Week 9 of the NFL season was another example of just how good the AFC North is. The Pittsburgh Steelers kicked off the week with a 20-16 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars to improve to 5-3.
But the Steelers were unable to make any headway in the AFC North because the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns won as well. The Ravens went out and dominated the Seattle Seahawks 37-3 and Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson continues his spectacular season. The Ravens defense had four sacks and two takeaways to completely shut down the Seahawks offense.
The Browns took on a hobbled Arizona Cardinals team and shut them out 27-0. The Browns defense held the Cardinals to only 58 yards of offense and sacked Cardinals quarterback Clayton Tune seven times.
The the Sunday night game, the Cincinnati Bengals welcome the Buffalo Bills to town and if they can get past the Bills, that will be three teams in the AFC North with 5-3 behind the Ravens sitting on top at 7-2.
In the final nine games of the season, Pittsburgh will have four AFC North games including both matchups with the Bengals. The rest of the schedule lines up really well and if the Steelers can handle their business in the North, have a real shot at a spot in the playoffs.