PITTSBURGH — The Browns suffered a 23-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, but that’s just what the scoreboard said.
Here are the real winners and losers from the game:
Loser: Surehandedness
Not to be ludicrous, but maybe we should suggest Cleveland’s pass catchers apply the pine tar Rashid “Hot Hands” Hanon used in the 1994 film, “Little Giants.”
Because we can’t keep talking about this every week.
Catch the ball.
It was more apparent than ever against the Steelers that Cleveland’s pass catchers cannot possess the ball with their hands.
Here are just a couple of examples:
In the first quarter on a third-and-19, Gabriel’s pass for Jerry Jeudy was on the money, but dropped.
Late in the second quarter on the trail for a touchdown, Jeudy caught an 11-yard pass to position the Browns 34 yards away from the end zone.
The very next play? Jeudy dropped it.
On a second-and-10 while 35 yards away from the end zone, Gabriel’s pass was on the money again, to Harold Fannin Jr., but it went straight through his hands.
Going into Week 6, Cleveland was tied for ninth in the NFL in dropped passes (nine), per Pro Football Reference. Of its nine drops, five belonged to Jeudy, tying him for first among NFL receivers.
This team led the NFL in dropped passes (49) last season. The year before, they finished second (42).
The audacity.
Winner: Kickers
Andre Szmyt and Chris Boswell represented for kickers across the NFL.
A defensive game led to offenses being halted early, setting up their kickers.
They were there when their teams needed them.
Boswell accounted for 11 of Pittsburgh’s 23 points. He also had all of Pittsburgh’s nine first-half points, which featured a 50-yarder. His only miss was a 54-yarder late in the game when he slipped on the beat-up grass field during his kick.
Szmyt scored all of Cleveland’s nine points.
Nuff’ said.
Loser: Pocket presence
It’s hard to get rid of the ball on a timely basis if the offensive line allows the defensive line to walk into the pocket.
Gabriel was sacked six times.
It’s not as though he held onto the ball. He only spent 2.61 seconds in the pocket, which ranked fourth among all quarterbacks once Sunday concluded, per Next Gen Stats.
One sack that hurt to watch came late in the second quarter.
Derrick Harmon and Alex Highsmith were credited with the split sack on Gabriel, but there must’ve been three-four guys who simultaneously got into the pocket.
Cleveland finished 2024 ranked second in the NFL in sacks allowed (66), and third in most sack yards lost (373).
When Sunday concluded, they ranked 10th in sacks allowed (17) and eighth in sack yards lost (100).
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It’s gotten to the point where Steelers cornerback Jalen Ramsey is excited to tell his children about the day he earned more sacks (2.0) than T.J. Watt and Myles Garrett combined.
“I’m gonna probably tell my kids about this. I played in a game with (Watt) and (Garrett) and I had two sacks,” Ramsey said.
Loser: The Browns’ red-zone run game
Thanks to a defensive pass interference, Cleveland sat 3 yards away from the end zone during their first series of the final quarter.
Just 3 yards, with a fresh set of downs while trailing 23-6.
The series ended in a 32-yard field goal from Szmyt to make it a 23-9 game.
Usually, 3 yards would prompt a run. Even if it’s for no gain on the first play, you get three more shots at it.
Instead, Cleveland elected to pass each time.
First play? An incompletion. Second play? Gabriel was sacked for a loss of 11. Third play? Another incompletion.
Why wasn’t Quinshon Judkins used at all in the short-yardage situation?
And in the fourth quarter at that?
It should’ve been no different than the Browns’ fourth-down attempts, where coach Kevin Stefanski uses Adin Huntington at fullback for extra blocking to make way for Judkins.
Judkins finished with 36 yards on 12 carries. By that point, it was 30 yards on 10 carries. Not the most staggering numbers at an average of three yards per carry.
How many yards did Cleveland need again to score a touchdown?
Loser: Cameron Thomas
The little things…it always comes down to them.
Early in the second half, both offenses were still searching for rhythm. Pittsburgh’s first series of the half was halted when Denzel Ward’s tight coverage on DK Metcalf forced a fourth-and-4.
Pittsburgh punted.
Then came Cleveland’s Cameron Thomas running into Steelers punter Corliss Waitman.
Thomas was hit with the penalty, and the moment gave Pittsburgh a first down.
They took advantage and scored seven plays later. Jaylen Warren delivered a nice undercut block on Alex Wright, giving Aaron Rodgers time before he zipped it to Connor Heyward for the 12-yard touchdown for a 16-3 lead.
“It’s frustrating in these moments, of course, but I’ve got guys in there that understand what’s in front of us,” Stefanski said postgame. “They understand the things that we have to clean up. And we’ve got leadership on the football team that will bring the young guys along.”
With the way the Browns offense is struggling, they don’t want to give the opposing offense any room for free first downs.
Thomas did.
And it gave room for Pittsburgh to account for the game’s first touchdown, and extend the lead.
Loser: Myles Garrett
Garrett is notorious for his graveyard around Halloween, filled with “tombs” of the quarterbacks he’s sacked over the years.
He had referenced his desire to add the Steelers’ Aaron Rodgers to the list ahead of Sunday.
“I’d be honored to put (Rodgers) in the graveyard, and definitely a lot of respect for what he’s done in his career, because he’s special,” Garrett said Friday.
The $40 million-a-year man will have to wait until Dec. 28 to make that happen, because he was contained on Sunday.
Stopping No. 95 was at the top of their gameplan coming off the Week 5 bye.
“That’s one of the first things that Coach Tomlin put up on the board in the team meeting on Monday. (Garrett’s) a game wrecker,” right tackle Troy Fautanu said.
Pittsburgh put Broderick Jones on Garrett, while routinely using double-teams on him.
They were ready.
The gameplan worked to a tee and held Garrett two tackles. That’s it.
Garrett has yet to accumulate even half a sack since the Week 3 win over Green Bay.
Furthermore, before Sunday, there were five such games in which Garrett finished with no sacks versus Pittsburgh, the most recent coming in Week 2 of the 2023 season.
Make that six games after Sunday.
Winner: Gabriel’s stat line
Gabriel finished Sunday with 221 yards on a 55.8% completion rate. Once again, he accounted for no individual turnovers.
But it could’ve changed if Pittsburgh’s defense didn’t have trouble catching some of his passes.
There were several, but we’ll focus on a couple in the final quarter.
Early on, Gabriel’s pass to tight end Njoku hovered slightly above his fingers and was nearly intercepted by former Brown Juan Thornhill.
During the Browns’ second-to-last series, Gabriel’s pass for Jeudy was dropped by rookie Jack Sawyer.
If Pittsburgh caught even two of those drops, we’d be looking at Gabriel’s performance a little differently.
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