Pittsburgh Steelers
One Thing to Love: Elite Defense
Even with Bud Dupree and Avery Williamson hitting free agency this season the Steelers are still to be considered a force to be reckoned with on the defensive side of the ball. This Steel Curtain 2.0 was a top 3 defense in Yards Allowed, Points Allowed, and Takeaways in 2020. With a mediocre offense for the past two seasons, this defense has carried Duck Hodges to an 8-8 record and a geriatric Ben Roethlisberger to possibly his last AFC North championship. If the Steelers can resign Dupree and coax J.J. Watt to join his brothers you can be sure to find an undeserving Pittsburgh team back in the mix come January.
One Thing to Hate: Quarterback Limbo
What are the Steelers going to do at quarterback for the foreseeable future? You can read all about my thought on Big Ben's future here, but either way, it does not look good for Pittsburgh. Even though their elite defense is capable of carrying a team to a solid record, the Steelers' offense is on track to become terrible. Ben has a $41 million cap hit, JuJu Smith-Schuster is a free agent, AND James Conner is a free agent. That is the entire offense. With no offensive stars and no cap space (due to Roethlisberger) the Steelers may find a way to continue to play themselves out of a top-tier rookie unless, of course, they can fix Dwayne Haskins...
Baltimore Ravens
One Thing to Love: Orlando Brown Jr. Trade Compensation
Brown Jr. has expressed his desire to be traded somewhere where he can play left tackle where he is comfortable. While this may be a step backward by the Ravens for trading their stud tackle, but with a solid OL draft class they should be able to find a stellar replacement and try to load up on other roster spots with the capital they could gain from other teams, Reportedly Brown Jr. has drawn interest from the Chargers, Colts, and Jaguars with trade bait ranging from players such as Chargers WR Mike Williams and first-round picks or at least first-round swaps.
One Thing to Hate: Lack of Creativity
Lamar Jackson: three years in the NFL, unanimous MVP, two AFC North titles, ONE singular playoff win. Jackson took the storm of the league in late 2017 and 2018 where he came in for relief of Joe Flacco then won MVP the next season. Teams have figured their offense out. A strong rushing attack with no passing offense has worked in instances where teams don't expect it (e.g. Taysom Hill), but after week after week of rushing the ball, the Ravens have become predictable any good teams can find ways to stop and exploit them. For the Ravens to take the next level to become true Super Bowl contenders, Lamar Jackson needs WRs and to evolve as a passer. This is where trading OT Orlando Brown Jr. comes into play as trading him could open possibilities to add fresh young talent to prevent Baltimore from regressing.
Cleveland Browns
One Thing to Love: Respect
The Cleveland Browns are no longer the laughing stock of the NFL. In 2020 they were one win away from their FIRST AFC North division title and the first division title in general since 1989 (AFC Central). The Browns also secured their first playoff berth since 2002. Coincidentally the Browns were also one Chad Henne rush away from playing for a Super Bowl ticket. The Browns don't have much to lose in 2021 with most of their quality starters returning and gaining interest as a hotbed for free agents trying to build a winner up in Cleveland. Rising from the ashes and by finally beating the Steelers in Pittsburgh the Browns as a franchise has finally gained the confidence to be a respected opponent in the NFL.
One Thing to Hate: Inconsistency
I hate to use the term inconsistency because Cleveland ended the 2020 season 11-5 with a wildcard romping of the Steelers, but they also lost to the 2-14 Jets. Quarterback Baker Mayfield is known around the league for not really showing that he is the guy for the Browns and often times plays "game-manager" rather than "game-changer". As a fan of an oft-troubled franchise myself, I feel the pain of being able to beat and compete with the best of them but fall flat to teams they should beat. The Browns often had close calls with teams such as the Giants, Texans, Jaguars, and Bengals where they could barely squeak out a win. Previous Cleveland teams would have lost these games so at least there is a change of pace for the team, if the Browns are able to capitalize on this and learn to overcome the stigma of being the Browns they can turn themselves into a true contender.
Cincinnati Bengals
One Thing to Love: Joe Burrow
Joe Burrow was a favorite to win Rookie of the Year before a Week 11 ACL tear took him out for the remainder of the season. Now ACLs are terrible injuries to have early on in a career, but with advancing medical treatments I'm sure we will see Burrow back in action to show us his true potential in 2021. A poor record is not to his blame, however, posting a 2-7-1 record is mostly to the fault of the poor roster built by Cincinnati. Close losses to Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Indianapolis, and a terrible tie game against Philly stopped Burrow from starting 7-3. Getting weapons and protecting the young QB should be prime directives for the Bengals organization if they want to return to mid-2010s form and compete in the new world order that is today's AFC.
One Thing to Hate: Everyone On the Offensive Not Named Joe
You heard it right the only bright spots on this offense are Joe Burrow and Joe Mixon, both of which ended the season on IR. This offense stinks. With aging players like AJ Green and Giovani Bernard, they can't keep up with the superstars of today. Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd look like solid receivers but neither are true number one options for Cincinnati. They need to get some toys for Burrow to play with if they want to be competitive in 2021. Gio Bernard has been with the Bengals for seven seasons now and has not even eclipsed 500 rushing yards since 2016. Fresh young faces in the RB room have worked out for teams such as the 49ers who seem to always find the next hot runningback amongst cast-offs and UDFAs, build an RB room so that you can take the pressure off Mixon so that he can always be at 100 percent. But worst of all this offensive line is downright terrible, the big reason Burrow tore his ACL is because he is not protected upfront and you can't expect any QB let alone a rookie to succeed behind a swiss cheese o-line. The Bengals need to go offense-heavy in the draft and not be tempted to take LSU WR Ja'marr Chase, a former teammate of Burrow if an elite OL talent (Sewell) is available to them at #5.
by Brandon McCann
Comments
Post a Comment