Dawgs By Nature
Thursday Night Football was exciting as AFC North rival Bengals and Ravens matched up
As the Cleveland Browns take their bye week to prepare to play out a string of meaningless games for the rest of 2024, the AFC North has three playoff contenders. The division has been a strong one joining historical company last year and were expected to be really good again this year.
Unfortunately, the Browns did not hold up their end of the bargain.
Thursday Night Football brought a great game between two of the AFC North’s best teams with the Baltimore Ravens coming back to beat the Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Burrow had a great game with 428 yards and four touchdowns but a failed two-point conversion with less than a minute left led to the one-point loss.
For Cleveland fans, the division-leading (at least before their Week 10 game) Pittsburgh Steelers might be an even more difficult story. Limited at quarterback, the Steelers have continued to win games and make the playoffs on the back of a strong defense and competent offensive production.
Today’s Dawg Pound Discourse is two questions:
First, how do Browns fans cheer when two AFC North teams face off like on Thursday night? While the jokes are pretty universal at this point (“I root for the field,” for example), let's keep the answers appropriate.
Second, and maybe more nuanced, is related to the rest of the 2024 season.
In college football, more than any other sport seemingly, there is a conference bias. “If my team is out, I want the (insert other conference team name) to win the whole thing.” There are limitations, obviously. I, as an Ohio State Buckeyes fan and alum, had little interest in That Team Up North (Michigan Wolverines) winning the national championship last year.
What about for the AFC North? Now that Cleveland has no chance of making a playoff run, are you rooting for the Bengals, Ravens and/or Steelers to have success in the playoffs? Or, like my example in college, rooting for them to fail miserably as well?
Share your thoughts on the two questions in the comment section below
