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Steelers Division Title Hopes Rest with Browns 4th-String QB
If the Pittsburgh Steelers want to win the AFC North in Week 18 on Saturday, they need some help first from the Cleveland Browns.
Since the Steelers lost to the Baltimore Ravens and Kansas City Chiefs in consecutive weeks, they no longer control their destiny in the final week of the season, as they are one game behind the Ravens in the standings.
For the Steelers to take home the divisional crown, they’ll need the Browns to beat the Ravens in the early game on Saturday, and then they’ll need to beat the Cincinnati Bengals in prime time.
The Steelers’ hopes are resting on the Browns, and the Browns have turned to a fourth-string quarterback to do the job.
Bailey Zappe is expected to start for Cleveland in Baltimore on Saturday, making his first appearance in a Browns uniform after spending his first two seasons with the New England Patriots.
He’ll be the fourth quarterback to start a game for the Browns this season. Starter Deshaun Watson was lost for the season to an Achilles tear in late October. Backup Jameis Winston has missed the last two games with a shoulder injury. Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Cleveland’s fifth-round pick in 2023 who beat the Steelers last year as a rookie, suffered a calf injury last week and was limited in practice this week.
He is also expected to dress, as head coach Kevin Stefanski said on Thursday that he plans on using both quarterbacks in Cleveland’s season finale. ESPN reported on Thursday that Zappe is expecting to get the starting nod.
A 6-foot-1, 215-pounder passer out of Western Kentucky, Zappe was the fourth-round of the Patriots in the 2022 NFL Draft. He played four games as rookie in 2022, making two starts and then he started six games in 2023, including a win over the Steelers at Acrisure Stadium last December.
Zappe had been splitting time with Mac Jones, New England’s first-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft. The Patriots jettisoned both players after drafting Drake Maye in the first round of this spring’s selection.
The Patriots cut Zappe at the end of this year’s training camp. He spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs before joining the Browns on Oct. 22.
With Zappe at the helm, the Browns are distant 19.5-point underdogs to the Ravens on Saturday afternoon.
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