the other team in a game like this, and the Browns had one too many. Regardless of the weather, they are going to wish they had some 3rd-down plays back. They were 4-of-16 on the money down in this game against the Jets.
Thankfully for the Browns, they’re in a place where we can legitimately ask the question: How will they respond?
They play the Ravens at home next week, followed by three straight road games against the Titans, Steelers, and Saints. This is a big stretch where we find out if the Browns are going to be relevant in the second half.
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