The Steelers walked into their bye week with the AFC North lead, a 27-6 win over Cleveland, and a national perception that still hasn’t quite caught up to the record. Pittsburgh handled the Browns from the opening whistle on Sunday, piling up 200 rushing yards while holding Cleveland to season lows in points and rushing yards.
That kind of performance usually nudges a team into the upper tier of the weekly power rankings. For Pittsburgh, the climb was real, but limited. Only one of the major outlets listed the Steelers inside the top 10, even after they improved to 6-2 and took sole possession of first place in the division.
CBS Sports made the biggest jump, moving Pittsburgh up to No. 10 from No. 15.
Pete Prisco pointed to the formula that has carried the Steelers through the first half of the season: “They are 6-2 as they go to their bye, which has them in first place in their division. The pass rush and run game have really keyed their fast start.”
Pro Football Talk was even a little higher, slotting the Steelers at No. 8, up from No. 10. Mike Florio wrote, “The schedule is lining up favorably; a 12-win season isn’t out of the question.”
The rest of the national rankings clustered around Pittsburgh in the low teens. FOX Sports kept the Steelers at No. 13, with Ralph Vacchiano highlighting the surge from Jaylen Warren and the lack of production from the passing game.
“RB Jaylen Warren has just exploded in recent weeks, and he added another 157 rushing yards in a rout of the Browns on Sunday. And it’s a good thing, too, because the Steelers are really not getting much out of Aaron Rodgers and the passing attack.
The Steelers can win a lot of games like that, though, especially with a defense that sacked Browns QB Deshaun Watson eight times on Sunday. It’s not a typical Mike McCarthy team, to be sure.
But it’s working and it might be good enough to get them to the playoffs.”
The Athletic had Pittsburgh at No. 12, up one spot, and made Warren the centerpiece of its evaluation. “This is Jaylen Warren’s team now.
The fifth-year running back is first in the league in rushing EPA (19.0), third in yards per carry after contact (4.14) and sixth in rushing yards (704). He tied his career high with 143 yards on 17 carries Sunday, which was also his 28th birthday.
Five of Warren’s top nine career rushing games have come this season.” That’s the kind of production that changes the way a team looks, even if the passing game hasn’t fully caught up.
NFL.com also moved the Steelers up one spot to No. 12.
Nick Shook described the win in more physical terms, writing, “Don’t look now, but the Steelers are turning into a bully fit for an AFC North crown. Pittsburgh’s defense suffocated Deshaun Watson and the Browns’ offense, while Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle tore through Cleveland’s defense in an emphatic win to grab hold of the top spot in the division.
This one felt like big brother shoving little brother back into his place -- and giving him a noogie for good measure.”
Yahoo! Sports kept Pittsburgh at No. 13, but Frank Schwab focused on the bigger picture around the roster and the trade deadline.
He wrote, “A team that has among the oldest rosters in the NFL and is 6-2 before the deadline might generally be a big buyer to make a push with an aging team. Yet, it doesn’t seem like there’s one move that can put the Steelers on the same level as some of the NFL’s elite teams.”
Schwab added that “Another receiver would be nice, but there’s a lot of money tied up in DK Metcalf, and someone like Josh Downs would be redundant with the skill set of intriguing rookie Germie Bernard. Perhaps adding Jacksonville’s Brian Thomas Jr. would make sense.
Cornerback could help after trading away Joey Porter Jr., but the Steelers have been good at that position without him. An old team trading away valuable picks seems bad for the future.
And a 6-2 team trading someone like edge rusher Alex Highsmith seems like the wrong move too. We might see Pittsburgh make a minor move or two but little else.”
USA Today had the Steelers at No. 13 as well, up three spots from last week. Nate Davis pointed to a strange split in the defensive numbers: “The AFC North leaders have a league-high 26 sacks, yet rank 26th in the league with a 32.6% pressure rate. Go figure.”
ESPN also parked Pittsburgh at No. 13, up one place. Brooke Pryor’s note centered on the Steelers’ history of deadline activity under Omar Khan and the franchise’s rare willingness to make a major in-season move, including the 2019 trade for Fitzpatrick.
Pryor wrote, “Though the Steelers have been more active at the trade deadline under GM Omar Khan, the team doesn’t have a long history of impactful in-season trades. Still, the Steelers broke precedent in a major way when they acquired Fitzpatrick for a first-round pick early in the 2019 season.
Though his production was inconsistent during his six seasons in Pittsburgh as his role in the defense shifted and morphed, he was undeniably a cerebral and impactful player. Fitzpatrick’s best season came in 2022, when he recorded a career-high six interceptions, including a pick-six.”
For all the movement in the rankings, the bigger truth is simple: Pittsburgh is 6-2, on a four-game winning streak, and sitting in the three seed in the AFC playoff picture. The Steelers still have some obvious needs, especially at wide receiver and corner, but the results have them exactly where they want to be as they head into the bye and toward the November 10 trade deadline.
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