Pittsburgh Steelers host rival Cleveland Browns

By: Melo Williams 

It’s Week 2, Division Week around the NFL and the Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1) host the Cleveland Browns (1-0).

The biggest question heading into Week 2? Was that really what we should expect to see from the 2023 Steelers, or was Week 1 disaster, just an aberration?

Tonight’s game will be decided in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Najee Harris vs. Nick Chubb on offense and T.J. Watt vs. Myles Garrett on defense.

Defense:

T.J. Watt has had great success against the Cleveland Browns. He has 15 sacks in 10 games, 58 tackles, with 18 tackles for a loss. Watt enters the game with 80.5 career sacks which ties him with James Harrison for the franchise all time sack leader.

The player from the Cleveland offense that worries me the most is running back Nick Chubb, or as Coach Tomlin called Nick Chubb “Mr. Chubb.”

The last time Chubb played in Pittsburgh, he tied his career high in catches with five and had his fourth-highest receiving yardage total at 45.

Chubb has 141 carries, and 653 yards, with 3 TDs in nine games against the Steelers.  In Week 1 vs. the Cincinnati Bengals, Chubb rushed for 106 yards on 18 carries averaging 5.9 yards per carry.

His abilities as a dual back dating back to his days at Georgia have always made Nick Chubb special.

It’s going to be very important for Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin to zone in on slowing down and limiting Nick Chubb’s impact on the game as much as possible.

Austin said “I think that especially in this League if you show some vulnerability, if you show some weakness, teams are going to take advantage of it until you correct it, and until we correct it, we can expect it to happen,” Austin said of the run defense. “It’s our job, starting with me, to make sure we put our guys in the right place to make the plays so we can correct it and get it corrected so that people aren’t doing that to us.”

With Cam Heyward out with a groin injury, I expect Steelers rookie from Wisconsin, Keeanu Benton’s role to increase. In 29 snaps in his debut, the Steelers rookie earned the second-highest PFF grade out of any rookie in Week 1, though most of those snaps came after Heyward didn’t return from the groin injury.

Benton will leap the more he plays given the team’s needs on the interior of the defensive line.

“Well, I thought for a first time I thought he did well. He’s active, he’s strong, all the things that we thought, and he did a pretty good job,” Austin said.  “I think in terms of rotation, I think he got a good amount of snaps. I don’t know if we’re going to be in a position to move him around to a bunch of places as a young guy. I don’t think that’s always effective. We’ll just kind of let him play out where he is and see where that takes us.”

“He showed that he’s kind of what we thought,” Austin said. “He’s really powerful. He moves well. The things that he’s going to be inexperienced on are the blocking schemes coming at him, how those things affect him, and how he should play. But I like him. I think he can play multiple positions along the line, but right now we want to try to keep him coming, so we may try to keep him a little bit where he is and let him grow that way.”

Benton’s growth and development as a rookie will continue tonight against the Browns, but don’t be surprised if Benton even gets the nod for the start against Cleveland at nose tackle and has a huge impact in defending the run tonight.

Offense:

Kenny Pickett’s one game vs. the Cleveland Browns is 13-29, 195 yards, 1 TD, averaging 6.7 yards per throw.

In Week 1 vs. San Francisco, Pickett didn’t get many nods of approval of his performance by #HereWeGo Nation.

Yes the Steelers fell behind very quickly and that is the defense’s responsibility, however, that was the perfect time for Kenny Pickett to step up and excel in a leadership role as the franchise quarterback with the skilled players lining up with him like Diontae Johnson who eventually got injured, George Pickens, Calvin Austin, Pat Freuermuth, and Najee Harris out the backfield.

Pickett went 31-46 (67.4%) for 232 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT.

Can Pittsburgh’s offensive line protect Pickett from Cleveland’s pass rush is the question that will play largely on Pickett’s performance.

The Steelers pass protection surrendered 23 pressures on 54 total dropbacks against the 49ers.

Myles Garrett has 7 sacks in 11 games, 34 tackles, with 8 tackles for a loss vs. Pittsburgh. Opportunities for Maurice Hurst to be impactful and Za’Darius Smith could have success rushing in the B gap if the Steelers’s offensive line doesn’t do a good job of picking up Brown’s defensive attacks.

Against San Francisco, the Steelers had four three-and-outs, and an interception on the first five possessions, and the offense scored just one touchdown and gained 239 yards for the entire game.

“We didn’t expect that,” Canada said. “I’m not running from it. We didn’t perform well, and it’s disappointing. But everything we’ve done in the spring and summer, I don’t have any doubt that it’s going to be better.

“How much better? I’m not going to make any big, bold predictions, but we didn’t play like we played or practiced. I don’t have the answers why, but we’re working on it and evaluating it. We were just surprised with the whole deal.”

Pittsburgh was 5 for 15 on third downs and 1 for 4 on fourth downs. They had 77 total yards at halftime, with all but one of those yards coming on the final drive. Of the six first downs they got on the final drive, two came via penalties by the 49ers.

Najee Harris has 92 carries, 415 yards, 4 TDs, and 17.4 yards per carry, in his career against the Cleveland Browns.

The Steelers found themselves in a double-digit hole early in last week’s game vs. the San Francisco 49ers and Harris finished the game with just 31 yards on six carries, including a 24-yard gain on one play. He also had two catches for two receiving yards.

The Cleveland Browns defense isn’t that many steps behind the San Francisco 49ers defense, so the Steelers offense will be up for a challenge all night.

“This is a really, really good defense,” Canada said. “They went out and held Joe Burrow and the Bengals to three points. We have a tremendous challenge. We have to answer that. We have to go out and play much better football at a much higher level than we did.”

I expect that offensive coordinator Matt Canada will come out with better play-calling in the first series of possessing the ball and get Najee Harris going early in a game that will be decided by the inches in the trenches.

Injury Report:

A major part of the Browns’ offense likely won’t be available tonight, according to ESPN, wide receiver Amari Cooper aggravated a groin injury at practice on Saturday and is now listed as ‘questionable.’

For the Steelers, as expected they’ll be without Cam Heyward as he underwent surgery for a groin injury.

Diontae Johnson will also not play due to a hamstring injury and running back Anthony McFarland, Jr. will be out of the lineup with a knee injury.

Wide receiver George Pickens was limited in practice on Saturday with a hamstring injury but is expected to play tonight.

Without Johnson, the Steelers will rely on George Pickens, Calvin Austin, and Allen Robinson at wide receiver. Gunner Olszewski and Miles Boykin are expected to take on larger roles as well.

Without McFarland, the team will turn to Austin or Olszewski as their kick returner, and will likely utilize Connor Heyward as their third running back on the depth chart.

Prediction:
Though the Browns are favored to win, the Steelers will win 24-17.

SERIES RECORD: Steelers lead 80-62-1.

LAST MEETING: Steelers beat Browns 28-14 on Jan. 8, 2023, in Pittsburgh.

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