AFC North Week 2

Week 2 exposed many flaws about this division but also showed a lot of strengths. Ravens defense letting up 26 points? Pittsburgh dominating the run game? Browns beating Indy? Bengals lose by 2? Let's check what all this is about below.

Baltimore Ravens: 1-1 Well, after an impressive win their first week against Pittsburgh they lost against Tennessee this past week often looking confused on offense as quarterback Joe Flacco completed less than half of his passes. On a positive note they once again got Ray Rice going in not only the running game but passing game as well as he had a touchdown reception.

Cincinnatti Bengals: 1-1 The Bengals have a lot more issues to deal with than contemplating on their 24-22 loss in Week 2. They recently lost two recievers, one to injury and the other to a drug possession charge, not only that but Cedric Benson is currently appealing a 3-game suspension for misconduct during the lockout. Hopefully they can rebound and focus on this next week as they are a young team and have shining stars in rookies A.J Green and Andy Dalton.


Cleveland Browns: 1-1 The Browns beat the Colts thoroughly this past Week, albeit it was without Peyton Manning, but still they showed immense improvement from Week 1. Their offense was clicking on all cylinders and they got Hillis involved early where he ended up having 2 scores. Things are definitely looking up for the Brownies.


Pittsburgh Steelers: 1-1 After a very disappointing and surprising blowout loss to the Ravens in Week 1 the Steelers really responded positively this week in a 35-0 shutout. Their running game, led by Rashard Mendenhall, was showing serious improvement and there defense once again proved why it was one of the scariest things in this league.

WEEK 1

Let's just say I am utterly disapointed in the Browns this week. They played like complete garbage and lost to a team I predicted to win only 3 games this season, the Bengals. Throughout the first week there were many spectacular plays and games around the league but for this blog I am solely focusing on the AFC "Powerhouse" North...


Baltimore Ravens: 1-0 Like I said in my predictions I believed who ever won between them and the Steeler's would go on to win the division...and I chose Baltimore to win which they did. They not only won, but they won in spectacular fashion by a score of 35-7 including causing 7 turnovers. Joe Flacco finally had a solid performance against the Steeler's and Ray Rice had a monster game against the stingy Pittsburgh D.

Cinncinatti Bengals: 1-0 Surprisingly outperformed the lackluster effort of the Browns and handed them a solid defeat by winning 28-14 with convincing performances by running back Cedric Benson who stormed to another 100+ yard game and rookie receiver A.J. Green. All this while there starting QB got injured during the second quarter.

Cleveland Browns 0-1 The Browns had 7 penalties in the first quarter alone. That pretty much summed up how there game went. All the offseason hype of them improving was proven wrong. They looked bad, real bad. They couldn't even get Peyton Hillis going. The only positive thing I viewed was Joe Haden's performance, and even he had a mental error that caused a touchdown. Dissapointing.

Pittsburgh Steelers 0-1 They looked out of sync all game and couldn't find a groove. They did not look like there were in the superbowl just 7 months ago. They had 7 turnovers, 5 from Big Ben alone. This was a terrible game for them as they got spanked by the Ravens and I forsee them not regaining the upperhand and winning the division this year. Sorry Steelers but your time at the top is done.

For Cleveland and its favorite phrase "There's always next year..." well, that next year is slowly creeping up on all of us as the football season begins in just under a week after a very tumultuous lock-out in the off season. As for this blog as the title says will be focusing on the AFC North and following how the teams do over the course of their season. Let's look how each team did in the preseason and my predictions for the year:

Cleveland Browns: 1-3 The Browns are a young team with a lot of potential to have a breakout year with sophmore quarterback Colt McCoy and madden coverboy Peyton Hillis leading the new West coast Offense instituted by new head coach Pat Shurmur and a new defensive scheme in the 4-3. Josh Cribbs is a dangerous player to any team and they have been getting good production from draft prospect Greg Little, who has elite size, and tight end Evan Moore. Look for the Browns to impress and far surpass their dissapointing last season. I see a possible wild card spot at 9-7 or 10-6 as long as they stay healthy.

Cinncinatti Bengals: 1-3 The Bengals are in a rebuilding mode right now, much where the Browns were a few years ago. With losing a lot of vetrens last year and having to start a rookie quarterback in Andy Dalton and reciever A.J. Green it looks like this season will be filled with growing pains. Looks as if they will rely on Cedric Benson to put the team on his back, doe. Im being generous and giving them a 3-13 season.

Baltimore Ravens: 3-1 The Ravens biggest obstacle for this season will be themselves. Costly mistakes have hindered them late in games especially in teh playoffs against Pittsburgh who they seem unable to beat. Once again boasting an outstanding defense with vetrean leadership in Ed Reed and Ray Lewis. With the addition of Vonta Leach at fullback expect Ray Rice to have his third 1,000 yard rushing season in a row and Joe Flacco has improved his numbers each year so you can be sure this year wont be any different. Look for them to run away with the division this year cruising to a 13-3 record.

Pittsburgh Steelers: 3-1 The Steelers season will be outlined after their first game of the season; against Baltimore. If they are able to win I forsee them winning the division. It will be a very close duel of two very strong experienced teams who know eachother well. Pittsburgh has a lot of play makers on both offense and defense and led by Big Ben who will for sure provide a spark for the team when they need it most. They have a very deep recieving core this year and Rashard Medenhall is bound to have good numbers again this and has looked very good in the pre-season. I see them falling short to a vengence bound Baltimore team who tehy defeated in the playoffs last year and going 12-4.