AFC North Round Up Leaving Week 4
By Peter Smith
The Browns leave Week 4 with a three-way tie for first place as the division heads into October with everyone but the Steelers with a 2-2 record.
Sep 29, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Browns defensive end Desmond Bryant (92) tries to break through the block of Cincinnati Bengals guard Clint Boling (65) to get to Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) during the fourth quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns beat the Bengals 17-6. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
The Browns beat the Bengals in the Battle of Ohio, which put both teams at 2-2 with the Browns owning the tie breaker. Both teams have great defenses. Both teams have inconsistent offenses with a few legitimate stars. Neither team has a franchise quarterback. This is the type of up and down effort both teams can expect each week.
As the Bengals lost, the focus will be on head coach Marvin Lewis for going for it on 4th down in Browns territory as well as Andy Dalton, who is unpredictable from week to week. With so much talent on offense, the Bengals cannot seem to get any rhythm going on the offensive side of the ball from drive to drive. The Bengals would also like a healthy secondary. They have to turn around and host New England this coming week and the possibility that Rob Gronkowski and Danny Amendola returning to action.
The Browns ride the momentum of a 2-game winning streak into a Thursday night game against the Buffalo Bills. The second of three home games in a row, there is the potential for an electric atmosphere in Cleveland Browns Stadium as they have not had this much to be excited about at this stage of the season in a few years. The Bills come off of a big win against the Baltimore Ravens and both teams are 2-2 with an element of unpredictability to where they can go from here. The Browns find themselves in the extremely unusual position of being the only team in the AFC North that won.
Speaking of the Ravens, they lost a perplexing game to the Bills while Joe Flacco threw 5 interceptions. The game still game down to the wire and they only lost 23-20, so there is far more positive to take out of this loss than the one they had against the Broncos. Still, the Ravens had a chance to go 3-1 and take a game lead in the division and they now have to go on the road to play a tough Dolphins team with an incredible defense that will attempt to go 4-0 on Monday Night Football.
The Steelers are a disaster and going to play the Minnesota Vikings in London did not help. They do not have enough offense, do not have enough defense, have too much age and not enough healthy talent to get on track. Ben Roethlisberger is struggling, but the Steelers have been pronounced dead early in years past and come back and made a big turnaround even if it was not enough to get into the playoffs. Their bye week is early but the Steelers desperately need it to get healthy and get some things figured out before playing the Jets in two weeks.