Browns turn the corner? Pittsburgh pounded 31-10

In a game that might have shown that finally a corner may have been turned,the Cleveland Browns pummeled the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-10 before a maniacal crowd in Cleveland.

Brian Hoyer threw for 217 yards and a touchdown despite throwing just 17 passes and completing a mere eight of them,while Ben Tate rushed for two touchdowns on the ground to go with 78 yards.
The Browns improve to 3-2 and will travel to Jacksonville next week against the winless Jaguars..

Brownie Bits

1) Let's get the two bad news points out of the way,so we can finish up strong.
Alex Mack looks to have his season finished with a broken leg and Armonty Bryant may have his ended with a torn ACL.
Mack had never missed a snap as a Brown and Bryant was beginning to come into his own as a pass rusher.
Mack was replaced by John Greco,who moved over from guard and Paul McQuistan filled in the guard slot from the bench.
McQuistan was signed from Seattle in the off season and should be decent enough,but Mack is a huge loss..

2) Armonty Bryant's injury adds to a injury depleted defensive line that could be a problem until things improve on the health front.
A defensive line that was missing Ahtyba Rubin and Phil Taylor for the Steelers game took a huge hit with the loss of Bryant,that is something interesting to watch next week.

3) Off to the good news-The key play of the game was the mishandled snap by Brad Wing of the Steelers on a second quarter field goal attempt.
In the big picture,it was no big deal,but until that point,the Steelers had controlled the ball and the game.
That snap changed things and it was all Browns from there.

4) Brian Hoyer gets a rap for not having a huge arm and there are times that the ball tends to hang on the deep throws,but the Browns used Hoyer to throw the ball downfield to excellent effectiveness.
Hoyer only completed eight passes,but all were down the field and attacked the Steelers.
The perennial need six yards throw a three yard pass was gone on this day and they can keep it away.

5) The running game! The Steelers just couldn't stop the zone run system and maybe after all these years Dick LeBeau's defense in Pittsburgh has finally shown a flaw.
Pittsburgh just could not stop the end sweep/runs of Ben Tate and Isaiah Crowell and suddenly the Steelers look like an aging giant on the side of the ball that used to dominate.

6) Jordan Cameron caught just three passes for over 100 yards,but he opened up the middle of the field and exposed the Steeler safeties in coverage.
If Cameron is healthy (and early on,he wasn't),he is a difference maker..

7) Joe Haden bounced back a bit against Antonio Brown and despite Brown's total of over 100 yards,Haden was able to keep him away from the big play that Brown has been able to get so often in the past...

8) Another helpful part of being able to run the football is the play action that can be set when the run has to be respected.
Brian Hoyer was able to freeze the Steeler safeties because they had make sure they were in run coverage on Ben Tate and Isaiah Crowell.
One year ago,this was a team that couldn't run the ball,now they are tremendous on the ground.

9) More run game-This is FINALLY how you build a team to win in Cleveland/AFC North!
The running game has to be the focus of the team in cold weather and all of these West Coast offensive guys that came through Lake Erie never got that.
There is no dome here and the weather gets rough in December-You have to pound the ball and the Browns are finally set up to win on their home field...

10) Keep in mind the next three games are against teams that have combined to win one game.
6-2 is not out of the question,but on the same coin-this team is not good enough to take anyone lightly.
I hope that we all aren't for a fall,but win those games and then you are 6-2 with Josh Gordon only gone for two games after that?
Allow me to dream!

11) Finally,this might be the day that we look back on and say "that game changed things for the Browns and Steelers".
It's just one game,but I have that feeling that one team is on their way up and the other is on the slide.
It's a great feeling as Ernie McCracken once said.