AFC NORTH: Week 6

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In the Hood: The AFC North - AFC NORTH: Week 6

Posted On: 10/8/08

Written By:

Eric Buckner

Quotes of note from week #5 in the AFC North:

"If anybody can go back and show something I did illegal; then I would be happy to say I messed up and got what I deserved. We hit arms. It just goes to show the referee has too much power." – Ravens LB Terrell Suggs.

"When you're not a very good football team and you go into the house of a good football team, you've got to play perfect," Bengals QB Carson Palmer said. "We're in a situation; we can't play good; we have to play great."

“We knew coming in it was going to be a heavyweight fight and it was,” said Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. “I am really proud of the way the guys played all night.”

AFC North
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	Home	Road	AFC	NFC	DIV	Streak
Pittsburgh	4	1	0	.800	103	79	2-0	2-1	4-0	0-1	2-0	Won 2
Baltimore	2	2	0	.500	75	56	2-1	0-1	2-2	0-0	2-1	Lost 2
Cleveland	1	3	0	.250	46	78	0-2	1-1	1-2	0-1	1-2	Won 1
Cincinnati	0	5	0	.000	74	118	0-2	0-3	0-3	0-2	0-2	Lost 5

Week #5 Scores in the AFC North

Tennessee 13 Baltimore 10

Dallas 31 Cincinnati 22

Pittsburgh 26 Jacksonville 21

Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens were assessed 11 penalties for 91 yards in a match-up between two teams that once were, and seem to still be, bitter rivals. "We are the bad boys of football. They (the referees) are always going to look at us like that," LB Terrell Suggs said. "From the way the game was going, I think the referee just probably wanted to feel important."

The third-and-10 play began with a false start call against Tennessee, but play continued and Suggs' hit trumped the 5-yard penalty against the Titans. The penalty helped to jump start the Titans game winning TD drive. Joe Flacco, who went 18-for-27 for 153 yards and two interceptions, was 10 years old when Titans QB Kerry Collins launched his NFL career in 1995. The Ravens took a 10-3 lead with a 71-yard touchdown drive at the start of the second half. Flacco threw a 22-yard pass to Demetrius Williams and the Titans received two personal foul penalties before Le'Ron McClain scored from the 1. Tennessee also received a 15-yard penalty on the conversion. It was the first points scored in the third quarter against the Titans this season. Tennessee closed to 10-6 with 12:49 left when Rob Bironas kicked a 26-yard field goal to end a 13-play, 81-yard drive that featured three completions to Brandon Jones for 54 yards. The Titans made only four first downs and 68 yards in a penalty-filled first half, which ended 3-3. It could have been 6-3 if not for Matt Stover’s missed attempt from 45 yards out. Stover is 4 out of 7 on field goal attempts and has missed all kicks from 40 yards or longer.

Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals fell to 0-5 for the first time since 2002, when they started 0-7 and finished 2-14. Marvin Lewis took over as coach the following year and didn't have a losing record until going 7-9 last year. Cincinnati would have to win eight of its remaining 11 games just to break even this time. Carson Palmer was 23-of-39 for 217 yards with two touchdown passes, both to T.J. Houshmandzadeh. Palmer missed the previous game with a sore throwing elbow and opened this game by throwing an interception. Down 17-0, the Bengals didn't exactly storm back – crawled is more like it. The Bengals got a pair of field goals before halftime, the second set up by a Tony Romo fumble.

After the break Palmer started to click, going 72 yards in 11 plays on his first drive of the second half, capping it with an 18-yard touchdown to Houshmandzadeh that made it 17-13. Then came a Romo interception, leading to another field goal that brought the Bengals within a point early in the fourth quarter. So close to pulling off the upset, Lewis called for an onside kick. The Bengals recovered but, being the Bengals, they gave the ball back three plays later when Tank Johnson forced Chris Perry to fumble. It was Perry's fifth in as many games.

Dallas stretched the lead when Romo hit Owens going across the middle and he ran away from everyone for a long touchdown. But Dallas’ joy was short-lived because of another special-teams breakdown -- Cincinnati's Glenn Holt returning the ensuing kickoff 60 yards. Palmer followed with another touchdown pass to Houshmandzadeh. A two-point conversion would've tied it at 24, but the attempt failed. The Cowboys finished the Bengals off with a late TD on a tipped pass caught by Patrick Crayton.

Cleveland Browns

The Cleveland Browns had their bye in week #5.

Pittsburgh Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger threw for 309 yards and three touchdowns, helping the Steelers overcome their offensive woes and leading them to a victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday night. Roethlisberger finished 26-of-41; rebounding from an interception on his third pass that Rashean Mathis returned 72 yards for a score. His perfect 8-yard fade pass to Hines Ward in the corner of the end zone put the Steelers ahead for good 26-21 with 1:53 remaining.

Even better were his two passes on the drive with Jaguar defenders hanging on his shoulder pads: one on the first play and the other on a critical third down. Facing third-and-8 at the Jacksonville 31 and trailing 21-20, Roethlisberger had the Jaguars John Henderson hanging on to his shoulder pads. Roethlisberger managed to get off the pass, an 18-yard completion to Ward that set up the go-ahead score. The Steelers played without running backs Willie Parker (knee) and Rashard Mendenhall (shoulder), guard Kendall Simmons (Achilles' tendon) and defensive linemen Casey Hampton (groin) and Brett Keisel (calf). "We had a statement: 'The more you can do,' and we called on a lot of people to do that," Head Coach Mike Tomlin said. "Guys stepped outside their lines if you will and delivered, delivered big."

The Steelers rolled up 28 first downs and 415 yards, and probably would have won going away had it not been for the early interception and 10 penalties for 129 yards. Pittsburgh out-gained Jacksonville 300 yards to 49 yards in the first half and had 17 more first downs. Nate Washington caught six passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. Ward had seven receptions for 90 yards and a score. Mewelde Moore, filling in for Parker, ran 17 times for 99 yards.

Week #6 Match-ups and Predictions

The Pittsburgh Steelers have their bye in week #6.

Baltimore at Indianapolis

Indianapolis has overcome deficits of 15 or more points in their two wins this season. They are allowing 188.5 rushing yards per game and have allowed at least 156 rushing yards in each of their 4 games this season. Baltimore has not allowed a 100-yard rusher in 23 games. No Ravens RB has had a run of longer than 17 yards this season. Indianapolis has beaten Baltimore in each of the last 4 seasons and each of the wins was by at least 9 points.

ITH PREDICTION – Indianapolis 24 Baltimore 20

Cincinnati at New York Jets

Cincinnati RB Chris Perry has 5 fumbles this season. RB Cedric Benson rushed 10 times for 30 yards in his debut with Cincinnati. WR Antonio Chatman has more catches (17) than Chad Ocho Cinco (14). Brett Favre has a 110.8 QB rating in 4 starts. WR Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery have combined for 7 TD catches this season; they combined for 8 in 2007. The Jets have won in the first game after their bye in each of HC Eric Mangini’s first 2 seasons.

ITH PREDICTION – New York Jets 31 Cincinnati 27

Cleveland vs. New York Giants

The Giants out-gained Seattle 523 yards to 187 yards last week. They are averaging 5.8 yards per rush this season. Eli Manning has only 1 interception in 132 pass attempts this season. Cleveland has lost its last 6 appearances on primetime TV. WR Braylon Edwards has caught only 11 passes for 95 yards and 1 TD in 4 games this season. Cleveland’s longest pass play this year is 23 yards. They have won their first game coming off the bye in 2 of the last 3 seasons.