Hi Browns fans, it’s week 6 and the 1-4 Browns will travel to Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium to take on the 3-1 Steelers on Sunday. Game time is 12:00 CT and the ChicagoLand Browns Backers/Northside Dawg Pound will return to Burke’s Public House 5401 N. Broadway to cheer the Browns onto victory over the hated Steelers. Over the past week the Browns made a pair of unexpected trades, sending QB Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals for a 2026 5th round draft pick and trading starting CB Greg Newsome II and a 6th round draft pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for CB Tyson Campbell and a 7th round draft pick. Flacco became expendable when he lost his starting job to rookie QB Dillon Gabriel. Both Campbell and Newsome are in their 5th year and have similar career stats with Campbell’s being slightly better than Newsome’s. Campbell has started in 59 of his 60 career games compared to Newsome who’s started in 47 of his 59 career games. Newsome has career 3 interceptions with 1 pick 6, while Campbell has 6 career interceptions along with 3 forced fumbles. Sunday’s game will mark Dillon Gabriel’s second start as QB for the Browns. Last Sunday, despite a close loss to the Vikings, Gabriel played well, completing 19 of 33 passes for 190 yards with 2 TD’s no interception and a 94.3 QB rating. Sunday, Gabriel and the Browns offense will be facing a different Steelers defense than we’ve seen in past years. Pittsburgh’s defense is 21st in scoring defense giving up 24.5 points per game and 28th in total defense surrendering over 382 yards per game, 28th in the NFL. They are also 30th in pass defense with opponents averaging 260.5 yards per game through the air and averaging 8.2 yards per pass. The Steelers defense is a bit better defending the run, giving up 122 yards per game and 4.2 yards per rush. The Steelers defense has been living off turnovers this season. They lead the NFL in turnover margin at nearly plus 2 per game while averaging 2.5 takeaways per game. Overall, in their 4 games, they have 5 interceptions and 5 fumble recoveries. Gabriel will need to continue protecting the ball against a Pittsburgh front 7 that has the 2nd highest sack percentage in the NFL and Browns ball carriers will need to remember to protect the ball from a Steelers defense that’s well-schooled in punching the ball out during tackles. Because of Gabriel’s 5’11” height, the Browns will probably need to take full advantage of his mobility to roll him out of the pocket to reduce the chances of batted passes while also utilizing planned QB runs and screen passes to take advantage of the aggressive Steelers pass rush. Run pass options (RPO’s) involving RB Quinshon Judkins should be a big part of the Browns game plan. Currently, Judkins is second among rookie running backs with 347 rushing yards, 2 fewer yards than Ashton Jeanty despite playing 1 less game than Jeanty. Overall Judkins is 9th in the NFL in rushing and Pro Football Focus (PFF) ranks him 6th among all running backs. Even though they are having a sub-par statistical year the Steelers are still loaded with Pro Bowl caliber players at all 3 levels of their defense. Up front they have 6-time Pro Bowl and 4 time All Pro DE TJ Watt along with 6-time Pro Bowl and 3 time All Pro DT Cam Heyward. On the season, Watt has 3 sacks, 13 QB pressures, 2 batted passes and 5 tackles for loss (TFL) while Heyward has 1 sack, 10 QB pressures, 2 batted passes and 1 TFL. Behind the front 4 they have 2-time Pro Bowl LB Patrick Queen and 6-time Pro Bowl and 2017 All Pro CB Darius Slay along with 7-time Pro Bowl and 3-time All Pro Jalen Ramsey who’s listed as questionable for the game. On offense the Steelers are led by 4-time league MVP, quarterback Aaron Rodgers. In the middle of his 21st season, Rodgers isn’t the QB we’re used to seeing. He’s not as mobile as in the past and is much more of a stationary target making fewer off schedule throws and scrambles for important yardage. He’s completing 68.5% of his passes averaging 7.3 yards per pass with 8 TD’s against 3 interceptions and 9 sacks for a QB rating of 102.6. The real difference in Rodgers’ game is his performance when under pressure. According to PFF when pressured his completion percentage drops to 37%, averaging 5.9 yards per pass with 2 interceptions for a QB rating of 39.0. So far this season he’s relying on getting the ball out quickly on short passes to his receivers and running backs and letting them run with the ball. In his 4 games this season he’s completed only 4 passes of 20 yards or more, all of which went to WR Calvin Austin III who’s out for Sunday’s game. More than 69% of Rodgers’ passes have gone for less than 10 yards. His 7.6% sack percentage is 22nd in the league and he’s currently ranked 36th among starting QB’s by PFF. His most effective receiver is DK Metcalf whose combination of 6’3” 229 lbs. size, ability to break tackles and breakaway speed make him one of the NFL’s most dangerous players in the open field. On the season, Metcalf is averaging 17.4 yards per catch, 6th in the NFL with 12.5 yards coming after the catch and 3 TD’s. Pittsburgh uses a lot of 2 and 3 tight end sets featuring their big blocking TE Darnell Washington (6’6” 264lbs.) and 2 receiving TE’s, Jonnu Smith 14 receptions with 1 TD and Pat Friermuth 9.3 yards per catch. Pittsburgh’s 2 running backs, Jaylen Warren and Kenneth Gainwell have 24 receptions between them with Warren averaging 12.9 yards per catch with 14 yards coming after the catch. Gainwell is their most effective runner averaging 4.4 yards per carry with 1 fumble. The Browns front 7, currently ranked 4th in sack percentage will be facing a Steelers offensive line that has had problems protecting Rodgers (22nd in sack percentage) and running the football averaging just 80 yards on the ground per game good for 31st in the NFL. If the defense can continue to keep opponents offenses bottled up, the Browns with a mobile Gabriel at QB protecting the ball and an effective run game led by Judkins has a more than decent chance of pulling off the upset in Pitsburgh. GO BROWNS