Cowherd: Undefeated Steelers And Justin Fields Are Completely Irrelevant In AFC North

The Pittsburgh Steelers will always and forever continue to get constant backlash and ridiculous criticism from the national media around the NFL. Colin Cowherd hates the Steelers of late, and he isn't shy about it. Throughout Mike Tomlin's heroic career of winning with subpar backup quarterbacks, Cowherd has never been appreciative for the Steelers' culture of winning. Now, the team is 3-0 and may have found their quarterback of the future, yet the Fox Sports show host still doesn't believe in the Black and Gold. 

Heading into the fourth week of the regular season, Pittsburgh holds a two-game lead in the AFC North above the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns who are both 1-2. This may have surprised some like Cowherd to this point, but he still isn't sold on the Steelers' quarterback situation. Justin Fields is playing the best football of his career in his time so far with Pittsburgh, having a career-best in multiple passing statistics like completion percentage, passer rating, and turnover ratio. 

Nonetheless, Cowherd isn't sold on the 3-0 start, even considering the team's favorable upcoming schedule. Playing in a division with Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow, it's going to be a tall task for Fields to get the respect they've got. In one of his most recent episodes of The Herd, Cowherd spoke about the Dallas Cowboys' issues and how it compared to the Steelers. Cowherd explains how the Steelers always had layup wins with the Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, but now they aren't so easy.

"What also happened with Big Ben [Roethlisberger] late - Uh oh, Joe Burrow's in the division now. Lamar Jackson's in the division now. Baker Mayfield's in the division now," Cowherd said. "And at the end, Cincinnati and Cleveland weren't the layups and suddenly the Steelers got really irrelevant really fast and brag about never being below .500. That's their standard."

In his weekly NFL power rankings, Cowherd disgustingly left the Steelers off the list, but included the 1-2 Ravens.

Cowherd is one that clearly doesn't respect the coaching aspect of the game or defense. The Steelers unfortunately just don't have a ton of explosion on offense currently, which is why analysts like Cowherd don't respect their ways of winning. 

The Steelers coincidentally host Dallas in Week 5 for a Sunday Night Football matchup, which will be a perfect "mid-off" for Cowherd. The Steelers will likely be able to handle business, as the Cowboys have a ton of big-time injuries. 

Steelers' Defense Isn't Worried About AFC North Quarterbacks

As Cowherd likes to continuously mention, the AFC North has some solid quarterbacks. Burrow and Jackson, even though they've got a combined record of 1-5 currently, still have somewhat impressive stats to start off the year. Burrow has thrown five touchdown passes and no interceptions, while Jackson has thrown for three scores and one interception. Both have over 700 yards and passer ratings of 95 or higher. These numbers won't scare Pittsburgh though, as they rank fifth for passing yards allowed. 

The Steelers won't run into their division rival quarterbacks until Week 11 and on. Their first stint will come against the Ravens at home, where the Steelers look to continue their recent success against Baltimore. Since 2020, Pittsburgh has won seven of the last eight games versus the Ravens and Jackson. The defense will be facing a plethora of talented offenses in the back-half of the schedule, which is why Pittsburgh needs to stack as many wins now as they can. 

What are your thoughts on Cowherd's take? Is he too hard on the Steelers, or is he right about their quarterback issues? Let us know in the comments below.

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