PITTSBURGH — With the logjam in the AFC North division, the Pittsburgh Steelers have a chance to take control over these next five games to close the regular season, three of them at home starting with the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.

While the Saints are 4-7, they are actually tied for the NFC South lead and that may be a good thing for the Steelers, who have played down against many of their weaker opponents and played well against the better ones. The Steelers have an additional advantage this Sunday, coming off their bye week while New Orleans lost at home Monday night.

It is an unusual situation in the AFC North, where all four teams are at least three games over .500 with three tied at 7-4 behind first place Cincinnati at 7-3-1. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said he spent a brief moment in the bye week considering what lies ahead.

“All we have to focus on is the stadium that we’re in because we’re in the thick of that,” Tomlin said. “If we do what we need to do on a week-in and week-out basis in terms of our business in our stadium then it’s not going to be required that we look around. We play some significant people moving forward, New Orleans being the most significant because that’s who we play this week. They’re in the thick of things in their division race.”

The Steelers will get back two of their longtime standouts on defense, safety Troy Polamalu and cornerback Ike Taylor. Polamalu missed the past two games with a knee sprain and Taylor hasn’t played since he broke his right forearm in the third game of the season.

Neither defensive back is at the top of his game, but their knowledge could help a defense that has been a patchwork since the get-go and has changed throughout after losing five starters to injuries.

“Troy and Ike have a decade of experience of playing in our defensive system,” Tomlin said. “Sometimes it’s just a matter of them getting healthy and getting back out there and playing.”

That shaky defense will have to stop Drew Brees and the NFL’s eighth-best running game. Pittsburgh has only the 16th-best pass defense and the Steelers again have not generated a lot of pressure on quarterbacks with only 20 sacks, which ranks 25th in the league in a category they once dominated. They already have allowed 263 points, putting them in the lower half of the league, and that compares to what they allowed in their most recent playoff season of 2011 – just 227 in total.

Starting with the Saints, four of the Steelers’ next five opponents (including Cincinnati twice) are among the top 10 rushing teams in the NFL.

“It’s going to determine a lot about this team,” defensive end Cam Heyward said. “A lot of these teams do a good job of running the ball. That was our Achilles heel at the beginning of the season and we’re trying to correct that now. Why not make the changes and get it done in a big way?”

SERIES HISTORY: 15th meeting, series is tied 7-7. The Steelers have a 3-2 lead in Pittsburgh, where they beat the Saints in their only previous Heinz Field visit, 38-31, in 2006, Bill Cowher’s last year as head coach. The Saints won, 20-10, in their most recent game, in New Orleans in 2010, but rebounded to play in the Super Bowl. The series began in 1967.

INJURY REPORT:

— WR Martavis Bryant did not practice on Wednesday because he was sick. He is expected to return and play on Sunday.

— OT Marcus Gilbert (ankle) was limited in practice Wednesday with a previously unreported injury. He had severe ankle problems during his first two seasons with the Steelers.

— NT Steve McLendon (shoulder) was limited in practice Wednesday. He has missed the past two games and his status will be determined later in the week.

— CB Cortez Allen went through a full practice Wednesday, nine days after he had a pin inserted in a broken thumb. He is no longer among the Steelers’ top four cornerbacks.

— LB Ryan Shazier (ankle), who has missed six of the past eight games with separate injuries, went through a full practice on Wednesday for the first time since his second injury Nov. 2.

— CB Ike Taylor (broken right forearm) went through another full practice and is expected to play for the first time since his injury occurred in the third game.

— S Shamarko Thomas (hamstring) went through a full practice. He has missed five of the past six games with separate hamstring injuries.