Pittsburgh Steelers: Studs and duds vs. Browns in Week 11
By Samuel Teets
Less than a week after igniting playoff hopes, the Pittsburgh Steelers came out flat-footed against the Cleveland Browns.
From the opening minutes of Thursday night’s game, the Pittsburgh Steelers looked slow, sluggish, and out of synch. The Cleveland Browns came out swinging and held a 14-0 lead at halftime. They retained the lead for the rest of the game and won 21-7.
The loss is a near death blow to Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes. After Week 10, the Steelers held the sixth seed in the AFC. Now though, Indianapolis and Oakland can jump the Steelers in the standings. Both teams are playing for their sixth wins this week. Tennessee has a bye week, but the team is 5-5 as well.
When predicting Pittsburgh’s record for the rest of the season during their Week 7 bye, I did say the Steelers would lose to once to Cleveland. I hoped that might be avoided since the Steelers were on a winning streak. Now, Pittsburgh faces four sub-.500 teams in their final six games. The team’s playoff hopes are alive but hinge on their Week 15 matchup against Buffalo and Week 17 game against Baltimore.
The Steelers face the Browns again in Week 13 at Heinz Field. Pittsburgh’s playoff hopes rely on the Steelers beating the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 12 and then getting revenge against Cleveland. A lot has to change for that to happen though because the Steelers looked terrible on Thursday night.
The Steelers played an all-around horrible game in Cleveland, so the format for this article is different than in the past. There are more duds than studs because there aren’t three players worthy of positive recognition.
Also, instead of focusing on individual players, some of the categories will focus on broader elements of the game. Again, the majority of the team just looked off.