Steelers Still in Position to Take AFC North Despite Inconsistent 4-3 Start

After seven weeks of NFL football, the 4-3 Pittsburgh Steelers have the worst record of an AFC divisional leader. That same record is equal to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC South, who have lost two straight, and the Houston Texans may be able to match depending on their performance against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.

Still, when a divisional leader is on a cold streak and one game from hitting .500, questions arise about their staying power, especially if you’re like the Steelers, who lost their starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger due to a knee injury last week.

When Roethlisberger was on the field with Pittsburgh, his Steelers were blowing out teams. For reference, here are what the 4-3 teams leaguewide look like when you juxtapose their multiscore wins (wins of eight or more points), close games (games withing seven points) and multiscore losses (losses of eight or more points) under their starting passers.

All together, four of the five other 4-3 teams in the league, the Atlanta Falcons, Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions and New York Giants, have combined for just three wins by multiple scores in 28 games, while the Roethlisberger Steelers were able to net four in just six games with him behind center. Overall, with two-thirds of Pittsburgh’s games registering as multiscore wins under their starting passer and face of the franchise, they had the highest percentage of multiscore wins among the group.

Share Tweet Embed

On the field, they looked more like legitimate title contenders in the AFC than the grouping they’re paired with in terms of wins and losses, especially when you take into account their 38-16 win on the road against Washington, a 4-3 squad, in prime time to open up the season on Monday Night Football.

The question now is this: Can they get Roethlisberger back in time before they lose their lead in the North?

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen (per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com) stated that Roethlisberger’s meniscus surgery could keep the quarterback off the field between two to six weeks from the time of his injury, which was in Week 6 against the Miami Dolphins:

Latest from @mortreport…post-surgery outlook for Big Ben shifted from 2-3 wks to 4-6 wks. Steelers have NE, a bye, BAL, DAL, CLE on slate

— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) October 19, 2016

Luckily for the Steelers, if he is back after just two weeks, that means the only game he would have missed was Week 7’s matchup, as they head into a bye week in Week 8. Unfortunately for Pittsburgh fans, though, Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted owner Art Rooney stated that two weeks was the “best case” for wishing their passer back on the field, with that same two-to six-week timetable being more “fair.”

Share Tweet …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com