Baltimore Ravens (1-4)
The Ravens’ disastrous start to the season reached a new point last Sunday, as they were obliterated by 34 points against the Houston Texans. They allowed 44 points while scoring just 10, tying a record-high for points allowed at home under head coach John Harbaugh. Baltimore’s injury-ravaged roster put up no resistance against the Texans and were outmatched on both sides of the ball from start to finish.
While the Ravens may return a couple of players from injury this coming week, their prospects of winning aren’t any brighter. The Los Angeles Rams are coming into town and while they’re fresh off a disappointing defeat last week, the Rams have an elite group of offensive talent and one of the league’s best head coaches.
Quarterback Matthew Stafford is having one of his best career seasons, while Puka Nucua has been the top wide receiver in the NFL through five weeks. With Davante Adams and Kyren Williams also in the fold, the Ravens will be hard-pressed to slow down the Rams offense. Baltimore has now allowed 38+ points in all but one game so far.
Offensively, the Ravens are also desperate to find some consistency and rhythm without Lamar Jackson under center. Cooper Rush struggled against the Texans and the Ravens could opt to start Tyler Huntley instead, in the likely event that Jackson is once again inactive as he recovers from his hamstring ailment. Any chance of the Ravens pulling off a huge upset in Week 6 rests on them finding run game success and forcing turnovers, the latter of which their defense has not done since last calendar year.
Pittsburgh Steelers (3-1)
Fresh off their bye week, the Steelers are in the best shape of any team in the division. While not overly convincing, the Steelers are two games over .500 after back-to-back victories before Week 5. Their defense improved over the last two contests and began forcing turnovers at a much higher rate.
Pittsburgh will look to continue playing more complimentary football in a matchup against the Browns this coming Sunday, marking their first divisional game of the year. Over the past few seasons, the Browns have had some success against the Steelers, winning five of 10 matchups including a postseason victory.
While the Browns have only one win on the year, their strong defensive front and stout defense overall will give the Steelers a difficult task. An improving Pittsburgh defense in their own right should be able to hold up at home against a rookie quarterback in his second career start.
It should help that the Steelers will get starting running back Jaylen Warren back from injury. However, the Steelers had struggled to run the ball effectively with Warren leading the workload through four weeks. Last week, though, backup Kenneth Gainwell rushed for 99 yards on 13 carries with two touchdowns.
Cleveland Browns (0-4)
The aforementioned Browns stand on the other side of this week’s divisional showdown, seeking their second taste of victory this season. They came up just four points short against the Minnesota Vikings last week in London, watching a fourth-quarter lead escape them and failing to score in the final frame.
All eyes were on Gabriel in his first career start. In a tough matchup against a formidable defense, Gabriel look mostly competent — completing 19-of-33 passes with two touchdowns and no turnovers. Despite his efforts and another strong performance from running back Quinshon Judkins (128 yards on 24 touches), the Browns still failed to exceed the 17-point mark. They’ve yet to score more than 17 points through five games.
Gabriel and company will look to break this streak against the Steelers. The Browns will certainly want to give Judkins another healthy diet of carries to try to alleviate pressure on their rookie quarterback in his first road start in a hostile environment. The Browns’ defense will likely give them a chance to be within striking distance late in the game. If Gabriel can play mistake-free football again and the Browns are able to run the ball, the recipe for an upset is there.
Cincinnati Bengals (2-3)
The Bengals’ slide continued last week in a 13-point loss at home against the Detroit Lions. The deficit was much larger until a couple of late scores closed the gap, but Cincinnati’s comeback effort was to no avail. Since their Week 2 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Bengals have now lost three straight games and been outscored by a combined 113 to 37 points.
Backup Jake Browning struggled again in Week 5 with another three-interception performance. The Bengals had stood by Browning for three weeks but this was evidently the final straw. Earlier this week, they made a trade with the Browns to acquire veteran Joe Flacco — a rare inter-division trade for a quarterback. Flacco was immediately named the starter for this upcoming week.
Flacco hasn’t performed very well himself this season but may give the Bengals’ offense more juice. The 40-year-old former Super Bowl MVP still has a strong arm and now has a much-improved group of weapons around him in Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins, and Chase Brown, among others. His first test with the Bengals will come against the Green Bay Packers, who he just beat a few weeks ago in a 13-10 upset.
The Packers are well-rested off a bye week and hungry for a victory at home after losing and tying in back-to-back games. Their defense allowed 40 points against the Dallas Cowboys two weeks ago, showing cracks that an elite group of Bengals’ pass-catchers may be able to exploit if Flacco can limit turnovers. Another big factor continues to be Cincinnati’s quest to find more success in the running game, which they have to hope the shakeup at quarterback will help with.