Vick in Pittsburgh, and a brawl in Baltimore - its the AFC North update

Article by Gordon Dedman

 

Pittsburgh Steelers

Quarterback moves dominated the AFC North this past week, and the Steelers signing of Michael Vick drew vitriolic comments from some fans. Presumably those burning their jerseys and Terrible Towels were dog lovers that had never done anything wrong in their lives.

Michael Vick told the Pittsburgh media that he can’t change what happened, but he’s glad to be in Pittsburgh. Apparently he had looked at signing with other teams, but decided that with the Steelers he had the best chance of success.

That was before the news broke about the Steelers probably losing another player because of drugs challenges. Martavis Bryant is facing a four-game suspension, but is in the process of appealing the suspension.

Second year wide receiver Bryant was perceived as being an alternate potent weapon for Ben Roethlisberger, especially in the first two games when they will be missing Le’Veon Bell. Bryant contributed an outstanding 3 for 138 yards and a touchdown in the loss against Buffalo.

The Steelers signed their second kicker Josh Scobee (from Jaguars) in three weeks.

 

Cleveland Browns

Of course, Johnny Manziel is a continuing news story in Cleveland. The newspapers there don’t have to scratch around in the summer for news items as they can always fall back on Manziel.

Manziel is suffering from a sore right elbow that kept him out of their exhibition game in Tampa and possibly the final one in Chicago.  The Browns played well against the Buccaneers in their 31-7 win, but time will tell if that was because Tampa were bad.

The Browns have lost Josh Gordon for the year for repeated violations of the NFL drug policy.

 

Cincinnati Bengals

While on quarterbacks, Bengals Andy Dalton suffered a sore neck after running in a 1-yard touchdown sneak in their win 21-10 over Chicago.

After releasing Josh Johnson, who was the Bengals backup, it appears second year veteran AJ McCarron has taken over that responsibility. For the second consecutive preseason game McCarron relieved Dalton and put in performances that cemented his status as the number two.

 

Baltimore Ravens

Like a lot of teams around the league this exhibition season, the Ravens are suffering injury challenges.

The latest round of defensive injuries in their loss to Washington found defensive lineman Chris Canty admitting, “It was tough seeing guys go down, but we don’t make excuses. It’s next man up. We have confidence in the guys that are in the game, that they will get the job done, and that’s how we approach everything.”

The frustration boiled over in the first quarter of the Washington game when the Ravens did not take kindly to the hit on receiver Kamar Aiken. Ravens Steve Smith was ejected along with Redskins Chris Culliver after a fracas that saw an incensed Ravens coach John Harbaugh run across the field to make his feelings felt to his opposite number.