The Week That Was in the AFC North Blog

This was an active week in the AFC North. The Baltimore Ravens struck a last-second deal with running back Ray Rice to give him a long-term, lucrative contract. The Pittsburgh Steelers re-signed offensive tackle Max Starks and cut Jonathan Scott as a result. And in between all that, readers were busy commenting on what players I named as their team's most over- and underrated.

Comments flooded in when I named Seneca Wallace the Cleveland Browns' most overrated player and slot receiver Jordan Norwood as their most underrated. 

Cory Hughey disagreed with my selection of Wallace as overrated, saying:

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How is Wallace really overrated? He's a career backup QB. I agree that they should keep McCoy, but no one has ever gone into a season with Wallace as higher than #2 on the depth chart. McCoy will probably be a career backup as well.

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CHUD sees both sides to the Wallace argument:

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I wouldn't call Seneca Wallace overrated. He is what everyone says he is; a mediocre back-up. That being said, he is probably the closest thing to overrated the Browns have in the fans' eyes..

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BIG BUBS agreed with both selections, however:

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Yes, Wallace needs to go. Browns should keep McCoy as he has more upside than Wallace. Looking forward for Norwood to step up too.

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Baltimore Ravens fans were the most upset with my selections. I named quarterback Joe Flacco as the team's most overrated player and nose tackle Haloti Ngata as their most underrated.

Ahmad Rashad (who, I might add, is not a native Ravens fan) said:

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I have disagree with all of these. I think the clearest underrated Raven is LaDarius Webb. He's a shut down CB that doesn't get the attention he deserves. I don't like Flacco, but I don't think he's overrated either. I think he's given a fair amount of credit.

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Justin Altman made a suggestion that was echoed by many commenters:

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Most overrated would have to be Anquan Boldin. We brought him in to be a number one receiver, but he is clearly not that. I realize our WR core hasn't been great in recent years (although it is getting better), Anquan hasn't had even close to the production that he had with Arizona and of course, Larry Fitzgerald on the other side of the field.

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Cincinnati Bengals fans also spoke their minds about the same piece I did on their team. Ryan Nolan suggests that linebacker Rey Maualuga is the team's most overrated player:

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Maualuga is more overrated than Tate in my mind. I don't think a whole lot was ever expected of Tate and so even with average (at best) return numbers and untried receiver ability, he still is fine. Maualuga is supposed to be the Ray Lewis of this defense, dominating the middle and leading the team. He's had off-field problems and hasn't really been all that impressive on defense. Really hoping Burfict turns out to be "that dude."

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So how did Ravens fans feel about the team finally giving a contract to Ray Rice? I thought it was the only right decision to be made, and apparently so did 91.6 percent of those who responded to the poll regarding the deal. Only 2.9 percent of responders thought the five-year, $40 million deal was too expensive.

What really divided Steelers fans this week was my article discussing whether the team could part ways with linebacker James Harrison after the 2012 season.

Winston Hicks says [sic'd]:

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Releasing harrison would be one of the dumbest things the steelers could do. He didnt crack the starting lineup til 2006 so his 34 year old body hasnt taken that much of a beating.

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Christopher Carter added:

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If we see a performance drop this year, then MAYBE you can think about it. But otherwise, forget about it.

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B Squirley brought up a good point:

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They can't cut him unless someone proves they can come even close to replacing him. Worlids or Carter would have to have a solid year first to show they could start.

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And so did Tom Leonard:

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Anyone who has followed the Steelers for a longtime knows that they pay big $$ to big time productive players, players on the decline who wont take restructured deals are let go. They let go of Joey Porter, one of the best OLB's in team history, they let go of all time team sack leader Jason Gildon, LeVon Kirkland, maybe the best MLB they ever had not named Lambert was released, all great guys, super productive players, all on a downhill slide and not wanting a restructure. Remember, this team told Bettis slash your pay or leave... I love Harrison as a player, as a complete OLB he's one of the best the team ever had, but without a major upswing in performance (similair [sic] to what Farrior did in 2010 when his job was on the line after a mediocre 09 season) with that cap number, he probably should leave.

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Finally, sticking with the Steelers, the team re-signed offensive tackle Max Starks earlier this week and didn't waste any time cutting disappointing tackle Jonathan Scott as a result, freeing up enough cash to make a viable contract offer to holdout receiver Mike Wallace.

Reaction, as you can imagine, was overwhelmingly positive. Mark Lohn said of the Starks addition:

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Great news Steeler Nation. The OL has gone from being a weak link on this team to possibly being one of the strongest.

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Ahmad Rashad returned to echo the sentiment of practically every Steelers fan upon hearing of the Starks re-signing:

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As long as Scott is far away from Pittsburgh as possible, I don't care what role Starks plays this year.

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For the AFC North this week, it looks like two important wishes came true: the Ravens paid Rice what he's worth and the Steelers found a way to get Scott out of their locker room, hopefully for good.

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