Pittsburgh Steelers (3-2, 1-1 AFC North) @ Cleveland Browns (2-2, 0-2 AFC North)
When/Where: 1:00 pm EST – FirstEnergy Stadium – Cleveland, OH
Weather: 58 degrees, Cloudy
TV: CBS – Greg Gumbel, Trent Green
Week 6 Injury Report/Inactives:
PIT:
OUT – LB Ryan Shazier, CB Ike Taylor, S Shamarko Thomas
INACTIVE – QB Landry Jones, WR Martavis Bryant, G Chris Hubbard, DT Daniel McCullers
CLE:
OUT – RB Terrance West, DT Phil Taylor, DL Ahtyba Rubin, DL Billy Winn
INACTIVE – WR Rodney Smith, TE Gerrell Robinson, CB Pierre Desir
Pre-Game Buzz:
Cleveland is a respectable 2-2 but, more importantly, 0-2 in the AFC North. Falling to 0-3 and still with two games against the current division-leading Cincinnati Bengals would not be good for this squad, so expect them to be playing with some level of desperation. Pittsburgh can improve to 4-2 and 2-1 in the division, as well as 3-1 on the road with three straight home games coming on the schedule.
The Browns defense is very banged up, as you can see above on their injury/inactive report. Pittsburgh must establish the thunder-lightning running game of LeGarrette Blount and Le’Veon Bell, while mixing in an air assault with Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Heath Miller. Joe Haden and Paul Kruger are active, but Phil Taylor will not play.
A quick roster note, from yesterday: Pittsburgh added Chartiers Valley alum Ross Ventrone, a safety and special teams player, from the practice squad. This is due to the absence of Shamarko Thomas, who is out due to injury. To make room for Ventrone, offensive lineman and fifth-round draft pick Wesley Johnson was waived. If he clears waivers, the team is likely to sign him to the practice squad. Johnson had been made inactive every week this season.
