Football Footnotes: Our annual bye week 'No Steelers, no problem' edition

With the Pittsburgh Steelers off this week, it’s our annual “No Steelers, no problem” bye week edition of “Football Footnotes.”

Here’s everything you need to know about the games that will impact the Steelers this week while the Black and Gold are idle.

• The Steelers’ next game is in Washington on Nov. 10. The Commanders are surprisingly good this year. They are 6-2 heading into this weekend’s road game against the New York Giants. That’s a club currently sitting at 2-6 after absorbing a loss in Pittsburgh on Monday.

The Commanders are significantly better at home, having won all four road games they have played so far. They are 2-2 on the road.

Quarterback Jayden Daniels has been named Rookie of the Week six times already this year. In his first year, the LSU product has amassed 2,160 total yards and 11 touchdowns against just two interceptions. His passer rating is 104.

Daniels threw at practice Thursday but was limited. He is still being bothered by a rib injury that nagged at him through last week. It didn’t stop him from playing, though, as the Commanders won on a Hail Mary pass from Daniels to beat the Chicago Bears.

JAYDEN DANIELS WITH A HAIL MARY TO BEAT THE BEARS AS TIME EXPIRES ????

WHAT HAVE WE JUST WITNESSED?!?!?!

(via @NFL) pic.twitter.com/xuSQsWlODR

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 27, 2024

Washington has a plus-69 point differential. The only team better than them in the NFC in that category is the Detroit Lions at plus-100. Of the six wins the Commanders have, the Bears (4-3) are the only team above .500 on that list.

According to BetRivers.com, Washington is a four-point favorite on the road. That’s a 1 p.m. start Sunday.

• As for the Steelers’ three AFC North rivals, they all play at 1 p.m. Sunday. They are all at home.

We’ll start with the second place Baltimore Ravens. At 5-3, the Ravens are a game behind the Steelers for the division lead. They welcome the impressively competitive Denver Broncos, who are also a surprising 5-3.

If the playoffs started today (they don’t, by the way), the Broncos would be the top Wild Card team playing in Buffalo. The Ravens would be the second of three wild-card teams. They would be playing at Acrisure Stadium. Baltimore is next up on the Steelers’ schedule (Nov. 17, Acrisure Stadium) after the road game in Washington.

The Ravens entered play this week with 242 points, the most in the NFL (Washington is second at 236). Unfortunately for John Harbaugh’s club, it is 28th in the NFL in points allowed, yielding 209.

Meanwhile, Denver has only given up 120 points, the fourth fewest in the NFL. Pittsburgh is second at 119.

Baltimore is an eight-point favorite. However, according to ESPN, quarterback Lamar Jackson missed two straight days of practice because of back and knee ailments.

• The 3-6 Cincinnati Bengals play host to the 2-6 Las Vegas Raiders. Cincy is favored by 7½ points.

We keep waiting for the annual bounceback by the Bengals. But it hasn’t happened yet. The Bengals managed to beat the Giants and the Cleveland Browns in Weeks 6 and 7. However, that winning streak was snapped last week by the Philadelphia Eagles, 37-17.

The Raiders, meanwhile, have dropped four in a row. They’ve lost all three road games they have played by a combined score of 113-66.

Conversely, the Bengals are 0-4 at home, including last week’s loss to the Eagles. The previous three home defeats were by a total of 12 points.

The Steelers and Bengals don’t play each other until Dec. 1 in Cincinnati. The return game in Pittsburgh is on Jan 5, in Week 18.

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• The Los Angeles Chargers (4-3) come all the way to Cleveland for an early start on Sunday to play the Browns (2-6).

Cleveland is a home underdog by a point and a half. But it’s the “under” that you might want to play here. The projected point total is set at 42.5, and these are two of the lowest-scoring teams in the NFL. The Browns are 26th in scoring (138 points). The Chargers are 27th (132).

Furthermore, the Chargers have allowed only 91 points, the fewest in the NFL.

By their standards, the Browns exploded for 29 points in a win over the Ravens. Their previous high on the season was 18 in their only other win of the year. That was over Jacksonville, 18-13, in Week 2.

• With the Steelers off and Houston losing to the New York Jets on Thursday night (21-13), that means the only two AFC division leaders left to play this week are the 7-0 Kansas City Chiefs in the West and the 6-2 Bills in the East.

Buffalo also has a 1 p.m. kickoff Sunday against the division-rival Miami Dolphins. Including playoffs, the Bills have won five in a row in this series and 12 of 13. They are favored by six points.

Kansas City is in the “Monday Night Football” game against Tampa Bay. The Chiefs have already played once on Monday night. They opened on a Thursday night. They also play on a Friday (Nov. 29), and the Wednesday Christmas game against the Steelers.

K.C. is a big favorite at minus-8½. BetRivers says the Chiefs have failed to cover in four of their past five Monday night games.

Meanwhile, the Bucs have been in five straight games that have hit the over. This week’s total is 45.5.