Steelers Game-Wrap: Myles away from a win

Just before the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns kicked off to start their Thursday night nationally televised game in which the Browns won 24-19, someone sent me an article indicating the Pittsburgh Steelers have never beaten a division rival on Thursday night playing on the road in the history of the franchise.

I immediately thought great, the game has been jinxed. When playing on a Thursday and the game is away from Pittsburgh, the record is 0-7 and now 0-8. With Mike Tomlin as coach that record is 0-6. If you include home games Tomlin’s Thursday record is 2-6. It was eight years ago in Indianapolis when the Steelers last won on this night and that result was 28-7 Steelers. Tomlin’s other victory was over the Rams when they were in St. Louis in 2007.

After Thursday’s loss George Pickens said conditions were a major factor. That’s a lame response to the game as Cleveland was playing in those same conditions so the snow was just as treacherous for the Browns as it was with the Steelers and the simple fact is they made more big plays than did Pittsburgh. Thursday’s game also provided an opportunity for T.J. Watt to show the world that he deserved last year’s Defensive Player of the Year award and not Myles Garrett, but it was the Browns’ defensive star that stole the show.

All game long Myles Garrett was disruptive finishing the game with five tackles, three which were solo and three sacks along with three of those tackles coming for a loss. Pittsburgh had no answer and what bothers me is that at halftime it seemed the Steelers made no adjustments for the second half to counter Garrett’s strong game. For three quarters Pittsburgh’s offense could not find the end zone, a problem that has plagued them of late.

Two touchdowns in the fourth put Pittsburgh ahead for their first lead of the game but with just 57 seconds left Nick Chubb rushed for his second touchdown of the game and the Steelers were unable to stage a last second comeback. In my preview I had warned about Pittsburgh being caught in a trap game and what do you know, they fell into the trap.

Cleveland has just three wins on the season, and both came over the teams ahead of them in the AFC North, Baltimore and now Pittsburgh. Not only was this loss embarrassing, but it was also as though the Steelers had taken a step forward to being a serious contender prior to the game and now it’s like two major steps backwards. The defense had been playing lights out most of the season but in a game, they should have easily won, the defense failed on many occasions. 

No one but no one should dare use the snowfall as an excuse. Cleveland played simply fine in the snow. The loss is a result of the defense faltering and the Steelers failing to score early in the game and not getting to Jameis Winston. Winston did not even have a great game he just performed when his team needed it the most. It was an odd game for Pittsburgh because Russell Wilson’s numbers were rather good. 21 of 28 for 270 yards and a rating of 116.7 is nothing to shake your head about. However, he did get sacked four times. 

Before this game it seemed, the Steelers could challenge the Buffalo Bills or Kansas City Chiefs and give them a run for their money. After the performance in Cleveland, if they play like that against either of those teams, they lose and lose miserably. All we can hope for is that this performance last Thursday was just a dreadful day at the office. But Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith better figure out how to get this offense some firepower and find an answer quickly. They will have nine additional days to figure that out before they head into Cincinnati to face a dangerous Bengals team.

Steelers Nation’s hope now is that the Los Angeles Chargers will upend the Baltimore Ravens this weekend to keep Baltimore a little behind the Steelers but there are difficult games ahead for the Black and Gold. They get a rematch with the Browns on December 8 in Pittsburgh then must travel across the state to face the Eagles, which will be a difficult game. 

As a Steelers fan, obviously the loss to Cleveland is frustrating. But there were some bright spots in that Russell Wilson did perform rather well and the use of Justin Fields seems like a good ploy and Arthur Smith should continue to make game plans involving Fields. In short yardage situations he is a good option because he is a very good runner with the ball and the percentage of positive plays will always outweigh the negatives when opting to put Fields into play with the ball. It’s hard to fathom that T.J. Watt was held without a sack and he made only four tackles. To his defense, Cleveland did do an excellent job of double teaming him but when that happens others are supposed to step up and that didn’t happen. 

When you look at the stats, Pittsburgh outgained Cleveland 368 total yards to the Browns’ 304 and won the time of possession 35:02 to 24:58. So how did they lose? By not stopping key Cleveland offensive plays and not having answers for Myles Garrett and Jerry Jeudy on offense. Jeudy had six receptions for 85 yards and averaged a first down on each reception with a per-catch average of 14.2. 

Perhaps the bottom line is that most did not expect after 11 games for the Pittsburgh Steelers to have a record of 8-3 and be in first place in the AFC North. A Baltimore victory on the road this weekend will put them one loss down in the standings but if the Chargers can get the victory (as I predict they will) then the Ravens will be two losses down and that might be difficult to overcome. Winning the division will be key for Pittsburgh because that would mean most likely a playoff game would be in the ‘Burgh.



For now, Mike Tomlin and his team must take a good look in the mirror, regroup, and regain some confidence that they are in fact not as poor a team as they showed last Thursday night.