AFC North race tightens as Ravens, Bengals win during Steelers bye
While the Pittsburgh Steelers were on their bye week, all three of their divisional opponents were in action. The Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals came away victors in their games, inching closer to the Steelers lead in the AFC North. The Cleveland Browns, on the other hand, fell back to Earth in a loss.
Here are some notes about each of those games and how it impacts the Steelers outlook on winning the division.
Baltimore Ravens 41 – Denver Broncos 10
The Baltimore Ravens rolled to 41 points and an easy victory at home Sunday against the Denver Broncos as Lamar Jackson had a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
Jackson completed 16-of-19 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns for his NFL record fourth perfect passer rating. He now leads the AFC in passing yards (2,379, second in the league to Geno Smith) and touchdown passes (20, tied with Joe Burrow and one behind league leader Baker Mayfield, who plays tonight.)
Ravens RB Derrick Henry also became the first player to eclipse the century mark in rushing yards (1,052), running for 106 on the ground and two scores. Henry leads all players with 11 rushing TDs this season.
Baltimore picked off Broncos rookie QB Bo Nix in the game’s opening possession, and would force the Broncos to turn the ball over on downs a whopping four times in the matchup. Conversely, the Ravens would score four-straight touchdowns and on seven-straight drives as Denver ran six total plays, both three-and-outs, in the third quarter.
The Ravens improved to 6-3 on the year and will face the Bengals next on Thursday Night Football.
Cincinnati Bengals 41 – Las Vegas Raiders 24
Not to be outdone, the Bengals also scored 41 points in their home victory over the Raiders.
Vegas went up first, scoring a touchdown on their 11-play opening drive, but it would be the Joe Burrow show the rest of the afternoon, as the Cincy quarterback smoked the Raiders for five touchdown passes on only 251 yards passing, despite Tee Higgins being inactive due to a hamstring injury.
TE Mike Gesicki was the benefactor of Burrow’s big day, catching five passes for 100 yards and two touchdowns.
It was also a big day for Bengals DE Trey Hendrickson, who sacked the Raiders quarterbacks four times throughout the contest, as Las Vegas struggled to get any offense going, turning the ball over several times and scoring their other touchdown in “garbage time” near the end of the game.
Los Angeles Chargers 27 – Cleveland Browns 10
One week after passing the play calling duties from head coach Kevin Stefanski to offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey, and dropping 29 points in a win over the Ravens, the Cleveland Browns struggled to do much offensively against the NFL’s top scoring defense, the L.A. Chargers.
Early on the game was ugly for both sides, as the Chargers punted three times in their first four possessions while the Browns punted five of their first six. The Chargers were able to secure a comfortable 20-3 lead at halftime as the Browns took the field for the second half and received the ball first.
That Cleveland drive would span 14 plays and 71 yards, but end four yards short of the endzone when Jameis Winston threw the first of his three interceptions on the afternoon. Cleveland would turn the ball over on downs in the fourth quarter, then have a field goal blocked before scoring on a Winston to Cedric Tillman 17-yard connection with less than a minute remaining in regulation.
The Browns will have some time to recoup following the loss as they enter their bye week 2-7 and almost firmly out of contention for the AFC North title, and dangerously close to being eliminated early from playoff contention as well.
