Because of a 7-2 begin, together with a present stretch of 4 straight wins, the Pittsburgh Steelers are wanting an increasing number of like legit Tremendous Bowl contenders.
That’s very true coming off their Week 10 highway win over the Washington Commanders. The Steelers hit the highway to tackle one of many hottest groups in soccer and orchestrated a fourth-quarter comeback to choose up an enormous win on the highway.
Issues will actually ramp up this week forward of their matchup with the Baltimore Ravens, which not solely marks the Steelers’ first AFC North sport of the season, however is a big showdown general because the Ravens are arguably one of the best workforce in soccer.
Forward of Week 11, the Steelers are on the skin wanting in on the subject of ESPN’s analytics relating to the playoff image.
In a chunk from ESPN’s Seth Walder that positioned groups into tiers primarily based on the Soccer Energy Index, efficiency metrics and extra, the Steelers landed in Tier 2 as a “playoff lock” however on the skin wanting in on the true Tremendous Bowl contenders.
In that true Tremendous Bowl contenders tier, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Payments and Detroit Lions had been featured. The Steelers discovered themselves because the third and remaining workforce listed within the “playoff locks” tier from Walder, becoming a member of the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles.
“Counting on protection is the harder path to victories, however that’s what Pittsburgh has finished to this point in 2024 — and it has labored. It helps when you could have arguably one of the best defensive position within the sport,” Walder writes, in line with ESPN.com. “Quarterback Russell Wilson has been adequate (60.8 QBR), which needs to be within the recipe for fulfillment going ahead.
“Whereas I stay skeptical newly acquired Mike Williams could make a huge impact, he did catch a game-winning landing in opposition to the Commanders on Sunday.”
In as we speak’s NFL, counting on protection is a more durable option to win, certainly, particularly with the foundations seemingly catering to an increasing number of offense. However the Steelers have had some success lately leaning on their protection. Now, that protection has an offense on the opposite aspect to assist decide up the slack.
That’s as a result of insertion of Russell Wilson into the lineup at QB. Since Wilson stepped into the combination, the Steelers are scoring 30+ factors per sport, which is reasonably exceptional. He’s helped unlock the Steelers’ downfield passing assault and has helped lead huge receiver George Pickens to new heights.
Primarily based on ESPN’s analytics, the Steelers have a 94% probability of creating the playoffs, a 36.3% probability of successful the AFC North, and an 8.2% probability of creating the Tremendous Bowl. These are fairly stable odds on the halfway level of the season.
For comparability, the Ravens have a 63.1% probability of successful the AFC North and a 22% probability of creating the Tremendous Bowl. The Steelers aren’t that far off and have an opportunity to enhance these percentages within the head-to-head matchup in opposition to the Ravens.
The schedule is kind of tough within the second half of the season, however proper now the Steelers are a borderline legit contender who belong within the dialogue with the Ravens, Chiefs, Payments and Texans within the AFC. Issues look very promising shifting ahead for the Black and Gold.
