AFC North review - Manziel gets his win, Ravens still looking for their first

Review by Gordon Dedman

Johnny Manziel won his first game and put in a good effort to be the headline star of the weekend, but Ben Roethlisberger is definitely that man with his 369 yards and three touchdowns as the Steelers offense dominated their opponents.

Pittsburgh Steelers vs San Francisco 49ers

The Steelers kept the 49ers running game quiet, but it was Pittsburgh’s offense that overwhelmed San Francisco. The Steelers appeared to score at will while their defense augmented the offense by keeping the 49ers dormant until the final quarter when the game was over.

 

The offense was so powerful they were confident enough to go for two points after twice, both succeeding.

Antonio Brown benefitted from Roethlisberger’s explosive passing, hauling in 9 completions for 195 yards and a touchdown while DeAngelo Williams rushed for 77 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Steelers took the 43-18 win.

Cleveland Browns vs Tennessee Titans

Johnny Manziel came out on top in the duel with Marcus Mariota. On just the second play of the game, Manziel threw a touchdown pass of 60 yards to Travis Benjamin to send the Dawg Pound into euphoria and inspire Manziel to turn in a veteran performance.

Naturally, Cleveland fans are enjoying this and I’ve seen a post that says, “Johnny Manziel has a win this year. Andrew Luck, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson, Joe Flacco and Eli Manning do not.”

Manziel was ably assisted in the win by Benjamin who caught 3 passes for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns and also returned a punt 78 yards for a score. Isaiah Crowell was the Browns leading rusher with 77 yards and a touchdown.

The Titans didn’t enjoy the rub of the green while Mariota was sacked seven times and never given a chance to repeat his perfect rating of week one as the Browns won 28-14.

San Diego Chargers at Cincinnati Bengals

Chargers quarterback Phil Rivers was on a hot streak bringing 20 straight completions into the game and attempting to break Peyton Manning’s NFL record of 23. Rivers fell one short and also failed to match Andy Dalton’s three touchdown passes, also failing one short.

The difference gave Cincinnati a 24-19 win and kept them on top of the division. Giovani Bernard rushed for 123 yards on 20 carries to cast aside the memory of his fumble in the playoff game when the Chargers beat the Bengals the last time the two teams met.

Andy Dalton contributed the Bengals 2-0 start to the team’s offense. An offense that hasn’t given up a sack or an interception in its first two games.

Baltimore Ravens at Oakland Raiders

The only team in the division to lose, the Ravens gave up the touchdown that lost them the game with just 26 seconds remaining.

Second season quarterback Derek Carr led the Raiders to their first win of the season with a career high 351 yards and three touchdowns that Joe Flacco matched in yardage, but not in scores.

The lead flip flopped through three quarters until with just three minutes remaining in the fourth it appeared the Ravens had the win when they kicked a 31-yard field goal that gave them a 33-30 lead.

The Raiders were not finished though as Carr led his team on an eighty-yard drive that he completed with a 12-yard touchdown to rookie Seth Roberts. That completion was Roberts only catch on the day and gave Oakland the 37-33 win while planting Baltimore bottom of the division with their worst start in ten years.