The Pittsburgh Steelers return from their bye week Sunday to host the New Orleans Saints (1 p.m. ET, Fox), an unfamiliar opponent in more ways than one.
Not only do the Saints (4-7) and Steelers (7-4) rarely play each other—this is just their fourth meeting in the last 20 years—but they're at opposite ends of the NFL hemisphere.
All four teams in the AFC North are at least three games over .500. That's never happened before in the history of the NFL, according to the Elias Sports Bureau via Pro Football Talk.
Meanwhile, every team in the NFC South is at least three games under .500. The Saints and Falcons are tied for first place in the division.
So while an 11-5 record doesn't guarantee a playoff spot for the Steelers, 5-11 might be good enough for the Saints to win the NFC South and have a home playoff game, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review .
Not surprisingly, AFC North teams are 10-1-1 against NFC South teams. The Steelers are the lone slackers there. They lost 27-24 at home to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who by the way are only two games out of first place in the NFC South with a 2-9 record.
The Saints have lost two straight at home to AFC North teams. They fell 27-10 to Cincinnati in Week 11 and 34-27 to Baltimore on Monday Night Football.
It would seem the Saints will have an even more difficult time going into the elements to face a smashmouth AFC North team after losing two straight to teams in that division in the comforts of the indoor Superdome.
However, there also seemed to be no way the Steelers could lose at home to Tampa Bay in Week 4.
Pittsburgh needs to keep pace with the rest of the teams in the division and beat up on a member of the sorry NFC South.
//from Bleacher Report http://ift.tt/1FBdbey
via IFTTT November 28, 2014 at 06:18AM
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