Browns vs. Steelers – Week 6
The Browns return to the house of fun known as Heinz Field on Sunday to take on the Steelers. The Browns are looking for their first road win against Pittsburgh since 2003 with an injured Peyton Hillis and a rookie quarterback, Colt McCoy, making his first NFL start. Should be a hoot.
The Opposition
Pittsburgh’s record: 3-1
Offensive rank: 32nd overall/32nd passing/13th rushing
Defensive rank: 1st overall/8th passing/1st rushing
All-time record: Browns trail 58-56 (21-36 in Pittsburgh)
The line: Browns (+14)
What to Watch For
Colt McCoy makes his NFL debut … on the road … against Pittsburgh … in Ben Rothlisberger’s return from suspension. Hey, you have to start somewhere so why not go all in?
It may not be pretty at times, but it probably won’t be as bad as most are predicting. As long as McCoy remembers to bring his big-boy pants with him he should make it out of the stadium in one piece.
“He’s sharp, he works the field, he knows his progressions, he can throw on the move, he can throw in the pocket and I’m excited for him,” offensive coordinator Brian Daboll told The Plain Dealer. “It’s going to be a tough challenge, no question. He knows this, I know this, everybody knows it.”
And you couldn’t ask for a better learning experience for a young quarterback than to face a defense like Pittsburgh’s. Not only will this game accelerate McCoy’s NFL knowledge, it will give the Browns some valuable insight into McCoy as well.
Finally, there should be very little pressure on McCoy – the Browns are supposed to lose, remember? All the experts say so; McCoy just has to go out and take care of his own business.
The rest of the offense needs to step up and support McCoy, especially the running game. Since the Browns had success running on the Steelers last year out of the Wildcat, will we finally see more than just a token look from that offensive set?
“They just couldn’t stop it,” Josh Cribbs told The Plain Dealer about last year’s success on the ground vs. Pittsburgh. “Our guys were blocking up front pretty good, and we executed better than they did. When teams execute better, it shows. They’re going to be prepared to try to stop it and we’ll go at it until they will.”
Running back Peyton Hillis says he will be 100 percent for the game, and if he can put up 144 rushing yards on Baltimore he should be able do some damage against Pittsburgh.
“There’s no doubt they’re a good defense,” Hillis told The Plain Dealer. “But we’re not looking at (all the stats). They’re human just like we are. They put their pants on one leg at a time and we’ve just got to approach it like that.”
This would be a good week for the special teams to get going as well. Teams are finally not kicking off deep to Cribbs and the only way the Browns will get that to stop is if their up men start making some plays on the returns. If the Steelers kick to the 25-yard-line and the return guys can get the ball out to near midfield, teams will have to start kicking deep again. Maybe this is somewhere that Brian Robiskie can finally show the “talent” that people claim he has; he’s sure not using it in the passing game.
Defensively, the Browns need to do what they did last year against Pittsburgh and bring heat on Rothlisberger. The Steelers are last in the league in rushing, so if the Browns can get them into some third-and-long plays they may be able to force some mistakes.
And if T.J. Ward can deliver a big hit on Hines Ward, the final score may not matter at all.
The Best Browns vs. Pittsburgh road game I’ve Seen
For a series that was exceedingly one-sided for such a long time (the Browns lost in Pittsburgh from 1970 until 1986), there were some tight and memorable games. The Browns loss by four in 1977 and followed that up with consecutive overtime losses in ’78 & ’79. At we’ll never forget the ’89 season opener when the Browns won 51-0.
But the first will always be the best: the 1986 game where the Browns finally broke the Three Rivers jinx, highlighted by Gerald McNeil’s 100-yard kickoff return. You can read The Plain Dealer‘s game story here. We couldn’t find any film clips from that game, but here are clips of McNeil ripping up the Lions from that same season.
The Prediction
The Browns finally realized what they have to do to beat Pittsburgh near the end of the season last year. The Steelers are bullies and they don’t like to be hit. When the Browns finally hit back last year, the Steelers folded and the Browns won.
The Browns also won with Brady Quinn at quarterback and Chris Jennings running the ball. Even with McCoy making his first start, there’s no question the Browns are better at those positions this year. So if they did it last year, why not this time?
OK, it’s probably too much to expect McCoy to play well enough for the Browns to win this game. So much happens on the field and a quarterback has to process so much at game speed that it is impossible to replicate that in practice.
But McCoy can – and should – play well enough to keep the Browns in the game into the fourth quarter just like they’ve done all year long. And while the Browns probably won’t pull out the victory, they should keep the game close enough that it should be save to take the Browns plus the points.
Record on the year: 1-3-1
Red Right 88 