Sneaking in for the second seed.
Thanks to last weeks thrilling victory against the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh are now firmly in first place in the AFC North.
What makes the Week 12 defeat to Cleveland even more frustrating in hindsight is that a victory would have Pittsburgh tied for the second seed in the conference, guaranteeing home field advantage until the championship game if they reach that far.
Pittsburgh will likely be at a talent disadvantage against the other elite teams in the AFC so given they have a chance to vie for the second seed, focus must be at an all time high to prevent any unnecessary slip ups.
Consistency is key
There are some clear deficiencies in which Pittsburgh can look to take advantage of the main one being the rushing offence should be able find success against the porous running defence of Cleveland.
Against a similarly poor rushing defence last week, Pittsburgh found success so there is no reason to think they cannot again.
Something that must go hand in hand with this though to give the best chance to win is for Russell Wilson to play mistake free football like last week.
Wilson proved to be much better at accepting check downs where possible and letting his playmakers do the work, this resulted in Wilson having his best statistical day since 2019 which speaks volumes.
Let Jameis be Jameis
As mentioned in the last preview, Jameis Winston has had a high amount of bad throws this year. It has dropped to 17% despite throwing four picks in this timespan but this shows defenses were not taking advantage of his sloppy play.
This has not been a problem for Pittsburgh though this year, averaging two takeaways a game.
The most positive aspect from a defensive point of view last week was that despite having a very poor game – by their high standards – the defense still came up when it needed to with a defensive touchdown amongst other game altering plays.
This certainly bodes well considering Cleveland have 18 giveaways this year.
Time for revenge
Despite statistically dominating the Week 12 match up, Pittsburgh managed to walk away with a defeat in Cleveland.
This is a big opportunity to put a stranglehold on the division thanks to Baltimore being on a bye week. Creeping closer to a second seed is just an added bonus.
Mike Tomlin must be asking his defensive players to get in touch with their religious sides, to answer Jameis’ post-game prayers he will be asking for all his players to be singing from the same hymn sheet on Sunday.
