(My Sportsbook) - Watch out AFC North residents, these Cincinnati Bengals have claws.

What was once dismissed as a string of good luck and positive fortune can now only be looked at as what it is -- a winning streak by a pretty good team.

At 4-1, the Bengals are the early-season division leaders thanks to three wins over their fellow residents. That three-game string could have buried Cincinnati early. Instead, it has put the team in the driver's seat.

But are the Bengals for real? Their 23-20 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 3, a win that saw quarterback Carson Palmer complete a game-winning touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell with 14 seconds to go, could have been looked at as a fluke, a hard-earned but non-defining victory over a team with a Super Bowl hangover.

Then came the following week, when Cincinnati needed overtime to best the lowly Cleveland Browns, 23-20. It was a win that came with the word "escaped" attached to it.

Surely, these Bengals stood no chance versus the powerful Baltimore Ravens this past Sunday. But one 17-14 road victory later, and Cincinnati has finally captured the league's attention.

The script was the same; Palmer to Caldwell for the game-winning score, this time with only 22 seconds left.

You would think a victory like that might go to Cincinnati's head, but the club knows it is a long season and nothing is won in October.

"This is a big win for us but it's still early," said Palmer, who threw for 271 yards with an interception that was returned for a touchdown. "We've got to play the Steelers and the Ravens again and I know they are going to be [ticked off] when we see them again. Those games are going to very tough."

Oh, those teams will be mad, but probably more cautious this time around as well.

While Palmer's game-winning score was the main highlight, there is also something to be said for the play of Cedric Benson. The running back slew the dragon, running for 120 yards and a score versus a Baltimore club that held him to 17 yards on 10 carries last year.

"It was huge. This team doesn't give up 100-yard rushers," said head coach Marvin Lewis, a former Ravens defensive coordinator. "Believe me, I know that. It's a tradition, and it's prideful. What our offensive group and Cedric did [Sunday] has been unmatched for a long time. It was a big game."

In fact, Benson became the first running back to amass 100 yards on the ground versus the Ravens since November 10, 2006.

And lets not forget the Cincinnati defense, the emotionally-drained unit that held the third-ranked offense in the league to just one touchdown and 257 yards. This just days after defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's wife, Vikki, passed away suddenly on Thursday night.

"Obviously, with what our guys have been through this week - coaches and players alike - it was a great tribute to Mike Zimmer and his family," said Lewis. "It's just awesome. I don't know how it could be any better for that."

Now the Bengals must avoid the letdown that comes in the form of this Sunday's home test against the 2-3 Houston Texans.

STEELERS: It took a trip to Detroit to remind the Pittsburgh Steelers that they were defending Super Bowl champions.

While Pittsburgh's sixth and latest championship didn't come in Motown -- it beat Arizona in Tampa to conclude the 2008 season -- Ford Field was the hosting venue when the Steelers knocked off the Seattle Seahawks in February of 2006 to earn "one for the thumb."

But these present Steelers landed in the Motor City last Sunday just 2-2, having suffered back-to-back road losses to Chicago and Cincinnati before a home victory over San Diego the previous weekend.

And though the Lions gave them a scare, the Steelers were able to pick up their first road win of this season after downing Detroit by a 28-20 score in front of a largely pro-Pittsburgh crowd.

"Playing in the Super Bowl here brought back a lot of memories," said wide receiver Hines Ward, who caught one of three Ben Roethlisberger touchdown passes on the day. "We had just as many fans [on Sunday] as we did back then, so that's what we love about playing for this organization. They're the best fans in all of football and wherever we go they show their support."

Ward hauled in a 43-yard touchdown pass from then-Steeler Antwaan Randle El versus the Seahawks and made five catches for 123 yards to earn Super Bowl MVP honors.

"We're used to it," said Roethlisberger of the fan turnout. "These are our fans and they're the best in the world."

What's Roethlisberger not used to? Struggling. He had thrown four interceptions to five touchdown passes through the first four games before tossing a season-high three passing scores to one pick versus Detroit. He has also been helped by a revived running game behind Rashard Mendenhall, who has started the last two games with Willie Parker out due to an injured toe.

Still, while the Steelers improved to 3-2 to stay in the hunt in the division, Big Ben isn't pleased with how his offense is performing.

"I don't feel like I'm playing well," said Roethlisberger, who has thrown for 1,470 yards this year. "I'm disappointed in my performance [Sunday], even offensively I'm disappointed in the way we played."

Harsh words, considering Pittsburgh amassed 344 yards of offense versus Detroit and has totaled 66 points over the past two weekends.

The Steelers now return home for two straight, beginning with the Sunday's test with 1-4 Cleveland.

BROWNS: Eric Mangini finally got his first win as the Cleveland Browns' head coach, but that isn't going to make the questions go away. Sunday's 6-3 win over the Buffalo Bills can hardly be looked at as a springboard to better things, but at the end of the day the Browns are still 1-4.

Cleveland looked to have gotten its offense on track two weekends ago versus Cincinnati. Derek Anderson, supplanting the ineffective Brady Quinn at the quarterback spot, threw for 269 yards with a touchdown pass in the overtime loss to the Bengals.

However, not only did Anderson take a few steps back versus the Bills, but he might have helped put football itself back a couple of years. His final numbers were dreadful -- 2-of-17 passing for 23 yards and an interception. Mangini did say on Monday, though, that Anderson will continue to start.

Anderson's two completions were the fewest for a victorious quarterback since 2000, when the Bengals' Akili Smith was 2-for-9 passing for 34 yards. However, Corey Dillon ran for 278 yards in that contest, then an NFL record.

Much like Dillon, Jamal Lewis carried his club on Sunday. Returning from a two-week layoff because of a hamstring injury, the 30-year-old carried the ball 31 times thanks to heavy winds and totaled 117 yards.

"This is a lot better feeling up here today," Mangini said to start his post- game press conference. "I knew this was going to be a game where we had to run the football a lot. The wind was even more of a factor as the game went on. I thought we did it well."

The Browns also won with special teams. Punter Dave Zastudil landed three kicks inside the Buffalo five-yard line and backup kicker Billy Cundiff connected on two field goals, including the game-winner with 23 seconds left. Mangini refused to call the game ugly, though.

"The way it turned out, I thought it was beautiful," he said.

But things aren't turning around for the Browns just yet. They take on 3-2 Pittsburgh this Sunday and do so with one of the worst offenses in the league.

And Mangini will also be answering questions all week about a report by ESPN's Adam Schefter that broke on Sunday. Schefter stated that rookie running back James Davis -- on injured reserve due to a shoulder injury -- was hurt in a drill after practice in which the padless player was hit by a linebacker that was wearing pads.

Schefter cited two witnesses to the incident in the report.

Mangini said after Sunday's game that he wasn't going to talk about the incident before adding that the Browns had talked to the league about it. He also refused to go into detail about the incident at his Monday press conference as well.

"I like James Davis a lot," Mangini said. "The last thing I'd want to do is ever put him in a position, or anybody in a position, where they could get hurt. I talked to a lot of people involved in it. Like I said, we're going to keep working with the league on it. I feel comfortable with where we're at."

RAVENS: Offenses know that they need to keep their heads on a swivel when they face the Baltimore Ravens' high-energy defense. However, in Sunday's 17-14 loss to the Bengals, the Ravens' defenders were their own worst enemies.

It started innocently enough. With the Ravens holding a 14-10 edge, the Bengals took over at their own 20-yard line with 2:15 to go. On the first play of Cincinnati's drive, corner Chris Carr was called for illegal contact. It was a seemingly harmless five-yard penalty, but served as a sign of things to come.

The Bengals moved the ball both on the ground and through the air to get to midfield, where quarterback Carson Palmer threw a pass Chad Ochocinco's way. Baltimore's emotional leader, Ray Lewis, then let his mojo get the best of him. He put a hit on Ochocinco as the ball came his way, and the Cincinnati wideout's helmet went flying.

So did the flags, as officials levied a 15-yard unnecessary roughness call on Lewis.

Four plays later, the Bengals were facing a 3rd-and-16 and Palmer again went Ochocinco's way. The pass was incomplete, but corner Frank Walker got there a little early. He was called for pass interference (though the penalty was credited to Ed Reed) and the Bengals had new life.

Palmer hit Andre Caldwell for a 20-yard score and the Ravens fell to 3-2, one game back of the now first-place Bengals.

Head coach John Harbaugh wouldn't blame the officials afterwards.

"I'm not thinking about it," he said after the game. "I just think we have to play better. The idea is to play so well that those things become irrelevant. That's what you have to do in this league, and we didn't do that today."

And that is what the Ravens should take from this game. The league's third- ranked offense coming in, Baltimore posted a season-low 14 points and had just 257 yards of offense. They also managed just one touchdown, with the other score coming on a Reed 52-yard pick-six.

It was the sixth interception return for a touchdown in Reed's storied career -- a team record -- and the 12th regular-season touchdown of his tenure overall. Unfortunately, the last-minute loss ruined the moment for the standout safety.

"It means nothing if you lose at the end of the day," he said. "When you lose, everything else is out the window. Individual stuff doesn't matter at the end of the day -- for me anyway -- at this point of my career. You're just trying to win, man."

Thanks to the offensive struggles for Baltimore, Cincinnati held the ball for 34 minutes and 19 seconds, perhaps working fatigue into the mix for the Ravens defense. How else could you explain Bengals' running back Cedric Benson rushing for over 100 yards, the first enemy back to do so versus Baltimore since October 22, 2006? That broke Baltimore's string of 39 straight games without allowing a 100-yard rusher, an NFL record.

The schedule does no favors for reeling Baltimore, which has now lost two straight games. The Ravens must now prepare for a road game in Minnesota this weekend against the 5-0 Vikings.

"We feel like we prepare just as well, and even better than everybody, so we need to make sure that we stay steady and continue to do what we've been doing all season," said quarterback Joe Flacco. "We'll go up there [to Minnesota], and we'll come ready to play next Sunday."