The Pittsburgh Steelers powered past their old school rival Cleveland Browns, with a 27-11 victory. The defense had a lights-out performance and forced the Browns into four turnovers. The offensive line had a breakout performance against a formidable Cleveland front and provided excellent protection. “Big” Ben Roethlisberger has been sacked just once in the Steelers’ past two games and never hit the ground yesterday. Roethlisberger completed 22 of 34 passes, and he finished with a passer rating of 102.2. The Steelers have now won three in a row and are back in postseason contention.
The defense held the Browns offense in check despite a historic performance by Josh Gordon, who caught 14 passes for 237 yards. That would be the lone bright spot for Cleveland, they forced four Cleveland turnovers, three fumbles and William Gay’s 21-yard interception return for a touchdown with 4:27 to go in the game, his first career score on a pickoff, Gay also forced a fumble. Troy Polamalu forced two fumbles. Will Allen returned the Gay fumble fumble 49 yards and crushed the Browns comeback chances.
Cleveland quarterback Jason Campbell lost the ball when Gay blitzed and sacked him on a third-down play at the Steelers’ 39 and sent him from the game. Cam Heyward also recovered a fumbled as the defense was in control the entire day. Jason Worilds had a team-high six quarterback hurries and forced quarterbacks Jason Campbell and Brandon Weeden into several bad throws, including chasing down Campbell and sending him to the bench. The Browns had no running room all day as the Steelers clogged all the lanes and held the Browns to under 60 yards.
The offense looked good and moved the ball especially in the first half. Seven different players caught passes with Manny Sanders and Antonio Brown catching 12 passes between them with two touchdowns. Heath Miller chipped in with five catches and the Steelers made every play they needed to. The offense was committed to the run and they pounded it 34 times, but they still didn’t break 100 yards. Le’Veon Bell played okay but the Browns made the adjustments in the second half, Jon Dwyer had a tough day and didn’t convert on a 3rd and 4th down, although the 4th down was very questionable.
The Steelers are now on the move after the worst start in 45 years. They have won three in a row, five of their past seven and are starting to make plays and one could only wonder what the talk would be right now if they could have beaten either the Vikings or the Raiders. This is a short turnaround as the Rat birds loom on Thanksgiving night.
BEER WE GO STEELERS, BEER WE GO!
My “GAME BEER” goes to: The offensive line, all of them, NO Sacks for the first time this year. Also Considered, I have been typing Cam Heywood and Antonio Brown almost weekly in this spot.
Where I watched the game: Buckley’s Irish Pub, in my home town, Went with KGB and my buddy Matt and we had wings and Irish Spring Rolls. Seamus the bartender took good care of us and we were able to crank out a great win. The Beer of choice was Rebel IPA! This time of year is usually my Rochester trip, my man Jim “Lock it Down” Lochrie took my spot and went to Nathaniel’s in Rochester. He hung out with the local Beer We Go guys.
My Stat of the week: ZERO Sacks! The first time this year, the O Line had great protection.
My thoughts on Next Week: It will be a short week and a short turn around as the Steelers will be playing the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. This will be the first time in a VERY long time that Ben will be playing the Ravens twice in a season. Look for the usual formula of the Steelers and Ravens playing each other close and look for the Steelers to pull it out. This could put us right back in this thing.