Steelers Cruise Past Browns To Maintain Control of AFC North

The Pittsburgh Steelers are 4-1 after a 23-9 victory over the Browns. After a sloppy first half, the home side clicked on offense after the break to cruise to victory as the defense held Cleveland in check all game.

To the surprise of few people, the first half was dominated by defense and field goals on both sides. Pittsburgh's offense did start with a big play, however, as a little bit of deception from Rodgers allowed him to find a wide-open Darnell Washington for a 36-yard gain. Despite another fresh set of downs to Jonnu Smith a few plays later, the Steelers settled for a field goal. Afterwards, Pittsburgh didn't quite get a three and out on defense due to a penalty on T.J. Watt but still forced a punt, but an early theme of penalties reared its head.

Pittsburgh had a huge punt return to seemingly ignite their offense as Ke'Shawn Williams, elevated from the practice squad this week, broke free for a 47-yard return. Unfortunately for the hosts, an illegal blindside block was called on Jabrill Peppers, starting the Steelers at their own 10-yard line as opposed to Cleveland's 41-yard line. Aaron Rodgers did hit D.K. Metcalf down the sideline on third down to extend the drive. The Steelers receiver was going up against Tyson Campbell, who Cleveland acquired earlier this week, but the drive stalled after that due to a poorly executed play action play.

In general, it was a sloppy first half from both offenses. Rookie Dillon Gabriel struggled all day against the Steelers' pass rush and blitz blitz packages, as Jalen Ramsey brought him down for a sack, killing another Cleveland drive, although they may have got away with an early whistle the snap after as the referees blew the 3rd down play dead for forward progress before Gage Larvadain was actually brought down to the ground.

Pittsburgh did show they weren't afraid to run the ball against a defense that came into the game as the best in the league against the ground game. Despite success on the ground, three straight incompletions left the hosts settling for another field goal, as Rodgers was left frustrated after missing Washington on 1st and 10 after some more play-fakes. Rodgers continued to target Metcalf against Campbell on the next two plays, but to no avail.

While Gabriel continued to struggle in his second start, Rodgers showed some nice improvisation to save Pittsburgh's next drive with a 3rd down flip pass to Warren on the run. That drive resulted in a field goal, which wouldn't have been possible without Rodgers' play extension early on in the drive, something which was rare in this game as Pittsburgh continued their quick-passing attack offense, as we all expected against a good pass rush.

Gabriel showed some promise on the last drive before halftime, as the Steelers' defense continued to hurt themselves with penalties, this time Heyward having a penalty early in the drive. After a solid drive from the rookie, the Browns made a chip-shot field goal to cut their deficit to 9-3 at halftime.

The second half saw the ill-disciplined theme continue as both teams were penalised early on, with TJ Watt ending Cleveland's first drive after the break despite an offsides penalty a few plays before, as he leapt to knock down Gabriel's pass.

Cleveland continued to punish themselves, even after their defense forced a three and out. A running into the punter penalty gave Pittsburgh a fresh set of downs, which ended up being a momentum switching play. Two first down runs from Warren on back-to-back plays gave his offense life after their drive was saved by the penalty. That success on the ground opened up the defense as Rodgers had Metcalf wide open downfield on a play action, but underthrew him on what would've been a touchdown after Metcalf beat Campbell. Rodgers has spoken about how cover two looks against the offense have meant less throws downfield, but he had the look on this one and missed his number one target. However, on the next play he found Metcalf over the middle for 25 yards after another play fake. Following another good Warren run, the Steelers finished the drive in the endzone, with Connor Heyward hauling in Rodgers' cross-body throw to score the first touchdown of the game, and make it 16-3 after Boswell's extra point. That running into the punter penalty at the start of the drive cost Cleveland seven points.

Credit to Gabriel, he kept fighting in a game where he had no help from the run game, and his offensive line was dominated. The rookie quarterback lead another field goal drive, with a great throw on the run dropped by Harold Fannin Jr, which could have turned a three-point drive into something more.

When Pittsburgh got the ball back, they kept moving on offense, with the run game helping them downfield once again, and second year receiver Roman Wilson making a rare catch.

Cleveland's defense, which has looked good this year despite their record, was being given a lesson in the third quarter in the ground game with Kenneth Gainwell having success along with Warren, allowing Pittsburgh's play action to thrive. Then, to start the fourth, Rodgers continued to fool his opponents, pumping to one receiver before dropping the ball in a bucket to Metcalf in the endzone, who beat Campbell on the play, a cornerback who had been given a very tough assignment in his first week with the Browns. As good as Cleveland has been defensively this year in a lot of aspects, they have had the worst redzone defense in the NFL and it showed in this game.

Gabriel kept his team alive with a field goal drive which included two fourth down conversions, but a Nick Herbig sack on 2nd and goal meant Cleveland settled for three, now trailing 23-9 with nine and a half minutes left.

After a three and out for Rodgers and his offense, Gabriel got the ball again, and continued to take what the Steelers gave him with soft coverage underneath. Herbig then got his second sack of the game to set up 3rd and 8 where, of all people, Jalen Ramsey got his second sack of the day, as the Steelers had six as a team against an injury-riddled offensive line that could not handle Pittsburgh's pass rush. Gabriel had an incomplete pass on 4th and long. While the defense got to Gabriel plenty of times, they would have been frustrated that they had no takeaways, and they had plenty of chances, with Juan Thornhill, Herbig, Patrick Queen and Joey Porter Jr. all having chances at an interception. Still, a dominant day on that side of the ball.

Chris Boswell had a frustrating end to the game as he missed a field goal which would have made it 26-9 after he slipped on the turf, which had been pointed out by the broadcast team as an issue earlier in the game.

The defense then iced the game with a stop before the offense set up in victory formation to move the team to 4-1. Now, let's look at the takeaways from this win.

While this was a comfortable victory, Mike Tomlin will not be happy with the lack of discipline in this one from his team. Pittsburgh came into this affair with the least penalties per game, but had ten fouls called against them in this matchup, and won in spite of that. This was a game you would expect such a highly paid group to dominate given a rookie quarterback was coming back from London after his first NFL start, and Pittsburgh was coming off of a bye, and dominate they did. Credit should also be given defensively as the group limited Quinshon Judkins, the promising rookie running back, to just 36 yards on 12 carries, forcing Gabriel to try win the game on his own. This group has improved massively since week one after facing a lot of criticism, and deserves praise for this performance, no matter the opposition.

On offense, it was an impressive showing in the second half. They are now running the ball well, something Arthur Smith prioritises with his units. After a slow start on the ground this season, the last two games have showed drastic improvement, and this was against the best run defense in the league. The rushing stats might not jump off the screen in the box score in this game but it was clear that was where Pittsburgh controlled the game on offense, particularly in the second half. The offensive line also deserves immense credit, allowing no sacks against a great pass rush, as Myles Garrett was neutralised completely, a very difficult task to accomplish.

Rodgers has showed in these first five games that, while he has some misses in him, such as the underthrow to Metcalf, his zip and trickery is still there, shown by his two touchdown passes on the day.

Mike Tomlin is now 27-6 against rookie quarterbacks. While some said this could be a trap game for the Steelers, it was always unlikely to be a loss given Tomlin's record against first year signal callers, as well as the fact that Cleveland was coming back from a loss in London last week, and Pittsburgh was coming off a bye.

The real trap game is next week against the Bengals. On the road, Thursday Night Football, a supposedly inferior opponent. Shades of the loss in Cleveland last year loom large. Tomlin needs to have his team prepared properly so that they can extend their comfortable lead in the AFC North. The Ravens will get healthy soon, so the Steelers need to win these 'easier' games before the schedule gets tougher. They did exactly that today, as the Browns will have to wait at least one more year for their first regular season win in Pittsburgh since 2003.