AFC North Recap: Ravens and Bengals do their jobs in Week 9

The ninth week of NFL football is behind us, and it was quite the week in the AFC North division. With that said, it is time to see how the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns all did in the week that was.

Cincinnati Bengals - 42
Carolina Panthers - 21

The lone divisional game on Sunday was a dominant performance by the Bengals at home. Coming off their dud against the Browns on Monday Night Football the Bengals didn’t just hold serve at home, Joe Mixon went off. What does “going off” look like? Try five touchdowns. If the Bengals can get that type of production from Mixon until Ja’Marr Chase returns, it would really turn their season outlook around. The Bengals head into the bye week looking to get healthy before their yearly trip to Pittsburgh in Week 11 in prime time.

Baltimore Ravens - 27
New Orleans Saints - 13

The Monday night contest was very meaningful for Steelers fans as they not only watched intently at their division rival, but the Saints are the Steelers’ next opponent in Week 10 at Acrisure Stadium. The Ravens made enough plays to win against a very tough Saints defense, and the Saints seem determined to stick with Andy Dalton as their quarterback, not Jameis Winston. Consider this a positive for the Steelers in Week 10 as they are very familiar with the former Cincinnati quarterback. On the flip side, the Ravens head into their own bye week in sole possession of first place and a very soft schedule coming up after the bye.

AFC North Standings

Baltimore Ravens - 6-3
Cincinnati Bengals - 5-4
Cleveland Browns - 3-5
Pittsburgh Steelers - 2-6

Week 10 AFC North Schedule:

New Orleans Saints at Pittsburgh Steelers — 1 p.m. ET, Sunday
Cleveland Browns at Miami Dolphins — 1 p.m. ET, Sunday

(Baltimore and Cincinnati — BYE week)

A look ahead...

The next four opponents for all AFC North teams:

Baltimore Ravens: BYE, vs. Panthers, at Jaguars, vs. Broncos
Cleveland Browns: at Dolphins, at Bills, vs. Buccaneers, at Texans
Pittsburgh Steelers: vs. Saints, vs. Bengals (SNF), at Colts, at Falcons
Cincinnati Bengals: BYE, vs. Steelers (SNF), at Titans, vs. Chiefs