The Pittsburgh Steelers had a great opportunity last Thursday at Paycor Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals. Win the primetime game, extend their lead in the AFC North and grab full control of the division.
Lose, and the door gets left open a crack.
As is well known at this point, the Steelers lost a frustrating 33-31 game to the Bengals last Thursday, failing to stop Cincinnati’s offense with Joe Flacco under center. The new-look secondary with a lot of big names as part of a highly paid defense simply had no answers for the Bengals.
Now, it has the Steelers appearing a bit vulnerable in the AFC North moving forward. At least, that’s how ESPN’s Dan Graziano sees it.
“I still think this Steelers team has played way over its head. It should have lost to the Jets in Week 1 and it barely beat the Patriots in Week 3, when New England committed five turnovers,” Graziano writes. “Pittsburgh’s defense has been terrible outside of one game against the Browns. Rodgers is playing fine, but the offense still feels like it has a ceiling and needs to be paired with an elite defense to be a real contender.
“That makes the Steelers vulnerable, which gives the rest of the division reason to hope, no matter how poorly things have gone so far.”
When it comes to the NFL, you can’t play the could-have, should-have game like Graziano is here. The fact of the matter is this: The Steelers beat the New York Jets on the road, and they beat the New England Patriots on the road, forcing five turnovers in Foxboro.
Sure, some of the turnovers by the Patriots were fluky, but the Steelers still forced them and capitalized in that situation. The Steelers executed well enough down the stretch to beat the Jets, too.
All that matters is that they won those games. Judging a team based on how it looked in a win should be saved for college football, period. It’s black and white in the NFL: you either win or lose. It’s time Graziano understands that.
But as far as the loss to the Bengals leaving Pittsburgh a bit vulnerable in the AFC North, it’s a fair argument. The Steelers had a chance to really step on the proverbial throat of the division, and instead they left the division up for air with the loss in Cincinnati.
Of course, that assumes the Bengals will keep it rolling with Flacco, which is no guarantee. They have the Jets, Bears, Steelers and Patriots in their next four games. The Ravens remain a disaster, though they should get Lamar Jackson back in Week 8 after their bye, which could be a major boost. That said, he doesn’t play defense, and there’s no real fix there right now.
The Browns are, well, the Browns.
It’s understandable to have some concerns about the Steelers, especially on defense. They haven’t been good enough, period, outside of one full game and parts of others. The offense seems to be just fine though. The Steelers got the run game rolling against the Browns and the Bengals, and Aaron Rodgers continues to play some very good football.
Mike Tomlin just has to get his team to regroup after a frustrating loss on a short week. They have to be ready to go for the Sunday Night Football matchup against the Packers. That game will mean a lot to Rodgers. He’ll play at a high level. The rest of the team — particularly the defense — needs to match him, and help alleviate some of those concerns within the division, for another week, at least.
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