The division changed its name, but not its philosophy. Whether it's called the AFC Central or AFC North, the thought is the same -- Go for it.

From Jacksonville to Tennessee to Baltimore to now Pittsburgh, the team that enters the season believing it can win it all tries to spend as much as it can. Since 1999, the AFC's top seed has come from this division. Top seeds clinch home field through the playoffs. Why not go for it?

	Pittsburgh resigned a few parts to keep The Bus, Jerome Bettis, running smooth.

That's the feeling of the Steelers, who lost their championship game in Heinz Field to the Patriots. With a new stadium and a good team that should have longevity as a playoff contender, owner Dan Rooney felt he owed it to the loyal fans and to the city that built this new stadium to put new revenue back into the roster in hopes of being the AFC North's top dog for the next four years.

Over the past 20 months, the Steelers have spent more than $63 million on signing bonus on 22 players. The plan is to keep this team together for four seasons. Just this week, the Steelers spent $8.65 million in signing bonuses on Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca, backup quarterback Tommy Maddox and backup halfback Amos Zereoue. The number will grow if the Steelers reach a long-term deal with defensive end Aaron Smith, another budding young star on the team.

"We don't think we oversigned anyone," Steelers director of operations Kevin Colbert said. "For the cap, we're in good shape this year and next year. We're taking a major shot at it. We're spending money on our own players as opposed to going outside to spend on players. We told the people in this town that the new stadium will provide the revenue for our players and it has."

That's a far cry from 1993 through 2000 when the Steelers lost 38 free agents, almost five per year. But any kind of spending spree comes with consequences. No one beats the salary cap because it's dollar for dollar spending that counts. Eventually, the team with the open check book goes directly to cap hell. It happened to the Jaguars, who moved to the AFC South. The Titans, who also moved out of the division, had a thin roster because of the cap and suffered when hit hard by injuries last year.

And then there's the Ravens, who added Elvis Grbac and Leon Searcy last year in hopes of winning their second Super Bowl last year. But after a 10-6 season, including a loss to Pittsburgh in the playoffs, they gutted their roster.

	“	Pittsburgh's using its new stadium money to put into the team, but I hope they get a Super Bowl to go along with their spending. We knew we had a time to take our shot and we did. ”
		— Baltimore VP Ozzie Newsome

"We don't think we will have the cap problems of some teams because the deals were structured so that the players should be with us through their contract," Colbert said.

It's the unknown, though, that rips apart any kind of long-term cap spending. If any of those 22 players suffers a premature ending to their careers, the salary cap time bomb begins ticking. By keeping the signing bonuses to $6 million or less per player, the Steelers feel that they can easily get into the third and fourth years of those deals because the players are young and just entering the primes of their career.

Still, you can't say enough about the cap because in this division, it's all about the cap.

"Pittsburgh's using its new stadium money to put into the team, but I hope they get a Super Bowl to go along with their spending," Ravens vice president Ozzie Newsome said. "We knew we had a time to take our shot and we did."

At the very least, the Steelers should stay at the top of the division for the next two seasons unless the Cleveland Browns surpass them or the Cincinnati Bengals defy odds and put everything together for a playoff season. As for the Ravens, the league's 2000 Super Bowl winners:

"Nobody knows how good we are," Newsome said. "We're going to have a lot of young players."

Browns coach Butch Davis put new fire into an expansion franchise that wasn't getting better as quickly as ownership wanted. This is Year Four and the Browns believe they are ready to challenge the Steelers for the division.

Davis tweaked the defense, focusing on the the front seven and creating more turnovers. He's added former Steeler Earl Holmes at linebacker, Robert Griffith at safety and Kenard Lang at defensive end. These moves should help the Browns better handle the Steelers' running offense, and, after all, the Steelers know they need to ride The Bus (Jerome Bettis) to success.

Where Davis will be judged is how much he has improved the offense. He's tried. For whatever reason, the Browns built their franchise around quarterback Tim Couch but failed to surround him with a good offensive supporting cast. Davis made the biggest commitment yet to help him by drafting halfback William Green in the first round and adding Ryan Tucker and Barry Stokes on the offensive line.

For too many years, Browns fans and Couch were subjected to games in which they'd have 50 plays on offense and 75 on defense.

It can be argued that the best young team in the division is the Bengals, but this is a franchise stuck in neutral. They do have young stars such as Corey Dillon, Takeo Spikes, Brian Simmons, Justin Smith and Peter Warrick. What they lack is a plan to get them better. Maybe they should follow some of the models in the division.

Bengals coaches wanted ownership to "Go For It." Add tight end Jeremy Shockey to the offense and watch the excitement. Instead, the Bengals drafted left tackle Levi Jones, who may or may not start this year. Veteran Richmond Webb handled the job decently last year.

And you can't say that the Bengals went crazy in free agency. They spent only $1.75 million on three players, including quarterback Gus Frerotte and cornerback Jeff Burris. At least Bengals fans can never say that the team will enter cap hell.

That said, though, this is a critical year for this franchise. Spikes and Simmons are free agents next year. If ownership can't take care of these core players, the Bengals won't be a factor for years.

Ravens fans have to be patient because the push for a second Super Bowl ring forced the team to be ripped apart. Until long term contract extensions are reached for linebackers Peter Boulware and Ray Lewis, the Ravens can't add much to their thin roster.

They went through the offseason with a skelton crew of 35 players from last year's team. Once they saw backup halfback Jason Brookins show up at minicamp weighing more than 250 pounds, they cut him. Expect between 25 and 30 new players on this team.

While that may not excite the Ravens fans, they can revel in the fact that they had their Super Bowl run. The Ravens went for it and won one. They tried the next year. Going for it is the motto in the AFC North. Maybe one day, the Bengals will catch on, too.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.