Midseason Overview: Where they will finish--AFC North

Well now that we got the Eastern divisions out of the way, things start to slow down a bit. The North is not quite as interesting and intense of a division but there have been some surprises and also some let downs. Neither north division is a runaway, yet...but we could see a couple of teams pull away. And some, just completely disappear. Lets break it down:

AFC NORTH

Steelers: 6-2
Hands down the best team defense in the game right now. Tennessee was looking pretty sharp out of the gate but it has been all Pittsburgh the last 3-4 weeks. Big Ben has been battling injures left and right and that offensive line does not look the same as in the past few years. He has taken some big hits and that is probably the one thing I can see them needing to improve on, blocking. Willie Parker looked like he was going to rush for the league high this season after game 1. He is back and that is key if the Steelers want to proceed and possibly win the division.

Ravens: 5-3
There seems to be a pattern here I guess in the north of the AFC. Defense is the way these teams win football games. Ray Lewis has proven to be a dominant player and has also proven himself to be able to build up a team and be successful. At least when they don't have the ball. Joe Flacco is not going to win you a Super Bowl and neither is Willis McGahee. I have enjoyed watching this team surprise a lot of teams in the early going but I just can't see them making a season out of this I guess you can call it "lack of talent" on the offensive side of the ball.

Browns: 3-5
Now we are starting to fall further down the mountain. This team has disappointed a lot of eyes in these first 8 games. Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards have really been under-performing. I expected a lot more out of especially Anderson. Jamal Lewis is doing his average. He is the numbers one back on this depth chart but he only averages 3.6 yards a carry. Not solid numbers. The Dog Pound is not going to be pleased come December. If Anderson can dig himself out of this hole he put himself in, they might hit 500.

Bengals: 1-8
Both the AFC and the NFC need to have a floor mat. And it looks like both fall in the North Division. The Bengals are completely dysfunctional. No Carson Palmer is a death sentence. Ocho Cinco has not put his money where his mouth is. They did beat Jacksonville last week. That could be a spark of life. A bye week upcoming and then on to Pennsylvania to play Philly and Pitt back-to-back weeks. Good Luck with that. The Bengals have no shot at making a season out of this complete and total chaotic mess. I see them maybe beating Baltimore or Kansas City in week 17. I cannot give them much more than that.

How I see them finishing...

Steelers 12-4
Ravens 9-7
Browns 6-10
Bengals 3-13

Back later with NFC North Breakdown...