ESPN's James Walker's Best of the AFC North

Last night on ESPN, they put up a poll asking viewers to text in their votes for the best rivalry in the NFL. Although it proved to be an overwhelming victory for the Baltimore Ravens vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers, I can barely remember the other pairs of teams listed (Patriots/Jets, Cowboys/Redskins, Packers/Bears). I even had to text in my vote for the home team and last I saw, our AFC North rivalry had twice the votes of their nearest competitor.

Based on the closeness of the games over the past three years at least, there should be no question about the best rivalry in the NFL right now. History might lean towards the NFC pairs listed, but all of the other rivalries have had blowout games as recently as 2010 while everyone knows the Ravens-Steelers slug-fest will always be close until the games final moments.

In Walker's AFC North Blog, he also rates the Ravens team facility ("The Castle") and their local tailgating as the best in the division. Did you know that the Cincinnati Bengals practice in their stadium and do not even have an indoor practice facility at all? Walker give the Steelers' fans the nod in the best fan base and also easily ranks the Bengals as having the biggest QB controversy in the division. Lucky them.