Steelers Gameday Steelers News
Steelers Get Back, Eliminate Browns with 27-14 Win
PITTSBURGH — Two weeks after an embarrassing loss to their oldest rival on national television, the Pittsburgh Steelers wanted revenge, but they weren’t looking for a pound of flesh from the Cleveland Browns.
They came into the rematch between the AFC North rivals looking not for a bitter, ferocious battle with the Browns, but for themselves to clean up their own mistakes, take care of business and put away an inferior opponent without any drama.
“It’s get right, not get back,” running back Jaylen Warren said this week.
That plan took a bit of a detour thanks to an unexpected absence from star receiver George Pickens, but the Steelers eventually got to where they wanted to be, taking home a 27-14 victory over the Browns on Sunday.
Some old problems cropped up for the Steelers, including some inefficiency on the first red-zone drive that cost them four points, and a tendency to let scrambling quarterbacks make play down field that to the Browns only touchdown.
But the Steelers kept their heads and kept working, with the talent disparity in the teams eventually coming to the surface.
On the Steelers’ first possession, they were moving the ball briskly before an illegal alignment penalty turned a 3rd and 1 into a 3rd and 6. Russell Wilson’s pass was batted down and Chris Boswell kicked his first of two field goals.
The Browns responded by marching right down the field on the next drive, with Winston scrambling to find Jerry Jeudy for a 35-yard scoring strike to take the lead.
From there, it was almost all Steelers. Keeanu Benton intercepted a Jameis Winston screen pass, setting the Steelers up with good field position. Najee Harris cashed that in for a 1-yard plunge.
Another Boswell field goal and a Dustin Hopkins miss made it 17-7 Steelers at the half. The Browns got the ball after the break and Hopkins missed his second kick into the north end zone, again giving the Steelers good field position.
They capitalized with an eight-play drive with big completions from Wilson to Pat Freiermuth and Jaylen Warren before he hit Van Jefferson on a run-pass option for a score.
Elandon Roberts made a huge play to blow up a Jerome Ford run on fourth down, giving the offense another short field, and again they made short work of it. A five-play drive covered 46 yards, with the final 20 coming on a pass from Wilson to Freiermuth to make it 27-7.
The Browns got one score back late on a pass from Winston to tight end David Njoku, but a muffed punt by Kadarius Toney finished any chance of a Cleveland comeback.
Wilson finished a fairly pedestrian 15 of 26 for 158 yards statistically, but did provide the two touchdowns. He was sacked just once, on the penultimate offensive drive, by Myles Garrett.
Freiermuth was his favored target with three catches for 48 yards. With Pickens out, Scotty Miller (three catches for 38 yards) and Mike Williams (three catches for 36 yards) saw elevated roles.
The Steelers struggled to gain a footing in the running game for the second straight outing against the Browns. Harris finished with 47 yards on 16 carries. Warren had 47 on nine rushes.
James Pierre added a late interception to Benton’s. DeShon Elliott might’ve been the best player on the defense, racking up a game-high 13 tackles.
With the Steelers win, the Browns, now 3-10 are eliminated from contention in the AFC playoff picture. The Steelers cannot clinch this week, but can next week, when they will go on the road to face the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday at 4:25 p.m.
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