Wk 13...vs CLE 2.0

[ATL96Steeler]

Here we go!

The Steelers (6-5) gear up for another AFCN game with the Browns (5-6) just a mere two weeks from the Thursday Night Football game that has become more known for the fight between Myles Garrett and Mason Rudolph. In the short time since that game…Both teams won their week 11 matchups with PIT beating the Bengals last week and surging the Browns are in the midst of a 3 game win streak including an impressive dismantling of the hapless Dolphins last week.

The week 11 game has had some bearing on this game as some suspended players will miss the rematch. Pouncey from PIT and Garrett from CLE are out. Ogunjobi has served his 1 game suspension and should be available this week. Rudolph has been benched for poor performance since that game and likely won’t play barring injury to Duck Hodges.

Injuries

Conner (shoulder) out…Artie Burns (knee)…Juju (knee)…the status for Burns and Juju is still up in the air.

Notable

Devlin “Duck” Hodges will be the starting QB after an ineffective Rudolph was pulled early in the 3rd Qtr of the Bengals game last week. Hodges came in and spearheaded a charge into the OFC which included a game deciding 79 yd TD pass to Washington.

This game was flexed from 4p to 1p.

Outlook

The Browns will be trying to win on Heinz Field for the 1st time since Oct. 10, 2003 and they will be trying to do it without their best pass rusher. Vegas has CLE (-2) installed as the favorite which really means Vegas has no clue about this one and is just going off the more known commodity at QB.

Truth be told I actually feel the same way. IMO on paper CLE is the better team because of Mayfield (never thought I would be saying that) but in this renewed rivalry, I’m not sure the better team will win. Look for the Steeler DEF to be amped up and making some of those splash plays that were just getting away from them on the short work week TNF game.

I’m guessing the Steelers will again be w/o Juju. Not a whole lot of confidence in a win, but I do think this will be another close game. On a forecasted rainy day in the ‘Burgh, Duck gets them in the endzone at least twice and Boz will handle the rest of the scoring. I think PIT will even the score and avoid a sweep here…I’m going 23-17 Steelers.



What say you?

 

[thedddd]

21-17 Cleveland.

Yeah I see a better offensive performance but a costly turnover once again will give the Browns the win.

 

[thedddd]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/steele...laying-peacemaker-during-brawl-003403612.html

Yeah figured the NFL would do this.

 

[SteelersPride]

Rudolph taking benching with 'team-first attitude'
one breath he supports duck n the team. The next he’s like little kid.

 

[SJ20]

The Steelers should be ready to play. They have to win. No questions asked. A very important game for many reasons.


PIT 17
CLE 14

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

I'm going to guess that this is the week that the wheels start to come off.

O... Duck Hodges will likely get the short end of the stick in the form of a Randy Fichtner spoonfeeding special. Sphincter (thanks again @thedddd) will dial up a grotesque sequence of playcalling in the 1st half in which I have this dreaded feeling that we will see Hodges get hurt. Enter Mason Rudolph as the NFL media circles collectively cream their pants. He tries to play hero ball again with a vengeful toddler attitude which causes him to turn the ball over. Hopefully Paxton Lynch gets a helmet this week lol. No Juju or Conner again. Hopefully we see more of Deon Cain & Kerrith Whyte.

D... Baker did an excellent job being patient against this defense. He didn't force any throws and I expect him to do the same this week. He's found rhythm with his offense and they are gaining steam. I'm expecting him to attack Edmunds & Barron again, and again. Seems to be an easy recipe for success against this defense. Chubb & Hunt should be able to do enough damage.

Best I can hope for is that the defense creates enough havoc to give the offense a couple of short fields. It'll be another low-scoring affair, which doesn't bode well for Randy Sphincter's offense that has enough trouble picking up a 1st down let alone putting points on the board. The STs are going to have a busy day.

CLE 20
PIT 13





Sorry for the pessimism this morning... I've been battling pneumonia with strep-like symptoms. Unbearable sore throat, ear aches, body aches, fever chills, sinus pressure & congestion, the works... Haven't felt this sick since I was a kid. I've been on 2 different antibiotics for 2 days now, and I'm starting to feel a little better.

 

[thedddd]

^note: Someone else was calling him it first and I loved it. Thought it was @steelerssb and now it is in my memory of the autocorrect for my phone so I don’t even need to type it anymore.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

On a brighter note... The Browns will be without their starting LT Greg Robinson, and starting FS Damarious Randall.

For some reason, Kitchens has benched Randall for a "coaching decision". ESPN reported he skipped practice.

The Cleveland secondary is ravaged at the Safety position. Morgan Burnett was placed on IR after the week 11 TNF game. Now without Randall, their starting FS is Eric Murray. Their starting SS was waived by the Oakland Raiders prior to this season.

If there was ever a game for Sphincter to rip the lid off and let the QB play gunslinger, then this is it.

And Bud Dupree better ball out today.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Mike T's pregame speech:

 

[SteelersPride]

Bad weather lfgo

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Bad weather lfgo

 

[SteelersPride]

benny snell football

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

benny snell football

Hard row to hoe without Pounce...

 

[thedddd]

Well from an offensive perspective we couldn't ask for a better 1st half.

BTW.. Cain has impressed me more and more.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

They gave the game ball to Pouncey... Full circle

 

[thedddd]

Great win and it was nice seeing Hodges go down the field with the ball. Still insist on the wildcat at times, which is the most predictable 2 yard gains of any offense but if they win he will continue to deploy it.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Coaching... Credit where its due. Tomlin took an emotional bunch of backups to work with him this week, and he buried the drama & ground out a much needed win. Very tall task all things considered (drama & injuries). Team came out somewhat vanilla again, but Fichtner eventually let the Duck sling it and it finally paid off. Really makes me wonder just how much this team has been handicapped by Mason. Still plenty of boneheaded playcalls to be found (wildcat included), but overall a much better gameplan on offense. They got the job done and thats all that mattered. Lots of presnap penalties that need to be cleaned up. Defense had me sweating a lot on a few drives, but overall they clamped down. They tightened up particularly well in the 2nd half and wreaked havoc in critical moments. Hearing in postgame interviews players commenting on Tomlin's 2nd half adjustments for the defense. Browns only generated 96yd total in the 2nd half, 7 first downs, but only 3.8 yds per play. 0-4 on third downs. A

Offense... Gotta give the goons up front some credit. They controlled the LOS for most of the game. Most of the sacks or pressures on Hodges were on the QB, not them. I've been criticizing them constantly this season, but today's game was a good step forward. Duck Hodges & James Washington ignited the downfield passing game. Man that was so refreshing to see. Feels like we've been stuck in offensive purgatory for too long. JW's TD grab was crazy. I can't wait to see JuJu & Conner get back into this offense now that the passing game is revived. Great collective efforts from an assortment of guys today. Snell, TEs, DJ, Cain, etc. Seems like they got a lot more people involved in critical situations to get the chains moving. Loved it. And last but not least... DUCK! Wasn't a polished product by any means, but damn, he was fearless going up against the 6th ranked pass D. The Browns were without both starting safeties so it made sense to finally start slinging it. The INT was a bad play overall, but it did look like DJ gave up on the route even if it was overthrown. Hard to say who was more at fault. Also he's gotta be smarter in 2min football. Take the sack if you have the lead. He certainly has lots to work on, but if he follows the plan he at least gives them a fighting chance and doesn't present the offense with limitations. B+

Defense... Good efforts from the defensive front & secondary. Gap integrity & coverage assignments from the 2nd level (LBers) was pretty atrocious. Need better play from the ILBs. Lots of great splash plays in critical moments. These dudes rose to the occasion many times over. Bud Dupree took advantage of a backup LT, and Watt was the beast he always is. That roughness call on Dupree in the final minutes was bogus. Heyward & Hargrave were wrecking their gaps all game long. Even Alualu had a great game. Buggs was involved a lot, but I didn't see him keep good gap integrity very often. He took on some double teams though. B+

ST... Ups & downs. A mixture of good & bad. That CLE punt that was downed at the 1 was a terrible call. Tomlin should have won that challenge. Good & bad returns, as well as good & bad cover teams. lol. Boz continues his turnaround season. And in the critical moment of the game Berry had a dud punt. Yuck. I'll go with the average grade of C.

 

[SteelersPride]

#freeduck