Steelers try to snap a 76-year curse on Thursday night in Cleveland

Steelers try to snap a 76-year streak on Thursday night in Cleveland

By: Wilson Simons

    The Pittsburgh Steelers have not won a road divisional game on a Thursday night since 1950. They get another crack at it this week, against the team that has made that streak its personal hobby.

    Pittsburgh (2-1) visits the Cleveland Browns (2-1) at 8:15 p.m. ET Thursday at Huntington Bank Field, with first place in the AFC North on the line. Every team in the division is 2-1. The Steelers hold the tiebreaker for now as the only one with a division win.

    History says the Browns hold everything else. Pittsburgh is 0-9 in road Thursday games against divisional opponents in the Super Bowl era, and 0-4 on Thursday nights in Cleveland. The Browns are 6-1 at home against the Steelers since 2019, including Thursday wins in 2022 and 2024, and 9-1 at home on Thursday nights overall. They'll wear their all-brown alternates, which won't help the aesthetics but hasn't hurt the record.

    The Steelers' counter is their new head coach. Mike McCarthy is 17-8 on Thursdays in his career, and his teams have won their last three Thursday road games.

    He'll need that track record against a Browns team riding a quarterback nobody expected to be riding. Deshaun Watson entered the season fighting for his job. Two weeks later, he's the reason Cleveland is on a win streak. In a 23-19 win at Tampa Bay, Watson completed 24 of 30 passes for 238 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions — his best game as a Brown by most accounts. He followed it by leading a late comeback against Carolina on Sunday, finishing 16 of 30 for 144 yards and two touchdowns with 45 rushing yards. It wasn't clean. He threw an interception in the end zone with 2:29 left before rallying for the winning score. But Cleveland has now won two straight in the final minutes behind him.

    Both of Watson's touchdowns Sunday went to second-year tight end Harold Fannin Jr., who led Cleveland with seven catches for 51 yards. That's a problem for a Pittsburgh defense that let Hunter Henry and Eli Raridon make big plays in New England and gave up Mike Gesicki's go-ahead touchdown on fourth-and-2 against Cincinnati. Rookie receiver Denzel Boston is the other name to know. The second-round pick has 195 yards and two touchdowns through three games, including 95 yards and a 55-yard score at Tampa.

    Cleveland's defense might be the bigger issue. Carolina entered Sunday second in the NFL at 35.5 points per game. The Browns held the Panthers to three points in the first half and 18 total. The engine is defensive tackle Mason Graham, the 2025 No. 5 overall pick, who has stepped into the void left by the Myles Garrett trade. Graham had two sacks against Carolina, one on fourth down, and has recorded a sack in all three games. Only Garrett has done that for the Browns to open a season.

    That puts the spotlight back on Pittsburgh's rebuilt right side. Brock Hoffman and rookie Max Iheanachor started for the first time Sunday, and Aaron Rodgers wasn't sacked in the first half. Hoffman allowed zero pressures and made PFF's Week 3 Team of the Week at right guard, for those who put stock in PFF. Graham lines up inside, so Hoffman and center Zach Frazier will see plenty of him.

    On the outside, DK Metcalf finally looked somewhat like a No. 1 receiver against the Bengals, catching his first touchdown of the season. So did the rest of the offense. His likely matchup this week is Denzel Ward, a Pro Bowl corner who has seen plenty of AFC North receivers.

    The ground game will run through Jaylen Warren again. Rico Dowdle (toe) did not practice Monday and is unlikely to play, which means another heavy load for the back who ran for 127 yards on 17 carries and added 49 receiving yards against Cincinnati.

    The biggest concern for Pittsburgh is in the secondary. Jalen Ramsey, who has played every defensive snap this season, was seen in a sling Monday and told reporters Tuesday that his wrist is broken. He was limited in two walkthroughs, and Wednesday's full practice will decide his status. Slot backup Brandin Echols is in the concussion protocol, safety DeShon Elliott is on injured reserve, Jamel Dean is dealing with an ankle issue, and Joey Porter Jr. — a full participant in practice amid heavy trade speculation — has yet to play a snap this season.

    Cleveland has injuries of its own. Starting center Elgton Jenkins did not participate Monday with a concussion.

Prediction:

    So do I protect my heart, pick the history and expect the worst? I did that last week, when the Steelers' offense looked like one of the worst I had ever seen. They scored 30 points. It's Thursday night football and a divisional game, which means anything can happen, and that's why I'm going in with no real expectations.

    But take another look at last week. A roughing-the-punter penalty kept alive the drive that ended in DK Metcalf's touchdown, and a muffed punt set up the field goal that tied it in the fourth quarter. The Bungles' special teams handed Pittsburgh 10 points in a game it won by three. I'm not sure the Steelers win without that, and I'm not counting on Cleveland being that generous.

Browns 20, Steelers 17. Seventy-six years becomes 77.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The USMNT Isn't a Charity Case Anymore

Byline: Wilson Simons      I came into this World Cup an optimist. I've believed for a while that this is the best version of the U.S. men's national team in a long, long time. Even I didn't expect them to take Paraguay apart the way they did.      Four goals in one game. The 2022 U.S. team scored three across the entire tournament in Qatar. This group matched that and then some before halftime was a distant memory, in front of a roaring home crowd in Los Angeles, against a physical CONMEBOL side that was supposed to be the toughest test in the group defensively. Folarin Balogun scored twice, Gio Reyna iced it with a golazo, and the U.S. controlled the ball, the tempo, and the room. That game woke a lot of people up. The USMNT isn't a charity case anymore. They're legit.      Start with the man at the center of it. Christian Pulisic is, arguably, the best player this country has ever produced, and he's spent a chunk of 2026 in a slump at AC M...
Read more

Joey Porter Jr. is a Dallas Cowboy, and of course he is

Joey Porter Jr. is a Dallas Cowboy, and of course he is By: Wilson Simons Update: The Steelers received a 2028 1st round pick, not 2027 like I assumed, My thoughts on that will be below this initial article.      The Steelers have traded Joey Porter Jr. to the Dallas Cowboys. Tom Pelissero reported late Wednesday that the two teams were finalizing the deal, and Ari Meirov reported that Pittsburgh's return is a package that includes a second-round pick. The rest of the package hasn't been reported yet, so I'm reserving a little bit of hope that "and more" means something real.      If you've been following this saga, the destination isn't a surprise. It's practically tradition. George Pickens went to Dallas. Broderick Jones went to Dallas. Mike McCarthy came from Dallas. The Khan-Jones pipeline is the busiest trade route in the NFL, and it only runs one way: Pittsburgh's talent heads south, and Pittsburgh fans head to therapy.      Porter neve...
Read more

Worst Case Scenario Game as Steelers lose to Patriots 20-3

     FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Pittsburgh Steelers' leading receiver Sunday was Germie Bernard, a rookie who had played three offensive snaps in his career. He finished with 35 yards.      That was the high-water mark in a 20-3 loss to the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium, one in which Pittsburgh had more first downs than New England, held the ball seven minutes longer, and never reached the end zone. The Patriots, who did not throw a touchdown pass, evened their record at 1-1. So did the Steelers.      Aaron Rodgers finished 23 of 40 for 187 yards with no touchdowns, an interception and a 59.1 passer rating. He was sacked four times for 43 yards, leaving Pittsburgh with 144 net passing yards and 235 yards of total offense. The Steelers punted seven times.      The play that ended it came 14 seconds into the fourth quarter. Christian Barmore came free off the edge, knocked the ball from Rodgers' hands at the Pittsburgh 19...
Read more