The Baltimore Ravens beat the Atlanta Falcons 30-23 on Sunday Night Football on October 11 and stand at 4-1, the best record in the AFC North, according to NFL.com. Next up is a Sunday, October 18 game at the Cleveland Browns, who are 3-2.
Here is a plain-numbers look at where the Ravens and their division rivals stand, what the record does and does not say, and what Baltimore fans can watch for in Week 6.
What happened in Week 5?
The Ravens closed out Week 5 with the Sunday night game, a 30-23 victory over the Falcons, according to NFL.com’s Week 5 schedule page. The win extended their winning streak to three games, per the league’s standings page.
Around the division, the Browns lost 17-12 to the Jets, the Steelers beat the Colts 34-22, and the Bengals beat the Dolphins 31-24, all on Sunday, October 11, according to NFL.com.
Where does the AFC North stand?
As shown on the NFL.com standings page when it was checked on October 13, the division looks like this:
| Team | Record | Win pct. | Points for-against | Net | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baltimore Ravens | 4-1 | .800 | 146-119 | +27 | 3 wins |
| Cleveland Browns | 3-2 | .600 | 93-112 | -19 | 1 loss |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 3-2 | .600 | 111-109 | +2 | 1 win |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 3-2 | .600 | 128-109 | +19 | 1 win |
The Ravens hold a one-game lead over the three other teams, all tied at 3-2. Records change every week, so treat the table as a snapshot as of October 13, 2026.
What do the Ravens’ numbers show?
NFL.com’s standings page breaks the Ravens’ 4-1 record into several splits:
- 1-1 at home and 3-0 on the road
- 2-0 against AFC opponents and 2-1 against non-conference teams
- 4-1 over their last five games, which is every game they have played so far
The page does not list individual game scores or opponents for the earlier weeks, so those details are not covered here.
Worked example: points per game
Illustrative arithmetic from the standings figures shows how the Ravens have scored and allowed points:
- Points scored: 146 across five games is 146 ÷ 5 = 29.2 per game.
- Points allowed: 119 across five games is 119 ÷ 5 = 23.8 per game.
- Net: 146 − 119 = +27, which matches the net figure on the page.
The Ravens are outscoring opponents by an average of about 5.4 points a game (29.2 − 23.8). Their offense is doing the heavy lifting, since allowing nearly 24 points a game is not a typical profile for a division leader. Five games is a small sample, and averages this early can move quickly.
How did the division’s teams get to this point?
The standings reveal different kinds of 3-2 teams. Cincinnati has outscored opponents 128-109, a net of +19 (128 − 109 = 19), which suggests a team whose record may understate its play so far. Pittsburgh is nearly even at 111-109, a net of +2. Cleveland is the outlier on the other side: its 93-112 mark is a net of −19 (93 − 112 = −19), the weakest point differential in the division despite the matching record.
Point differential is only a rough guide, because close games are decided by a handful of plays. Still, it is a useful check on whether a record looks sturdy. Baltimore’s +27 is the best in the group, and its 4-1 record is backed by the scoring margin rather than carried by it.
Here is how each team’s average scoring looks over five games, using the same illustrative arithmetic:
| Team | Points for per game | Points against per game |
|---|---|---|
| Ravens | 29.2 | 23.8 |
| Browns | 18.6 | 22.4 |
| Steelers | 22.2 | 21.8 |
| Bengals | 25.6 | 21.8 |
Each figure is the season total divided by five games played, so the Browns’ 93 points scored works out to 18.6 per game. Cleveland’s offense is scoring roughly ten fewer points a game than Baltimore’s (29.2 − 18.6 = 10.6), the largest gap in the division.
Who is on a bye, and who plays whom in Week 6?
The Ravens play in the early Sunday window. According to the NFL’s Week 6 schedule page:
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Game | Ravens at Browns |
| Date | Sunday, October 18, 2026 |
| Kickoff | 1:00 p.m. |
| Broadcast | FOX |
| Venue | Huntington Bank Field |
Elsewhere in the division, the Steelers travel to play the Buccaneers on Sunday, also at 1:00 p.m. on CBS. The Bengals are on a bye in Week 6, along with the Lions, Dolphins and Vikings.
Why does the Cleveland game matter in the division race?
Division games count twice in a sense: they add to a team’s overall record, and they also feed the tiebreakers used if teams finish level. The Browns are one game behind Baltimore. If the Ravens win, they would move to 5-1 and the Browns would fall to 3-3. If Cleveland wins, both teams would stand at 4-2 in the win-loss column.
That is simple record arithmetic, not a forecast. Each of the Steelers, Bengals and Browns is 3-2, so the gap behind Baltimore is narrow, and a single weekend can reshuffle the order below the Ravens.
The Browns come into the game having lost to the Jets by five points, according to NFL.com, and the Ravens are 3-0 away from home so far this season.
How can fans get to games in Baltimore?
The Ravens’ next home date is not covered in the pages reviewed here, but the practical guides on this site apply whenever the team is at home. Our M&T Bank Stadium and Ravens guide covers the venue, and the guide to getting around Baltimore by Light RailLink, Metro and MARC explains transit options.
For baseball fans, the history of Oriole Park at Camden Yards tells the story of the other Baltimore venue that changed how stadiums are built.
What is happening with the Orioles in the offseason?
The Orioles’ season is over, and the team’s official MLB.com page shows an offseason schedule of items. Dated entries as of October 12 include:
- September 28: the club held its 2026 end-of-season press conference, where Elias and Albernaz discussed the season.
- September 20: Enrique Bradfield Jr. set the Orioles organization’s Triple-A stolen base record.
- October 6 to October 12: coverage of prospects in the Arizona Fall League, including Vance Honeycutt, Patrick Reilly and Ike Irish, who is listed as the club’s No. 5 prospect.
The page also links to the 2027 regular-season schedule, a piece on Colton Cowser’s outlook for 2027 and an article on five questions facing the Orioles this offseason. The page does not display the club’s final 2026 record, so it is not given here.
What to watch on Sunday
The Ravens go to Cleveland as the division’s only team above .600, with a three-game winning streak and a perfect road record. A win would stretch their lead over Cleveland to two full games. A loss would bring the Browns level at 4-2 and tighten a division in which three teams already sit at 3-2.
Standings and schedules are updated by the league through the week, so check NFL.com for the latest before kickoff.
This article is general sports information based on published league pages as of October 13, 2026. Records and schedules are subject to change.
Sources: NFL.com; MLB.com
