Happy Holidays Browns fans and welcome to week 14. Sunday the 3-9 Bowns travel to Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium to take on the 9-3 Steelers for the second time in 3 weeks. Game time is 12:00 noon CST and the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will be gathering at Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to cheer the Browns onto victory. Two weeks ago the Browns beat the Steelers 24-19 in Cleveland so we can be sure that the Steelers will be extra motivated to avenge their third loss of the season. Hanging over the game is the historical elephant in the room, the Browns have not swept the season series against the Steelers since 1988, although they did beat the Steelers twice in row, once in the regular season and in the playoffs in 2020. The Browns have listed DT Maurice Hurst, WR Cedric Tillman and RT Jedrick Wills out for the game due to injuries, while the Steelers have listed WR George Pickens questionable for the game. However, given Pickens instigated a fight after the game with Browns CB Greg Newsome and excused the loss due to the heavy snow during the game I don’t see how he would be willing to sit out this game. The Steelers will have Pro-Bowl DE Alex Highsmith back for the game to enhance their already fierce pass rush. One major development for the Browns has been the emergence of WR Jerry Jeudy following the trade of WR Amari Cooper and Jameis Winston starting at QB. In the 6 games following the Cooper trade Jeudy has caught 34 of 55 targets (61.8% catch rate) for 632 yards averaging 18.6 yards per catch with 2 TD’s including catching 6 of 6 passes for 85 yards against the Steelers 2 weeks ago. Currently Jeudy is 5th in the NFL in receiving with 880 yards, 11th in yards per catch at 16.3 yards and his 89 yard TD reception against Denver is the 4th longest reception in the league this season. To beat the Steelers for the second time in 3 weeks the Browns are going to need to address several concerns on both sides of the ball. On offense, QB Jameis Winston will have to stop turning the ball over, last week his 3 interceptions including 2 picks that went for TD’s ruined what could have been a Browns upset victory over the Broncos. In his 6 games as the starter Winston has thrown 7 interceptions and fumbled 3 times. The Browns will also need to run the ball effectively both to slow down the Steelers rush and set them up for play action passes. When using play action Winston is averaging 12 yards per pass with 4 TD’s against only 1 interception for an outstanding QB rating of 121.4. The offensive line will also need to continue their effective pass blocking 2 weeks ago against Pittsburgh, they limited the Steelers to 1 sack in their upset victory. On defense, DE Myles Garrett will be looking to add to his 3 sacks, 3 tackles for loss performance 2 weeks ago while the entire defense will be working to limit the explosive plays that have proven to be so costly this season. This season the Browns have given up 15 runs of 20+ yards, 2nd most in the NFL, along with 44 pass plays of 20+ yards, 4th most. Six games ago Pittsburgh replaced Justin Fields at QB with veteran Russell Wilson. Since becoming the starter Wilson has completed 65.8% of his passes averaging a league leading 8.7 yards per pass with 10 TD passes against 3 interceptions for a fifth best QB rating of 104.3. In 6 games he’s been sacked 18 times and when throwing under pressure his completion rate drops to 46.6% with 4 TD’s and 2 interceptions for a QB rating of 83.9. Wilson’s favorite target by far is WR George Pickens who’s caught 55 of 87 targets (63%) averaging 15.5 yards per catch with 3 TD’s and 7 drops. Pittsburgh’s most reliable receiver is TE Pat Freirmuth who’s caught 41 of 45 targets (91%) with 4 TD’s and 2 drops. Pittsburgh splits their rushing duties between RB’s Najee Harris who has 824 rushing yards (4.0 yards/rush) with 4 TD’s and 23 runs of 10+ yards and Jaylen Warren who also averages 4 yards per rush with 1 TD. The Steelers also like to use QB Justin Fields in their run game, he’s averaging 4.6 yards per rush with 5 TD’s and 6 fumbles. Overall Pittsburgh is 10th in scoring at 24.7 points per game averaging 5.2 yards per play while converting 39.2% of their third downs and 45.2% of their red zone possessions, third worst in the NFL. As usual Pittsburgh has an excellent defensive front led by 4-time All Pro DE/LB TJ Watt who’s 1st in tackles for loss with 16, 4th in sacks with 10 and 1st with 5 forced fumbles. Opposite Watt is DE Alex Highsmith who has 3 sacks and 24 QB pressures in only 6 games this season. On the inside the Steelers have 3-time All Pro DT Cameron Heyward who’s ranked #1 by Pro Football Focus (PFF) among defensive tackles with 6 sacks, 43 QB pressures and a league leading 7 batted passes. The Steelers defensive backs and linebackers have taken a step back this year with CB’s Joey Porter and Donte Jackson grading in the bottom 15% of defensive backs according to PFF and safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and DeShon Elliott combining for only 1 interception and 5 pass break-ups. Former Pro Bowl LB Patrick Queen has 0 sacks with 13 missed tackles. Overall, the Steelers defense is 6th in scoring defense giving up 18.7 points per game and 311 yards per game.
See You Sunday GO BROWNS…..GO CAVS