Not too early for Number 1 Seed talk...

Seeing how bad the AFC North is and seeing how the Bills lost to the Patriots last night and the Chargers lost again to Washington and are now 3-2 as well. The schedule is going to allow the Steelers to play the teams they are going to be potentially fighting with for this top seed as we move into early November. The game with the Colts here now on November 2nd is starting to look like a very critical game when it comes to seeding and potential tiebreakers. Then you have the following game the next week on Sunday night in LA against the Chargers which will be another crucial head-to-head meeting which will determine tiebreakers as well, and then you have the game at the end of the month on Thanksgiving weekend where the Bills come here on November 30th. So, there are going to be opportunities for the Steelers to cash in here and beat some of these teams head-to-head and control their own destiny when it comes to seeding.

That is why I think it is extremely critical the Steelers win these next 2 games with the Browns at home and at Cincinnati on that Thursday night and get to 5-1. You want to put yourself in a position when you play a team like the Colts or Chargers where you still only have 1 maybe 2 losses at the most and winning a head-to-head matchup would be monumental. I still wouldn't count out the Chiefs in this conversation either. They are right back in the thick of the AFC West race now and if they win tonight against the Jags, they are 3-2 and tied for 1st place yet again. So, while the Steelers don't play Kansas City and won't have the chance to win a head-to-head tiebreaker against them, they are still going to have a whole lot to say about who is seeded where in the AFC come December and January. But again, never too early to start looking down the road and looking ahead when it comes to playoff seeding in the AFC even if we are just 4-5 games into the season. It matters a lot, and I think us as fans can start taking a hard look at it right now based on how things have played out so far, these first 4-5 weeks of the season.

 

I don't think the steelers will win at least 12 games,so no....

 

I need to see the Steelers beat one or more of Packers, Lions, Bills, Ravens before I get too hopeful (add in not dropping games against Browns or Bengals next couple weeks).

 

I think they can get to 12. I think if they win the next 2 with the Browns and Bengals that gets them to 5, go 2-1 in the stretch where you play the Packers, Colts, and Chargers and that gets you to 7. Beat the Bengals here in November and the Dolphins on the Monday night game in December that gets you to 9. And just go 3-4 against the Ravens twice home and away, at Chicago, Buffalo at home, at Detroit and at Cleveland. So, it's definitely possible to get to 12 wins the way I see things shaping up now. Gotta get these next 2 with the Browns and Bengals cannot afford to drop one of these games.

 

Winning these next 2 games against the Browns and Bengals are critical for sure. A loss against either one of them would certainly hurt their playoff chances or at least their seeding.

 

Our updated picks have the Steelers going 8-5 in the team's final 13 games with several that could go either way. This would put the Steelers final record at 11-6 and likely an AFC North crown.

I just read this prediction. "with several that could go either way" Did he think that up all by himself

 

This one is a bit premature

 

Last 2 times Steelers hosted a playoff game, both games were disasters. Steelers haven't taken "advantage" of home field advantage since 2010. 15 years and counting. HFA matters and is effective for Patriots (Brady-era), Chiefs and Bills... but not Steelers.

 

The last 4 road playoffs games for the steelers were also a true disasters(NE,KC,BUF and BAL).Despite of the past,the chance would be better at home

 

Don't even bother arguing with the negative Nancy's. You are correct. The Colts game looks to be the biggest game on the schedule currently. The Bills are at best tied with us but we have an NFC loss, theirs is an AFC loss. A month from now things will look different. Better different or worse different we just don't know yet. You be as excited and hopeful as you want to be. Ignore the noise. GO Steelers!!!!

 

This is the weakest NFL in a while. 5-1?

 

We lost the last 5 games of the season last year. I will not feel comfortable until we are ahead of the rest of the North by 6 games.

 

I know a bunch of Yoi picked the Ravens, or the Bills to go to the SB this year, but Who has either team beat this year, people want to make fun of who we've beaten, but who have they beaten.

 

Double Yoi

- Myron

 

How in the world can anyone even talk about playoffs in week 5? We are 3-1, not 9-1.

 

Last year the Steelers were 10-3 and controlled their own destiny for the #1 seed in the AFC. How did that work out???

 

Have we ever played a worse collection of QB's for the first 6 games?

 

While strange things can always happen, several games this year have been really whacky. To make any prediction is silly at best, as the season moves on some teams are going to continue to get stronger, some will fade out and others will fight to get a place in the play offs...oh I guess I just made a silly prediction, lol.

 

Pump the brakes. They are in a good situation at this point. But we have seen this movie before.

But you have to be jacked about the rest of the AFC North taking a plunge! Although I feel that the crows will rebound.

 

FWIW, I think the Browns are better than they see and will be a challenge this week. Division games are always tough (Bills just lost to Pats). And we're not good enough to be overlooking anyone.

There's basically no chance we're the 1 seed IMO. But hopefully we can bank enough wins early (especially the next two) that we have a chance to stay at the top of the division when we start getting into the harder part of the schedule.

I think this season will be kind of like last season (although hopefully the end isn't quite so terrible). We're building up the early cushion we need. And we'll end up holding on. Hopefully for a division win this time instead of a WC (who goes on to face one of the best teams in the league).

Hopefully teams with elite QBs keep dropping games (KC, BAL, CIN, BUF). If there's some way that two of these teams miss the playoffs AND we end up winning the division we can hopefully get a better shot at winning a WC game by avoiding the best QBs in the league.

 

The win over the Patriots will help Steelers in seeding, if there's not the usual post-Thanksgiving collapse. Patriots look like a playoff team right now.

 

Let's worry about winning the division first before talking about getting the #1 seed.

 

Nice that Ravens and Bengals don't have their elite QB and I think the Bengals lost Burrow for the season. Not sure when Jackson will be back but I think he will return for both games against us.