The Pittsburgh Steelers stayed unbeaten in Week 5, brushing aside the Philadelphia Eagles to earn their 4th win of the season. However four wins isn’t sufficient to control an AFC North with 2 various other four-win teams.
The Baltimore Ravens also dispatched with the cellar-dwelling Cincinnati Bengals to get to 4-1. And the Cleveland Browns, that the Steelers will host in Week 6, fended off the Indianapolis Colts to stay linked with the Ravens.
The AFC North remains to be the hardest division in football this season, with 3 early-season playoff contenders. And this week’s Browns-Steelers matchup must be yet a lot more proof of that. Pittsburgh has possessed the competition for much of the last twenty years. This year feels a bit different.
” I believe what makes this game a great one is that both teams are winning,” claims Bill Cowher, previous NFL instructor and also workshop expert on The NFL Today. “Cleveland is 4-1, Pittsburgh is 4-0. Having actually trained in Pittsburgh as well as played and also trained in Cleveland, I locate both of the cities really similar. They’re both blue-collar cities, extremely enthusiastic sports fans, and they are very enthusiastic concerning their regional groups. When you consider this video game, it goes back to the reality that Cleveland for the very first time there’s no dramatization in Cleveland, they seem very concentrated.”
The Steelers are additionally really concentrated, with an enormous defense as well as Ben Roethlisberger back under facility. After an opening ownership that acquired one lawn on six plays, they rattled 5 straight racking up drives versus an overmatched Eagles defense. They held a powerful 31-14 lead midway via the 3rd quarter, which verified enough to repel a late surge from Carson Wentz.
Novice Chase Claypool, a second-round choose of Notre Dame, was the hero of the day. He took 7 of his 11 targets, three of which opted for touchdowns, and racked up 110 obtaining yards as well as an additional rushing goal. Yet he had aid. Ben Roethlisberger finished 27 of his 34 pass efforts for 231 yards, spreading out the sphere around to eight various receivers. The run video game was inefficient, though Ray-Ray McCloud scammed a 58-yard run in the third quarter to skew the stats.
Big Ben is having fun with a brand-new point of view as well as a renewed feeling of purpose. “He’s an expert guy with a lot of young gamers around him,” keeps in mind Cowher. “I believe he needs as well as is the leader to be there. It’s a solid offending line. He is playing actually good football. He’s not forcing things. It’s a really unselfish team of receivers. You do not hear anyone screaming, desiring the ball. He has actually just been able to sit there as well as take what the protection has been offering him.”
Roethlisberger also gains from a solid protection that stepped up last period in his absence and also has carried their intensity ahead into this period. In only four video games, they’re tied for the NFL lead in sacks with 20. “They will certainly harass you, they taxed you, they require you to be client,” states Cowher. “And, if there’s opportunities there, you much better take them, due to the fact that they follow you, as well as they’re ruthless in doing so.”
That was absolutely the situation last week. They sacked Wentz five times and also held the Eagles hurrying attack to simply 94 yards. The Steelers defense also tightened up when it had to, quiting the driving Eagles twice late.
The Browns took care of to get over an additional of the NFL’s better defenses in their most recent win. They racked up a pair of basket as well as a set of touchdowns on their 4 first-half possessions. A pick-six early in the second half would certainly prolong their cause 27-10, at the very least briefly, as the Colts’ Isaiah Rodgers returned the ensuing first 101 backyards for a TD. Baker Mayfield had a hard time to obtain anything going after halftime, but the defense held tough. Myles Garrett forced Philip Rivers into a safety and security, and also the Browns held on for a 32-23 win.
” Kevin Stefanski has done a very good work of putting a crime in that Baker Mayfield looks extremely comfy running,” states Cowher. “They’re running the football. They have actually a revamped offensive line. Bill Callahan, I believe, is among the best trainers in the National Football League at mentoring the offending line. The protective front has been great, led by Myles Garrett. This is a good football team.”
The gain the Colts was the kind of game the Browns are made use of to losing. The truth that they hung on, even when faced with some difficulty, has to thrill a fanbase utilized to the group folding at the initial indicator of quarrel.
They’ll encounter even more difficulty in Pittsburgh, but the Browns seem to be as much as the job. As Cowher sees it, “this is still a statement ready them, increasing once more Pittsburgh, that has actually likewise won 4 video games, at 4-0. It’s been Pittsburgh and also Baltimore for so many years, I believe, right now, it’s a great chance for Cleveland to make a declaration as well as state, you understand what, we’re going to challenge for this division as well.”