Can the compete in the AFC North? Sounds crazy to say, but it's a fair question to ask after their complete unmasking in Cincinnati on Sunday afternoon.The harsh reality for the Steelers is that this season is starting to look and feel a lot like last year, only they weren't the league's last unbeaten team this November when things began to unravel again. In fact, this lopsided defeat (41-10), which started getting away from the Steelers from the opening drive, was far too similar Zack Smith Men Jersey to their playoff lo s to the from last January, and continued an ugly trend of a second-half-of-the-season slump that is far too similar to 2020 for any Steelers coach or executive to have to contemplate.Much was made of going five weeks without a pick, but the offense remains marginal at best a pop-gun short pa sing game reliant on YAC to move the ball downfield and the offensive line and running game are not nearly good enough to offset the limitations and deficiencies of a nearly 40-year old quarterback who was already at the end this time a year ago. To expect December or January to bring any different results this time around is folly, and with a daunting gauntlet of remaining games for the Steelers (Baltimore, at Minnesota, Tenne see, at Kansas City, Cleveland, at Baltimore) it might be even uglier this time around.Sunday's affair was over well before the half, but Big Ben punctuated it with a carele s pick-six to make it 31-3 at intermi sion (the a sault continued with a forced fumble in the third quarter as he was hit from behind). It summed up the afternoon. At the half the had held the ball over 19 minutes ( ran for over 100 yards in the half alone), racked up 18 first downs, went 4-for-5 on third down ( beat the defense on third-and-longs) and compiled 261 yards, while Pittsburgh's offense simply sputtered. The Steelers finish November going 1-2-1 in their last four games, beating the with a serious a sist from an officiating crew, tying the winle s at home, and giving up 82 points in consecutive defeats to the and Bengals. But this is perhaps even more staggering since barely beating a COVID-ravaged team of backups, 19-14, on a Wednesday afternoon last Dec. 2 (dubbed a JV performance by coach Mike Tomlin), the Steelers are 1-5 against division foes.They managed to lose to quarterback and the struggling Bengals on Christmas week last year, then lost consecutive games to the Browns -- first 24-22 and then Ryan Carpenter Jersey 48-37 in the wild-card round -- and lost Week 3 at home to the Bengals, 24-10, before edging out the Browns, 15-10, at the end of October. A minus-43 scoring differential at this point in the season is probably pretty telling of how good or bad you are.Sunday's drubbing felt a little different than even most of those. The Steelers are looking too old in some areas, and too green in others. is still working back from injury, the defensive line ain't what it once was, and the offensive line couldn't get fixed in just one offseason. Nothing lasts forever, and this run Cam Ward Women Jersey with Ben Roethlisberger continued this franchise's remarkable run of succe s. But time is quickly running out on a Hall of Fame career and on this season. Been tracking this for a while, and it continues to astonish: The ' lack of a pa sing game in the first half of games is truly staggering. They have played five games dating back to their bye week, when head coach Urban Meyer abandoned the team to party in Columbus, and do not have a first-half pa sing touchdown in any of them., the first pick of the entire draft and a slam-dunk selection at that, has been unable to do much of anything at all until the Jags are chasing games. That is just their reality. In his last five first halves obviously the equivalent of 2 games he has a total of 417 pa sing yards. Yes, you read that correctly. That is on 78 attempts, folks (5.3 per attempt!). With no touchdowns and two picks for a rating of 67.09.That's a failure, folks. No other way to couch it.Lawrence went 12-for-19 for 100 yards and an interception in the first half against a very bad Atlanta defense, and that was probably his best first half since mid-October. Not sure how owner Shad Khan views progre s, or what he prizes the most, but is 2-9 with no signs of life as a pa sing game is what he had in mind making the gamble on Meyer, well, I gue s he got what he wanted! It's been a disaster, and we have seen plenty of other coaches be gone as a one-and-done for far le s. Strange play-calling day for the Eagles. They ran the ball up and down the field and then got a little cute and pa s happy in money situations. Three picks by really hurt, and kept the in a game the Eagles could have put away. Despite Hurts making some bad decisions, he drove the team on what could have been a game-winning drive, only to be undermined by repeated drops on very catchable pa ses. The lo s probably kills the Eagles' middling playoff chances. limping around and in distre s in his first game back after a lengthy injury absence is what one would dub: suboptimal at best. Still a lot of football to be played with that offense and behind that offensive line. Has to give you some pause The let another game Chris Chelios Women Jersey get away after bo sing around the Bucs early. At one point the Colts pa sed on 27 straight plays, and that's despite being healthy and in good form. Odd, to say the least. They went back to Taylor to tie the game, at least, but a lack of balance and brain cramp mistakes by cost them in the end ...Hard to see that much of a difference in the Giants' offense Sunday (264 yards woo hoo!). Wide receivers were still very hit or mi s in terms of them making an impact, points remained very hard to come by, and big questions about the direction of this franchise under Joe Judge still loom 's last stand as an NFL starter is looking pretty bleak. Accuracy and placement remain a big i sue, and he looked every bit as bad as at his worst before the made the desperate move to bring Newton back. I was rooting for a feel-good story here, but that's not in the cards. At 5-7, Carolina is fading fast and, down 27-10 through three quarters on Sunday, Newton was 5-for-21 for 92 yards with two picks and a QB rating of 5.8. Yeah, 5.8 I did not see Erik Gustafsson Jersey the struggling mightily to sustain the run game with out churning out over 200 yards on the ground at New England. Especially with no , I figured Bill Belichick would shut down the run if nothing else. That defense hasn't been bullied much like that this season. But and are game-changers A lot of attention has gone to the and the way that defense has reversed course midseason, but the have quietly done the same thing. It's pretty remarkable. The Dolphins have won four in a row after suffering a seven-game losing streak and they haven't given up more than 17 points in a game since a Week 8 lo s to Buffalo (26-11).