4) Mike Tomlin: The Steelers head coach came into this season with a team that faced some real questions. What kind of play could they expect from 41-year-old quarterback Aaron Rodgers? Could a defense relying on four veterans who are at least 30 years old stay healthy? Were there enough playmakers on offense? Well, none of that matters today because the AFC North is a complete mess. Tomlin’s team is far from dominant, but it’s currently 4-1 after Sunday’s win over Cleveland and in great position to run away with this division. The Baltimore Ravens have only one victory and are struggling with all sorts of injuries. The Cleveland Browns have two rookies at the top of their quarterback depth chart, and the one who opened the year as the starter, Joe Flacco, now has that job in Cincinnati due to Joe Burrow‘s turf toe surgery and Jake Browning‘s poor play. The Steelers have a middling offense, a below-average defense and every reason to think they’re going to end up with 11 to 12 wins. Tomlin might not take this team far in the playoffs, but they’ll be there again. Count on it.
5) Rico Dowdle: The Carolina Panthers thought so highly of Dowdle in the first month of the season that he totaled 83 yards on 28 carries in the team’s first four games. You must mention those numbers when talking about Dowdle today because he’s suddenly become the league’s most productive back after such a humble start. He ran for 206 yards in a Week 5 win over Miami after a calf injury sidelined starter Chuba Hubbard. Dowdle followed that performance by generating a franchise-record 239 scrimmage yards in Sunday’s victory over Dallas while Hubbard sat out again. Dowdle now has a team record 473 scrimmage yards over the last two games, making him the seventh player in league history to post consecutive games with 200 or more scrimmage yards. Dowdle didn’t hide the fact that Sunday’s meeting with the Cowboys was personal. He spent his first four seasons with Dallas and ran for 1,079 yards last year before the team let him walk in free agency. He wanted to alert the Cowboys to what they let go — he told reporters that Dallas better “buckle up” coming into Sunday’s contest – and he delivered. Dowdle has been so good that the Panthers now have a legitimate question on their hands: How do they make the most of him moving forward? Head coach Dave Canales made it clear in his postgame comments that Dowdle will have a larger role in the offense moving forward, even though Hubbard signed a four-year, $33.2 million extension last November. The Panthers just improved to 3-3. Quarterback Bryce Young is playing at a higher level with a stronger run game. However Canales handles the workload, it’s clear Dowdle has used good timing to turn himself into a rising star.
6) Nik Bonitto: The Denver Broncos might end up becoming the first team to have back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year winners if Bonitto keeps this up. He leads the league with eight sacks — seven of which have come in his last four games — and he’s primed to do more damage on a Broncos defense that has started to find its groove. All-Pro cornerback Patrick Surtain II was the star of this unit last season, when he earned DPOY honors. Bonitto enjoyed his own breakout campaign in 2024, as he totaled a career-high 13.5 sacks and a spot on the second-team All-Pro defense. The reason Bonitto is likely to gain even more attention this season is that Denver sorely needs this defense to play at a high level to be serious championship contenders. Second-year quarterback Bo Nix has dealt with some predictable struggles now that opposing teams have more film on him. The Broncos also must contend with quarterbacks like Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and the Los Angeles Chargers’ Justin Herbert if they want to claim the AFC West crown. These are the kinds of opponents that will give Bonitto the opportunity to shine in much the same way he has over the past month. The Broncos started slowly, with two losses in their first three games. They’ve now ripped off three straight wins and improved to 4-2 because of the way that defense played in a 13-11 win over the Jets in London on Sunday. When a team racks up nine sacks in a game, people take notice. And with as much talent as Denver as on defense, it’s going to be easy to recognize the way Bonitto is impacting games.
7) AFC South: There used to be one consistent question about this division over the last few years: Was it the worst in football or did that honor belong to the NFC South? After all, every team in the AFC South has had a top-five pick in the draft since 2023, and Tennessee had the first overall selection back in April. Well, that narrative is a lot different today. The Indianapolis Colts have turned Daniel Jones into the latest quarterback to resurrect himself and currently have a 5-1 record. The Jacksonville Jaguars had four wins in 2024, and they already have four victories in six games this season. The Houston Texans are turning things around following a 0-3 start. They’ve won their last two games and boast the best scoring defense in the league. This doesn’t feel like a fluke, either. All these teams are well-coached and blessed with good quarterbacks and disruptive defenses. They’ll all be in the playoff conversation come January.
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