Steelers Duo Of Matt Canada And Kenny Pickett Are The Offensive Kings Of A Feeble AFC North After Week 3

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in first place in the AFC North. Getting to that position wasn’t a smooth ride, and it will take much better play to still be there at the end of the season. Fans know what the problems are with the current version of the black and gold. The defense turns the ball over and generates pressure, but they give up points and yards a little too easily. The duo of TJ Watt and Alex Highsmith is superb. The rest of the defense is a work in progress without Cam Heyward.

Matt Canada, Kenny Pickett, and the Steelers offense are the elephant in all the rooms in the Steelers facility. Pittsburgh’s offense generated 23 points against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 3. After a nearly perfect preseason, Canada and Pickett struggled mightily against the San Francisco 49ers and the Cleveland Browns.

It is an amazing accomplishment that, somehow, this team has found its way into first place after three games. Even more amazing is that despite the presence of Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson and Lamar Jackson after Week 3, Pickett is the best quarterback in the division.

The trio of highly-paid quarterbacks has been putrid. Burrow is clearly affected by his calf injury, and the Bengals are taking an awful chance trotting him out there. Of course, the only thing worse than the Bengals running off Burrow through an ugly contract negotiation would be paying him $275 million dollars and losing him for an extended period to a severe non-contact injury. Shannon Sharpe discussed this issue on ESPN’s First Take.

“I have no problem with them playing him,” Sharpe stated. "I have a problem with how they play him. You threw the ball 31 times in the first half, 49 times overall. You got Joe Mixon, run the football. You are asking him to drop back, and drive off that calf that’s injured. You run a huge risk of reinjuring that calf.”

Football is better with Burrow in the game, but the Bengals should either sit him down until he heals or utilize Joe Mixon. Mixon is one of the best ball carriers in all of football, and if something does happen to the Bengals quarterback, he will become the only reliable part of their offense.

Deshaun Watson got paid $230 million dollars, guaranteed by the Cleveland Browns. The Browns finished in last place in the AFC North in 2022, and despite what oddsmakers and Pro Football Focus tells you, the Browns have finished last in the AFC North 65 percent of the time since the division was created. It’s a fact, Cleveland. Steeler Nation takes no pleasure in reminding you of it. Personally, after watching six decades of Steelers football versus the Browns, I relish it.

The final puzzle piece in the AFC North is the new-look Baltimore Ravens offense and Jackson. The Ravens signal-caller is an above average quarterback with exceptional running skills. In 2019, he won a league MVP, a fact that most NFL media has not forgotten. They also have yet to accept that it was nearly a half decade ago. Todd Monken has done what most NFL defenses can’t do: keep Jackson in the pocket where he is less effective. A point Ryan Clark made completely clear also on ESPN’s First Take.

"When they decided to get Todd Monken, it almost felt like they were getting this offensive coordinator who was going to revolutionize what the Baltimore Ravens were doing," Clark observed. How do you find an innovative way to help Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens attack the deep part of the field? They were supposed to spread you out so that Lamar Jackson could operate. You know what I saw in the red zone: two quarterback runs for Lamar Jackson. Do you know what else I've seen since 2019 in the red area, Stephen A. [Smith] and Shannon? I've seen called runs for Lamar Jackson."

AFC North football is not designed to be pretty in September, and Monken and the Ravens are no exception. The division doesn't wake up until Halloween, and by Thanksgiving, the rest of the NFL wants no part of a game with the Steelers, Ravens, and Bengals. Teams outside the division even dread playing the Browns. Well, some teams, according to Pro Football Focus.

Steelers' Kenny Pickett Poised For A Breakthrough Season That May Anoint Him As The New King Of The AFC North

The Steelers might have trouble right here in River City, but things are tough all over in offensive huddles in the AFC North. Pittsburgh would have been tickled pink knowing that Pickett and the Steelers offense would be the best in the division. At least one writer predicted it. This was not what anyone had in mind about how the AFC North would perform through three weeks of the season. 

What do you think, Steeler Nation? Are you surprised to find Pickett at the top of the heap amongst some of the highest-paid quarterbacks in the game? Please comment below, or on my Twitter/X: @thebubbbasq.

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