Even though the opponent was the winless Cleveland Browns (0-11), the Pittsburgh Steelers (5-5) can still take some satisfaction from a much-needed win, 24-9, Sunday afternoon on the road at FirstEnergy Stadium. Pittsburgh is now 30-6 against the Browns since 1999.
The win snapped the Steelers’ four-game losing streak and moved them back to the top of the AFC North standings, where they’re now tied with the Baltimore Ravens.
In the win, Pittsburgh still looked far from perfect, especially in the secondary — Cleveland went five-for-five on fourth-down conversions, and the Browns’ receivers had 246 yards on 21 receptions, including catches for 36, 22, 20, 16 and 14 yards.
But the game represented progress. And, after four straight losses, a win is a win.
The Steelers linebacking corps, a maligned group in recent weeks for its seeming inability to get much pressure on opposing quarterbacks, led a charge that produced eight sacks, Pittsburgh’s highest single-game total since 2005, also against the Browns. James Harrison, with one sack, became the organization’s all-time sack leader (77.5), beating out former leader Jason Gildon by half a sack.
Fellow linebacker Ryan Shazier was everywhere in the win, leading Pittsburgh’s defense with six solo tackles — he also had a sack, defended a pass and forced a fumble in the fourth quarter that resulted in a touchdown and put the game out of reach for the Browns. Linebacker Lawrence Timmons (five solo tackles, three assisted tackles and one sack) and defensive end Stephon Tuitt (four tackles, two assisted tackles and two-and-a-half sacks) also had standout games.
On the other side of the ball, Pittsburgh’s offense was geared around three guys: quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown, all of whom had very good games and were essentially the team’s only offense.
Roethlisberger finished 23-of-36 for 167 yards on a windy, difficult day, Bell had 28 carries for 146 yards and a touchdown (he was also 8-for-55 yards as a receiver), and Brown had eight catches for 76 yards — including a pass for 21 yards. Brown became the fastest player in NFL history to reach 600 receptions (it was his 96th career game).
But the rest of the offense was essentially nonexistent. Outside of Bell and Brown, Pittsburgh had just 36 yards. Wide receivers Eli Rogers caught four passes for 20 yards, Cobi Hamilton had two catches for 11 yards, and tight end Jesse James had just one catch for five yards.
There was no Sammie Coates, no Ladarius Green.
While the game plan worked against Cleveland, the Steelers will certainly need to figure things out and get more guys involved against tougher competition.
The Steelers’ redzone offense struggled, and Pittsburgh let the game stay close for much of the first half. After starting at its own four-yard line because of an Artie Burns interception of Cleveland quarterback Cody Kessler, Pittsburgh mounted a long drive, but the result was merely that Chris Boswell kicked a 32-yard field goal. Boswell trotted out there again to kick a 33-yard field goal (after the Steelers successfully went for it on fourth-and-three to get within range).
At the end of the half, it looked like Pittsburgh might settle for another field goal, which would have meant being up only 9-0 despite totally dominating the time of possession. But the Steelers wanted that touchdown, and penalties on the Browns kept the drive alive.
With time expiring, Roethlisberger didn’t get the ball off quickly enough, and the clock showed 00:00. But a pass interference penalty on the Browns gave the Steelers life because a quarter can’t end on a defensive penalty.
So Roethlisberger handed the ball off to Bell (the plan had been designed as a pass before Roethlisberger told offensive coordinator Todd Haley that “the boys up front want to run it”). Bell scored easily. Pittsburgh then successfully found fullback David Johnson for the two-point conversion to make it a 14-0 lead.
The Browns kicked a field goal in the third quarter before the Steelers answered back with a field goal of their own.
Then, in the fourth quarter, quarterback Josh McCown (in for the injured Kessler, who left the game with a concussion) found Gary Barnidge for a 14-yard touchdown, but Browns kicker Cody Parkey missed the extra point.
Pittsburgh put more points on the board with Shazier’s forced fumble that Javon Hargrave returned for a touchdown.
Game over.
The Steelers also found themselves in a good position in the AFC North with the win, because the division-leading Ravens (5-5) lost to the Dallas Cowboys, and the Cincinnati Bengals (3-6-1) lost to the Buffalo Bills. Baltimore currently holds the tiebreak in the division because of its head-to-head win over Pittsburgh, but the Steelers and Ravens will face each other in Week 16 on Christmas Day.
Image credit: Ron Schwane/AP
