It turned out to be a non-factor as the Browns played a solid game and against an offensively challenged Pittsburgh team, it was enough to grab a 29-17 win and perhaps offset the loss to the Jets as the "Road to Watson" continues.
Nick Chubb rushed for 113 yards and a touchdown with Jacoby Brissett throwing for 220 yards and two touchdowns and just as importantly- no interceptions.
Amari Cooper caught seven passes for 101 yards with David Njoku grabbing nine for 89 yards with both receivers catching a Brissett touchdown pass.
The now 2-1 Browns will have ten days before they travel to Atlanta for a trip against the currently 0-2 Falcons.
Brownie Bits
1) You may make an argument that Nick Chubb isn't the best back in the NFL and there are plenty of quality backs that could be slotted as the best on anyone's list.
However, there isn't a team in the league that has two backs like Chubb and Kareem Hunt.
The pair rushed for a combined 160 yards on the evening and it was their physical running that wore down the Steeler defense in the second half.
2) Jacoby Brissett did exactly what the Browns need from him for the third week in a row and while the competition hasn't been as tough as the teams to come, it's the type of steady performance that will need to continue for the Browns to have success.
3) Kevin Stefanski has stated from his arrival how much he loves to have tight ends as a key piece of his offense and the Browns are paying David Njoku a large amount of money as their starter, yet often ignoring him as part of the offense.
Jacoby Brissett threw to Njoku ten times with nine of those passes being caught for eighty-nine yards and a score.
Njoku is the Browns' second-best receiving option and Brissett almost doubled the passes to Njoku in the first two games (six) which gives me hope that the tight end-friendly offense may be getting chummy with David Njoku.
4) Amari Cooper's night was good but could have been better with two drops of the four passes that he didn't catch on the evening.
I still think that Cooper will be far improved by the end of the season and even with the best players, there is a learning curve for anyone after they change teams, so I'm far from worried.
5) The Browns lost two of their starting linebackers as Anthony Walker was carted off the field with a leg injury that will cost Walker a significant amount of time at a minimum and perhaps the season as the injury looked pretty serious in my non-medical opinion.
6) Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah suffered a groin injury early in the third quarter and will have an MRI today.
Should JOK miss some time along with the injury to Anthony Walker, the Browns, who under Andrew Berry seem to undervalue the linebacker position at times, may have to go shopping for a linebacker.
Sione Takitaki and Jacob Phillips would be fine as starters but that will take a huge toll on the depth chart which would have only Tony Fields and special teamer Jordan Kunaszyk as reserves.
Fields saw some playing time in the second half and finished with a solo and an assisted tackle in his time.
7) Generally, I try not to whine too much about cheap shots because you could see them on every play if you look for them but on the Anthony Walker injury play, Pittsburgh tackle Chuwuma Okorafor delivered one as Walker lie face down as the play continued elsewhere Okorafor decided to land a big splash reminiscent of Crusher Blackwell on AWA wrestling.
It was uncalled for and Okorafor should have been penalized for unnecessary roughness.
Okorafor wasn't, although he was flagged for illegal man downfield on the play.
8) Jacob Phillips made an impact after the departures of Anthony Walker and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah late in the game as Phillips sacked Mitch Trubisky and made a key deflection near the goal line on the final Steeler drive that helped hold them to a field goal.
Phillips has always been a talented player and after missing much of 2021, this could be his chance to break into the starting lineup for good.
9) Might be time to place a call to Texas for a little Phil Dawson instruction for Cade York as York hit the right upright for the second time in two starts in Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Cold weather stadiums are difficult places to kick and it seems like the stadiums that are located near water (Cleveland, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati as a few examples) are even worse as the winds can move the ball around like a baseball knuckleball.
Don't get me wrong, I still think the world of Cade York and think he'll develop into an excellent kicker but Cleveland is a tough place to kick and it hasn't even gotten cold yet!
10) Give the Steelers credit for effort, especially on two plays.
On Pittsburgh's first touchdown, Najee Harris shoved John Johnson aside with a stiff arm that reminded me of "Pat Healey" classic touchdown run in "There's something about Mary".
11) On the other play, Pittsburgh rookie George Pickens made a catch that may have exceeded the classic Odell Beckham one-handed grab.
Pickens elevated and hung horizontally in mid-air with Martin Emerson providing close coverage and reached out to snatch the football with one hand AND remain inbounds.
The gain was thirty-six yards and Pickens had two other catches in the game for a combined total of three yards.
It was a head-shaking play by the second-rounder from Georgia that I so badly wanted the Browns to find a way to draft in my pre-draft rankings.
Pickens was available for Cleveland in the second round before the decision to make a trade and traded down with Houston in return for a third-rounder and two fourth-rounders.
12) It was nice to see Jack Conklin back in the lineup for the first time this season at right tackle and the Browns offensive line immediately improved with the veteran's return to the lineup.
Cleveland also used backup lineman Michael Dunn as an extra tight end five times on a second-half touchdown drive to give the Browns extra strength to push the Steelers off the ball.
It worked well as the Browns scored the go-ahead touchdown on an eleven-play, eighty-yard drive- ten of the eleven plays were running plays.
13) The defensive communication issues were solved for this week but I'll reserve judgment until I see how they do in Atlanta against the Falcons, who are 0-2 but have scored 53 points in their two losses and lost both games close to New Orleans by one and to the Los Angeles Rams by four.
The Falcons issues aren't on offense so this will be an interesting game to see if the secondary problems are truly solved.
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