Pittsburgh Steelers at Cleveland Browns Game Thread
The Cleveland Browns got a win against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday and look to get a second in a week as they host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night. The Steelers are coming off four wins in a low, largely fueled by a defense that has been as good as any team in the league causing turnovers.
The addition of Minkah Fitzpatrick has fundamentally changed their secondary, making the entire unit better. Fitzpatrick is an omnipresent threat to cause takeaways and make plays in general while players like Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt attack the quarterback.
The Browns, particularly Baker Mayfield, have been far better protecting the ball the last few weeks. Mayfield has one interception since the bye and is playing far better in terms of efficiency and simply looking like himself.
Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt could fuel the Browns rushing offense again this week. It won't be easy for the Steelers to be fully prepared for those two back sets and the various permutations they have with them, including motioning Hunt out to catch passes in the flats. An effective running game could fuel playaction and allow the Browns to dictate matchups on their receivers, open up some big play opportunities.
Defensively, eyes will be on Chad Thomas once again starting at left end with Olivier Vernon out with a knee sprain. Last week was a poor outing for Thomas and it enabled the Bills to shift their pass protection to put more resources into stopping Myles Garrett.
With second year quarterback Mason Rudolph still in his quarterback infancy, stopping James Conner and putting Rudolph in obvious passing situations. That could generate turnovers and give the Browns defense a short field.
Everything about this game and the relative struggles of the two offenses suggests the team who can score at least 20 will win the game.
First Quarter
The Browns won the coin toss, have deferred. The Steelers will start this game with the ball.
Austin Seibert kicks it inside the five and the Steelers return it out to the 22-yard line.
The Steelers start the game in a tight formation with a tight end and wing to the left, trying to run outside to the left. Greedy Williams came up and took James Conner down in the backfield for a loss of 1.
They follow that up with a run up the middle, which gets stopped after only a yard with a pile of Browns pushing him backward.
On 3rd-and-10, the Steelers come out with three receivers, two to the right and Morgan Burnett misses on a blitz from the blind side, but Rudolph rolled to his left and ultimately just chucked it out of bounds, forcing a punt.
The Steelers punt the ball 54 yards and Dontrell Hilliard gets a decent return. Steelers pass rusher Ola Adeniyi is down on the field and has barely moved since the play ended.
The Browns attempt to run playaction with a fake toss and a hitch to the right, but the pass is deflected and ends up in the hands of Wyatt Teller, the right guard, who gets tackled for a loss of 5.
The Browns throw a quick pass to the slot to gain 7.
On 3rd-and-8, Mayfield drops back and buy time with some ill advised movement in the pocket that works out and after rolling right, he finds Kareem Hunt on an over the shoulder catch through a defender for the 1st down.
1st-and-10, Mayfield drops back, throws a pass down the left seam to Odell Beckham for a Browns touchdown. Beckham attacked at Steven Nelson, then cut inside and Nelson struggled to make the turn, allowing Beckham to past him with inside leverage. No one was in the middle of the field, enabling the gain.
Beckham may have been short of the end zone on replay. They're ruling him down at the 1.
From the 1 with two tight ends to the left, Mayfield takes the ball to left guard and ultimately gets shoved in by his teammates, particularly Nick Chubb, for the touchdown. Seibert adds the extra point to make it 7-0.
Seibert kicks off again inside the 5 and the Browns are able to get the stop before the Steelers can get to the 25.
Steelers come out with twins left and Rudolph hits Juju Smith-Schuster on a quick slant from the inside spot and he runs across the field for a first down.
New set of downs, Rudolph takes a low snap and then turns to his right, misfiring on a pass to the flat attempting to get the ball to James Conner. It falls incomplete.
Steelers come out in double tight and Rudolph finds Vance McDonald on the left for a gain of 4, but there is a flag on the play. They call holding on Alejandro Villanueva on Myles Garrett. Rare are circumstances where Garrett is actually the benefit of a holding call.
2nd-and-20, Rudolph hands off to Jalyn Samuels up the middle, who veers left and gains 8.
On 3rd-and-12, Rudolph goes over the top attempting to get the pass to James Washington. It falls incomplete but Denzel Ward appeared to grab Washington. There are two flags down on the play. Both on the defense and on both of their starting corners. Ward's pass interference is the one the Steelers will take.
The Steelers hand off to Conner, running left who is tackled by Myles Garrett after a solid gain of 7. Trying to go back to the run, the back meets Sheldon Richardson at the line of scrimmage, who plants him for no gain.
3rd-and-3, the Steelers go out of the gun. Joe Schobert comes off the edge on a blitz and runs the running back into Rudolph while he's throwing and the ball falls harmlessly incomplete.
The Steelers attempt a field goal from 44 by Chris Boswell, but the snap is bobbled by the holder and the kick goes wide and wobbly to the left.
Browns come out and hand the ball off to Nick Chubb up the middle who's able to gain enough yards for the first down, movng the Browns to their own 44.
The Browns go back to Chubb, trying to go left and he's hit in the backfield for a loss of 1.
On 2nd-and-11, the Browns try to go with a quick screen to Beckham, but Greg Robison is unable to get the corner on the block, who stops Beckham for no gain, setting up 3rd-and-long.
Mayfield drops back on 3rd-and-11, steps up avoiding pressure and gets the ball to Hunt on a checkdown to the left. Hunt breaks a tackle by Mark Barron and is able to fight to get the 1st down after they measure it. Huge play by Hunt after the catch.
The Browns opt for play action on 1st down. Mayfield is flushed to the right after stepping up in the pocket, but is forced to throw the ball away. So far, Mayfield has been able to neutralize a lot of T.J. Watt's efforts running up the field by stepping up in the pocket.
On 2nd-and-10, Mayfield goes with a now pass to Hunt in the slot, who gets 3.
On 3rd-and-7, Mayfield is cramped in the pocket, steps up and tries to make a throw to the sideline that is off target to the intended receiver KhaDarel Hodge. Watt was shaken up on the play, favoring his leg as he went off he field.
Jamie Gillan punts the ball, which lands on about the 5, but takes a bounce into the end zone. Hodge was down there, but couldn't locate the ball, so he had no chance to stop it from bouncing in the end zone. The net yardage on the punt ends up being dreadful as the Steelers will get it on the 20.
Browns have been in control so far in this game, but was a missed opportunity. The mediocre punt doesn't help.
From their own 20, the Steelers come out passing as Rudolph drops back and ends up checking it down to his right, which is good for a gain of 6.
2nd-and-4, Rudolph finds an easy hitch to his left as Greedy Williams is too far off to prevent it, enabling the Steelers to get a cheap first down. Ward was blitzing on the back side.
The Steelers drop back to pass again with Rudolph finding another check down, this time to his left for a gain of 5. Out of a tight bunch formation, Rudolph finds Diontae Johnson for a gain of 1 to the left.
Conner may be back, but they haven't run much to this point, opting for a ton of quick passes. On 3rd-and-1, they go playaction and Rudolph misses Diontae Johnson to his left as Mack Wilson is pressuring him off the left.
The Steelers punt the ball away on 4th-and-1. Hilliard makes a risky decision to return it as he catches the ball with a defender on top of him, but he's able to slip away from him before getting tackled after a few yards. Artie Burns came up limping despite not getting hit on the return.
Nick Chubb starts the drive with a carry going to his left for a gain of 6.
Watt is back in the game as the Browns try to go to a quick pass to the right toward a bunch formation, trying to hit Hunt on a bubble. Watt was unblocked and deflected the pass.
3rd-and-4, the Browns go with tight trips and Mayfield is unable to connect with Beckham on a drag route.
Gillan punts it away again and gets a big kick despite the fact the Steelers got pressure up the middle. The punt goes 59 and there isn't much of a return.
The first quarter ends with the Browns up 7-0. The Steelers offense hasn't gotten much traction while the Browns started out fast and have struggled their last few possessions.
Second Quarter
The Steelers open the second quarter with the ball, trying to get something going on offense.
2nd-and-7, Myles Garrett draws his second holding penalty on Villanueva who goes inside and drives him into Rudolph's left hip. He rolls out and throws it away.
2nd-and-17, Rudolph finds a short pass over the middle for 5, setting up 3rd-and-12.
Dropping back, Rudolph tries to go deep down the middle of the field. The receiver, Johnny Holton, ran a great route, able to get past Morgan Burnett, but Burnett was able to get a hand on the pass, knocking it away. Garrett had pressure on Rudolph.
Garrett is dominating Villanueva.
The Browns open on their 23-yard line, hand to Chubb, who gets nothing up the middle.
On a playaction with a bunch of window dressing, Mayfield fakes to the right to Hunt fooling a pas rusher, steps up in the pocket, finding KhaDarel Hodge deep down the field for a huge gain. Tremendous play by Mayfield.
The Steelers have challenged the play arguing Hodge was touched earlier. It saved them 18 yards as they won it.
From the Steelers' 36, the handoff goes to Chubb to the left, but he's stopped for a meager gain of 2.
The Browns go empty and find Jarvis Landry up the left seam for a nice gain. Ball was on the spot, in the hole and Landry makes a clean catch setting up 1st-and-goal. This is notable because empty has been a terrible look for the Browns this season.
From the 9, the Browns go to Chubb to the left, loses a yard. They go to Chubb to the right from the 10, are only able to gain 3.
3rd-and-goal from the 7, Mayfield drop back after motioning a receiver from the left sliding inside. Mayfield gets pressure, has a defender hanging on him as he throws the ball at Hodge to the right. Maybe not a great decision, but Joe Haden grabbed him for a defensive pass interference call.
From the 1, the Browns run a playaction sneaking Landry across the left, who is wide open for the easy touchdown as no one followed him. There was a flag, but it was on the defense. The Browns take a 13-0 lead.
Worth noting, the Browns stay spread out near the goal line after having zero success loading up the box last week. The two touchdowns they scored were in spread out formations as was this formation.
The emergence of Hodge this week is notable. He had seen some action the past two weeks, making the most of his opportunities so far in this one.
James Conner is in the locker room, questionable to return, after reportedly re-aggravating his shoulder injury.
The Steelers go with the playaction-slant mesh play the Browns have utilized a ton this season, but Rudolph missed high on the slant.
On 2nd-and-10, he hands off to Samuels while trying to sell it's another playaction. Samuels charges forward for a gain of 6.
Rudolph tried to throw to the left to Smith-Schuster, who took a hit from a few Browns, separating him from the ball. Chad Thomas was called for a personal foul, roughing the pass penalty after he hit Rudolph head to head. Juju Smith-Schuster is down on the play.
Smith-Schuster heads to the locker room after taking a hit to the head.
Rudolph drops back and finds Trey Edmunds to the left, who is able to get 8 yards. Garrett again with a pressure.
After an illegal formation penalty, Rudolph finds Nick Vannett to his left for a 7-yard gain before Mack Wilson knocks him out of bounds.
3rd-and-1, Morgan Burnett gets through to Edmunds legs and takes him down for a loss of 1.
On 4th-and-2, the Steelers go for it, run play action and with Larry Ogunjobi on him, Rudolph throws the ball out of bounds to his left. The Browns take over on downs after a pair of big plays from the defense.
The Browns have a chance to break this game wide open with the ball on their own 46 up 14-0.
Bunch left, Mayfield tries to hit Chubb on an arrow to the right, but it falls incomplete. On second down, Mayfield tries to go with a quick out to Beckham with a corner trying to undercut it. Beckham drops the ball, making it 3rd-and-10.
The Browns end up spending their first timeout.
Out of the timeout, Mayfield drops back and finds Landry to the left for 6 yards. Another missed opportunity with tremendous field possession, the Browns set up to the punt it away. Gillan tries for the coffin corner, barely misses it and ends up in for a touchback. They also had holding on Charley Hughlett, the longsnapper, which is unusual.
Trying for a swing to the left, Schobert blows up the play for a loss of 7.
On 2nd-and-17, Rudolph finds a receiver down the middle of the field who is just short of a first down. 3rd-and-1, Rudolph plows ahead behind his line to get a badly needed first down.
New set of downs, the Steelers try for a flea flicker and Ward ends up tipping the ball up in the air to an intercepting Morgan Burnett, who returns the ball deep into Steelers territory.
A very late throw on 3rd-and-7 going to the sideline had a chance to be intercepted if not for a Landry arm deflecting it.
Seibert sets up for a 45-yard field goal and ends up pushing it to the right, missing it. That's his first miss of the season.
Juju Smith-Schuster is out for the game with a concussion.
The Browns are totally dominating this game and only have a 14-0 lead to show for it as the Steelers take over and hand it off to Samuels for a short gain.
Rudolph finds McDonald on a Y cross who's able to get up the field for a nice gain. They follow that up with a 22-yard completion to Johnson to the left sideline. Morgan Burnett is down on the field. He's limping off after he went down without contact.
Dropping back to pass, the Browns overload the left side and Juston Burris gets to Rudolph and causes a fumble. Sheldon Richardson tries to scoop and score, missing it entirely allowing the Steelers to get it back, making it 2nd-and-24.
Rudolph goes back to pass again as Garrett drives Villanueva into his lap. He rolls right and throws it away.
3rd-and-24, Chad Thomas sets up the right tackle outside, cuts back in and gets to Rudolph for the sack, killing any chance of a field goal and giving the Browns a chance to get the ball back.
The Browns run the clock out for the half on a couple handoffs. The Browns lead 14-0, but they should be up more. They do get the ball back coming out of the half.
Third Quarter
Browns start with the ball coming out of the half. Starting from the 28, they aren't able to do much of anything with the ball and are forced to punt. Gillan manages to pin the ball in the corner, but there's a penalty on Tavierre Thomas for illegal touching. It's brutal because it's meaningless. Instead of inside the 5, the Steelers get it at their 20.
The Steelers try to run the ball and Schobert tackles the back at the line of scrimmage for no gain. On 2nd-and-10, they run a delay, which goes for a first down.
New set of downs, Rudolph finds Johnson on a drag route, but he drops it.
On second down, Rudolph throws WAY behind the receiver and the only one who could catch it was Schobert, who does. The Browns take over with the interception.
Browns start the drive with a long developing play action. Way too long nd Watt gets past a Pharaoh Brown block for the sack. Awful play call.
They run the ball to get much of the yardage back and follow that up with a misfire to the left where Mayfield and Landry are not on the same page. That first down play really set the drive back before it started.
The Browns punt the ball away and the Steelers will start at their own 13. Despite plenty of opportunities, the Browns continue to allow the Steelers to hang around in this game.
The Steelers open up with a deep ball down the left sideline and it falls incomplete, but Damarious Randall drills the receiver with a dangerous hit, going helmet to helmet on a defenseless receiver. The receiver is down being looked at and the hit by Randall was not only textbook on what not to do, but it was dirty.
Randall has been ejected. The Browns have basically no safeties left at this point. Johnson was helped off the field, obviously woozy. An awful play that does nothing but make the game look bad and shouldn't be part of it.
The Steelers come back and throw, Rudolph goes to the left finding James Washington on a crossing route to the sideline.
Sheldrick Redwine is in at free safety and he might be the last one on the roster at this point. Any further injuries and they are moving corners back there.
3rd-and-1, the Steelers get called for a false start, backing them up to 3rd-and-6. Rudolph throws the ball to the left while under pressure. The ball is off target, but they threw a flag on the play on Justin Burris for illegal contact.
The Steelers go over the top again, this time at Holton. Greedy Williams was beat badly and ended up face guarding the underthrow, being called for pass interference.
After another incomplete pass, the Browns pass rush is unable to get home as Rudolph finds Samuels in the flat to the left for an easy touchdown. The Browns gave up a ton of penalty yards on that drive and now the Steelers are within one score. Being unable to put this team away, the Browns have allowed them to put themselves one play from tying it.
The Browns now find themselves in a spot where they really need to make something happen on this drive.
Coming out with a tight bunch look, Mayfield drops back and doesn't find anyone, ends up throwing the ball away to the right.
The Browns go with a sweep to Hunt out of a two-back set and he cuts it up for a gain of 5.
Same formation, Mayfield finds Hunt on an angle route for what would be enough for a first down. There's a flag on the play and it's on the Steelers. The Browns decline and get a new set of downs.
Going back to Chubb, he runs to the right for 6. Motioning their H-back to the right into a tight twins set with twin backs, the Browns go back to hunt on a sweep to the right where the Browns out-leverage the Steelers and Hunt runs for the first down.
The Browns then take a timeout after the play call appears to come in late.
Mayfield goes from under center to hand the ball off to Chubb. After finding nowhere to go, he stops, finds a hole to the right and runs forward for 4. They go with Chubb again, this time up the middle and he hesitates before running into the line for no gain, setting up 3rd-and-6.
After initially dropping back, Mayfield was flushed to his right and finds Landry coming back to the ball.
New set of downs, back to Chubb, who goes for nothing up the middle.
Mayfield drops back on second down, going up the right seam trying to get the ball to Demtrius Harris, who is unable to catch the pass. Both Harris and Mike Hilton are called for pass interference as both teams had a hold of each other's jerseys.
After orbiting Hunt to the left, Mayfield rolls to the right and doesn't find anything, throwing the ball away, setting up 3rd-and-10.
3rd-and-10, pressure gets to Mayfield quickly forcing him to get the ball out early on an attempt to get to Beckham in the corner, but he couldn't locate the ball.
Seibert attempts another field goal, this time from over 50 and pushes it to the right. 0-2 on the night and the Browns still only lead 14-7 heading to the fourth quarter.
Fourth Quarter
Steelers start at their own 40. Rudolph comes out and goes to the left completing the pass. Teams are just throwing at Greedy Williams every chance they get and he is struggling. They go right back at him, but the ball is overthrown, targeting Holton.
The Steelers hand the ball off to Samuels, who runs up the middle for 9.
3rd-and-1, the Steelers go at Williams again trying to go to Holton. Williams is hanging on for dear life. The Steelers, on 4th-and-1, call timeout. They appear intent to go for it, but want to get the right call in on the play.
The Steelers come out on 4th-and-1 and try to throw it. It wasn't clear what the Steelers were doing, but Schobert applied pressure to Rudolph who hit a dropped Chad Thomas with the ball. It's not clear what the Steelers were attempting to do there, but it never had a chance.
The Browns come out and give the ball to Chubb, going to the left. He's able to find some space and get through for 7, out to their 40. They go back to Chubb on second down, but gets nothing, getting stopped by Vince Williams and Daniel McCullers.
They go to the run again, this time to Hunt trying to go left and he gets stopped in the backfield as Bud Dupree slips past Greg Robinson's kick out block attempt. Robinson didn't do his job, failed to target the upfield shoulder, allowing Dupree to cut back and make the tackle.
The Browns win first down, get nothing on second and third down and another offensive possession is wasted.
The Steelers take over deep in their own end and do just as little as the Browns did. Mack Wilson makes a nice play on the ball going to the sideline to force the Steelers to punt.
Hilliard opts to let it hit the ground and the Steelers down it at the Browns 27.
Browns come out passing as Mayfield hits Odell Beckham on a hitch to the right for a first down.
They go back to Chubb on the ensuing first down for a pick up of three.
Browns run a wing counter to Hunt, which allows the Browns to pick up a first down. Mayfield drops back to pass, roll to the right and is unable to hit Beckham coming back on the sideline.
Mayfield sells playaction to Hunt, feels pressure, steps up in the pocket, ends up dumping it to Hunt, who gets tackled for a loss of one. Nothing about that play call looked coherent.
They follow up with a pass that goes like Mayfield expected Beckham to run the corner, but Beckham ran an out, where he was open. Offense completely discombobulated in the second half. Browns forced to punt it away. Gillan again pins them inside the 10.
Rudolph drops back to pass on first down and it's not clear what he's looking at, but he throws to where Schobert's able to simply able to field the pass like a punt for the interception.
Browns, with the ball, in position to score, look like the team against the Buffalo Bills. It's not going anywhere.
Unclear how, but after backing away from pressure, Mayfield fires a missile to the back of the end zone that ends up in the hands of Stephen Carlson, who pulls it in for the touchdown.
Juston Burris was shaken up and had to come off the field. The Browns are out of safeties.
The Steelers try to pass in his absence and feeling pressure, Rudolph throws to his left where Schobert is on the pass defense.
The ensuing down, Rudolph tries to go down the field as he's getting pressured. The ball comes out wobbly and overthrown, but Denzel Ward is unable to track it down and intercept it.
Burris is back in the game as the Steelers try to convert 3rd-and-15 after a delay of game penalty. Rudolph finds a receiver on the deep curl in front of Ward for the first down.
Rudolph goes back to pass again, overthrows his receiver and finds Burris waiting for the interception, which should seal this victory for the Browns. That's Rudolph's fourth interception of the game as the Browns take the ball up 21-7.
As the Browns attempt to salt away the clock, Chubb gets a carry for 12 yards that moves him past 1,000 yards on the season. He's the first back to get there this year. Two others will likely get there on Sunday, but Chubb played today.
The story of this game will be the fact the Browns had total control for so much of it, but couldn't seal away victory until the fourth quarter. A number of wasted offensive possessions, particularly in the early second half, allowed the Steelers to hang around and ultimately make it a one score game again.
The Browns win and that's all that matters in the end, but they need to get better They need to finish teams off or they'll end up disappointed with the finish of their season. Beating the Steelers is good for everyone from ownership to John Dorsey to Freddie Kitchens and his coaching staff. It makes the Browns 4-6 with a week and a half to prepare to take on the Miami Dolphins before facing the Steelers again. That could enable them to get back to .500, 6-6 with a ton of momentum, but they have to go 1-0 each of the next two weeks first.
Browns win, 21-7 and given the events of the last seconds of the game, it feels like they lost.
