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It stands to reason that the AFC North does not have a dominant team and might not have anything that amounts to a Super Bowl threat … But could it be the best division in the NFL, anyway? The only team that lost within the division on Sunday is the team that’s proven to be the most flawed with the most overwhelmed coaching staff and most overhyped front office — the Baltimore Ravens. And they lost to the Bengals by allowing 35 unanswered points in the second half and quiet quitting on their rookie head coach, Jesse Minter, who was supposed to fix their broken defense just by showing up.
Joe Burrow eviscerated them and Deshaun Watson has five comeback wins and it’s not Halloween yet and the Steelers have strung together five wins, too, despite not being particularly good at anything. Oh, and the Steelers beat the Bengals but lost to the Browns. Hard to figure much out in the AFC North, but every team is above .500, if nothing else.
So, no, you won’t find any of those teams too high on these rankings, but all are clustered in the teens, where I guess they belong.
They have checked enough boxes for me to retain the top spot. Going to Seattle to face the Super Bowl champs in desperation mode ain’t easy. Especially as the Seahawks get healthier. The Chiefs are in survival mode between now and the deadline, but they need more weapons on offense and they’ll get more weapons on offense.
Winning ugly is nothing to apologize for. The defense seems on a true mission to perform at such a remarkable level that some feckless billionaire gets shamed into giving the defensive coordinator Brian Flores a head coaching job. Kevin O’Connell has to find a way to get explosives out of Kyler Murray.
They get to face the worst second-half defense in the NFL at home off a bye next week after winning two straight on the West Coast. Can GM Brandon Beane land a cornerback by the deadline? Or two? Either way, they are adept at winning shootouts.
We still have not yet seen the best out of this defense. We believe that is coming. Sean Payton has had a few weeks to settle in as the offensive play caller. It’s not going to be the offensive hitting a new level as many expected, but if it can get back to 2025 levels of consistency, they could host the AFC title game again.
Did they get their swag back at home Sunday night? Bottling up their former Super Bowl hero, Kenneth Walker, was a big step. The defense is looking suffocating again and Sam Darnold was far more good than bad. If Steve Spagnuolo can’t take away JSN, no one can. Seeing them get back into a ball control offense was a very big deal.
Injuries are always a massive part of their story with a roster that is alarmingly long in the tooth. It seems to be by design. They were lucky to escape the Commanders on MNF and were due for a loss. It’s not the loss; it's that they keep losing players that gives me serious pause — Mike Evans last week and Christian McCaffrey this week—and don’t look now, but Brock Purdy is slipping.
Feels like we still aren’t seeing fully unbridled Caleb Williams just yet. Like, Ben Johnson could lean back into his legs whenever he wants to, but coming off the injury, there's no reason to do it yet. This D probably lacks a playmaker or two to get as far as they’d like in the playoffs.
Liam Coen needs to take a deep breath at their bye week and get back on track with his game management. This is a balanced team; I believe in the defense and this was a great time for the staff to figure out ways to get more out of Trevor Lawrence.
Not having to face Lamar Jackson was a major help, but shutting out Baltimore in the second half and eliminating Derrick Henry (2.9 yards/carry) is a big deal for what might be the best defensive tackle rotation in the NFL on a much-improved defensive line. We know what happens to Joe Burrow around Halloween and the trick tends to be he wins a lot of games from here on out.
Todd Monken is the NFL Coach of the Year in the first half and it’s not close. His quarterback wanted to quit on him before the season and now all he does is find ways to win games from behind. This was no Mona Lisa against the Titans, but it was a game they desperately need to keep the confidence and momentum going after a brutal start. These Brownies are plucky.
The defense has been their beacon, but we’ll see how that holds up as they face better quarterbacks. They are going to beat a lot of teams they are supposed to beat and when they face a contender on the road outside the division I don’t fancy their chances.
Not going to get many style points. The offense is painful, for the most part. They need to find another pass catcher and they are looking. But they find ways to win games and they don’t really panic and they have a good kicker at a time they seem in very short supply.
They needed this game, badly. After Dan Campbell tried to get macho on another bizarre fourth down call late in the game and got stuffed, they needed it desperately. And they got it. And the defense was better with help arriving in the secondary. Lack the real upside of teams past, but perhaps their best football is ahead of them.
This game was a toss-up. There were some interesting officiating decisions. Packers have stabilized their season after an awful start and Micah Parsons is getting closer and, well, perhaps their best football is ahead of them, too, as Josh Jacobs gets back into the fold for a struggling run game.
One would think that while reaching their manifest destiny of a Super Bowl might be a stretch now, it stands to reason the loss to the Cardinals was their nadir. The injury report is truly staggering, but Sean McVay can rally them.
So about once a month these guys are going to be eviscerated by an opponent. Just seems to be part of their deal. They bounced back quite well when the Bears did it to them early and again after losing to the Browns. I buy their pass game. We’ll see about the defense. Had a chance to bury the Bucs in the NFC South. Will they regret it?
The Ravens went out of their way to build a staff with zero former head coaching experience (Miami was the only other such staff in the NFL). And Minter has blown four double-digit leads and lost three of them after John Harbaugh got fired for it. (Hint: the GM is the main culprit). Will have to win shootouts with Lamar Jackson coming back. Maybe they can.
A team that can never win at home beat one of the few remaining undefeated teams in the NFL. But man, what happened to the outside zone run game since their Sunday night collapse to the Ravens? They need to unlock Bihan Robinson again. Now.
These dudes play their ass off for Harbaugh. That much is clear. They survived that weird tie with the Commanders and are back in OT two weeks later with a different starting QB — their third of the season — and get a gutsy win. Outstanding defensive performance and tamped down CJ Stroud all day.
So was it a one-week bump from getting Baker Mayfield back? Or a sign of things to come? I’m skeptical about this outfit and still believe that the defense will have to be what leads them if they are to get back to the playoffs.
Losing to the Giants just isn't pretty. New York is playing their tail off right now, but that's not an excuse for this Texans loss. Woody Marks going out with an injury makes a bad running game even more worrisome, and the defense might have lost a step.
The defense still needs a lot of work. They are much improved from a year ago overall but are facing a brutal stretch of games. Have a very interesting decision to make as Maxx Crosby draws trade deadline interest.
Someone has to win the NFC East. I tend to think it won’t be them, and that Brian Schottenheimer will be looking for work by January if it’s not him. Jerry Jones wants to trade for another defensive player but his offense has not been ascendant.
What will Howie Roseman do at the deadline? Can he shed more salary on players who do not have a future there to land draft picks to trade for players to help him now? Will the Jalen Hurts situation hang over the team? We’ve seen them respond to extreme adversity in the past but not so sure this time.
It’s been a long time since you’ve had to take this team seriously for like, four weeks in a row. Early in the year I thought maybe the defense had turned things around. They cannot get the offense going enough early in games. Starting to think their 2027 QB is not on the roster.
Anytime you get your first win of the season, you get a bump around here. And nobody else in these parts got a win, so there you go. Wouldn’t expect this to happen again more than once or twice this season.
Fought back to take the game into OT. Didn’t have to bench any of their most recent, big-money free agent signings, though drama always surrounds this hapless franchise. They get brownie points for keeping it close.
They kept it close, too. So we’ll keep them at 28. They are going to move some veterans before the deadline. Jonathan Taylor might not be one of them. They are stuck with Daniel Jones. They should play Anthony Richardson.
Trey McBride went off on National Tight End Day, catching 10 of 11 targets, so that was fun. How many trades do they make by the deadline? I’d set the over/under at 2.5 pending health.
Injuries have taken their roll. Finding a way not to have Jayden Daniels be a part of that growing list in the second half is really the only thing that matters for this franchise.
You lose to a winless team, you pay the price. Aaron Glenn’s inability to manage the final two minutes of halves has reached epidemic levels.
They didn’t even manage a significant roster or coaching shakeup during their bye week. Yet another loss!
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