Previewing the AFC North

Who can challenge the Chiefs for AFC supremacy?

Published in

An Englishman’s NFL

5 min readSep 7, 2021

The 2021 NFL season kicks off, for real, on September 9th. We are just days away from Scott Hansen from proclaiming the Holy Scriptures; seven hours of commercial free football, starts now.

With preseason done, and NFL rosters trimmed to their 53-player limit, it’s time for us to take a proper look at every team and very definitely incredibly accurately predict relative success or demise in the coming season.

Let’s start in the second-most interesting division in the league; the AFC North.

AFC North — 2020 winners: Pittsburgh Steelers

The AFC North surged back to relevance in 2020, sending multiple teams to the playoffs for the first time since 2015. The Steelers turned a fraudulent 11–0 start into a 12–4 record to finish as division champs, whilst the Browns and Ravens both finished 11–5 to claim the 5th and 6th seeds respectively. The Bengals were the Bengals but also not the Bengals.

This year, the division is finely poised and looks set to once again send multiple challengers to the postseason to try and dethrone the Chiefs as the AFC’s reigning superpower.

But how will each team fare in the journey to SoFi Stadium in February?

Cleveland Browns

There will be plenty of Browns fans that shudder at the name Sashi Brown, but his dedication to hoarding draft picks has paved the way for a Browns roster that is loaded with talent at almost every position on both sides of the football.

You could make the argument that they boast the best running back and defensive back rooms in the league. Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt proved just as dangerous as expected last year, helping the Browns to rush for the 3rd highest yardage total in the league.

The Ronnie Harrison trade with the Jaguars was highway robbery. Signing John Johnson as a free agent from the Rams gives Cleveland a defensive backfield consisting of Harrison, Johnson and Delpit at safety, and Denzel Ward leading a promising cornerback group that also features Greg Newsome II and Greedy Williams.

If Baker starts feeling dangerous again, and Odell Beckham Jr can stay healthy (and happy), then this Browns team could be a real threat to take some major scalps come January.

Predicted Record: 12–5

Baltimore Ravens

What do we make of the 2020 Baltimore Ravens? They posted an 11–5 record, won their first playoff game since the 2014–15 season, and sent seven players to the Pro Bowl.

However, Lamar Jackson appeared to take a step backwards, posting league-lows in attempts, completions and passing yards. Patrick Queen missed 22 tackles, tied with Zach Cunningham for most in the NFL, and their season ended with a 17–3 whimper to Buffalo.

Their 2021 aspirations have already been dealt a significant blow with the loss of J.K. Dobbins to a torn ACL, and their receiving core will be without Miles Boykin and rookie Rashod Bateman to start the year. Gus Edwards is a strong deputy, and tight end Mark Andrews is set to shoulder the brunt of the Ravens passing attack, but everything hinges on Jackson.

Which is actually a very good thing because Lamar Jackson is a very good quarterback. He was top 10 in in completion percentage when in the redzone, and whilst throwing from a clean pocket. He was top 5 in air yards per attempt (very good) whilst his receivers only posted 3 yards after the catch per target (very bad).

Lamar Jackson is good. This core of young Ravens talent, particularly on defence, is good. The Ravens should, therefore, be good. Probably. Or at least good enough.

Predicted Record: 11–6

Pittsburgh Steelers

Everybody who wasn’t a Steelers fan knew instinctively that their 11–0 start — a franchise record for their longest undefeated start — was fraudulent.

This understanding was both very true and very not true at the same time. Only the Browns conceded fewer points on defence, but the Steelers also faced quarterback play from Jeff Driskel, Garrett Gilbert, Ryan Finley and the corpse of Carson Wentz.

Were it not for the chaos of the NFC East, Pittsburgh would have scored the fewest points among division winners, and fifth-fewest among all 14 teams that made it to the postseason.

So where does that leave them for this year? The trio of Chase Claypool, Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Schuster represent one of the stronger receiving units in the league, but Ben Roethlisberger and his shoulders are all a year older. Najee Harris is likely to be among rookie of the year contenders, but is running behind an offensive line that is ranked 29th of 32 by PFF.

Is trading for Joe Schobert going to move the needle significantly? Does Devin Bush take another step forwards? Can Joe Haden pull out one more high-level season?

With a brutal run of games after their Week 7 bye, including road trips to Kansas City, Minnesota and Baltimore, the Steelers could find themselves sitting at home when January football kicks off.

Predicted Record: 7–10

Cincinnati Bengals

Joe Burrow was putting together one of the better rookie quarterback seasons we’ve seen before his horrific injury against Washington Football Team in Week 11.

His 10-game numbers were the best 10-game numbers we’ve seen from a rookie in terms of attempts, completions and yards. He did whilst also being sacked 32 times and posting 6.65 yards per attempt, a symptom of a poor offensive line that forced him to get the ball out of his hands faster, and prioritising check downs or shorter routes.

With Jonah Williams back at left tackle, the sophomore leap in production and quality expected to come from both Tee Higgins and Burrow, and the addition of Ja’Marr Chase, we can assume that this Bengals offense will be primed to put up points.

With a defensive back room headed by the criminally underrated Jessie Bates, and a rotational pass rush bolstered by the addition of Trey Hendrickson, Cincinnati are going to surprise some teams this year.