About an hour ago
The Steelers and Cleveland Browns have a rivalry similar to the windshield against the insect.
The real rivalry moved with the real Browns to Baltimore in 1996. Oh, how we laugh.
The real Browns won two Super Bowls in Baltimore. Would they have won if the real Browns had stayed in Cleveland?
No. The key phrase: “in Cleveland”. LeBron James does not play football.
The not really Browns have played a playoff game since NFL football met again in Cleveland in 1999. That was against the Steelers on January 5, 2003. The Browns lost 17 points by 36-33. . Oh, how we laugh.
This was not exactly a vintage Steelers team. Tommy Maddox was the quarterback, Amos Zereoue on the running back. Remember Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala? Me neither. But he scored the winning touchdown with 54 seconds remaining. Mike Logan (from McKeesport himself!) Was intercepted.
The Steelers had some major components in place: Alan Faneca. James Farrior. Casey Hampton. Joey Porter. Aaron Smith. Hines Ward. Jerome Bettis was in the first season of the long twilight of his career. He shared the time with Zereoue, getting a little less shipments. The Steelers won a Super Bowl three seasons later.
From 1999 to 2003, the Steelers went 8-3 against Cleveland. His first NFL game was a 43-0 home loss to Pittsburgh. The Dawg Pound was spayed and neutered. Oh, how we laugh.
In 2004, Ben Roethlisberger appeared on the playground. For the Browns, things went from bad to worse.
Roethlisberger is 24-2-1 against the Browns. This does not include a victory in 2015, when Roethlisberger, recovering from an injury, left the bench when holder Landry Jones was injured and made three touchdowns in a typically uneven 30-9 victory. Oh, how we laugh.
Roethlisberger’s 11 wins at Cleveland’s FirstEnergy stadium were the highest of any QB until Baker Mayfield won this year. Mayfield took more than two seasons to catch and overtake Roethlisberger. This is Mayfield’s home stadium. Not from Roethlisberger. Well, maybe it’s metaphorically.
Roethlisberger cannot gain ground at Mayfield on Sunday when the Steelers visit Cleveland. The Steelers have no benefit other than sowing, so several important Steelers will keep an eye on the playoffs: Roethlisberger, Cam Heyward, Maurkice Pouncey, TJ Watt, perhaps more.
But the Steelers can win anyway. When Bill Belichick coached the real Browns of 1991-94, he was 3-8 against Pittsburgh. (He took his revenge while training New England.)
In all, the Steelers are 36-7-1 against Cleveland since the Browns reappeared. Duck Hodges even beat them last year. Oh, how we laugh.
Sunday’s game, however, is not a game. Steelers don’t have to win. The Browns do. Roethlisberger is not playing. Mayfield is.
Will Mason Rudolph and Myles Garrett play well? This is the only appealing storyline in the game, as well as being greedy.
The Browns removed five players from the coveted list on Thursday, including four wide receivers. But they put two players on the coveted list, including cornerback Denzel Ward. Ward does not stink, a useful and rare commodity in Cleveland. Not just the team. The city too.
Covid closed the Browns’ practice facilities. Panic circulated: will the game be postponed until Monday? If that happens, should the Steelers give up avoiding a short week before a playoff game? Are the NFL teams using disguise to stage a conspiracy against the Steelers? Tennessee, Baltimore, now that.
But the game will not be postponed. If it were, you cannot opt out. The only conspiracy against the Steelers was internal work: until the second half against Indianapolis last Sunday, his attack was not worth it for more than a month and he was unable to run the ball. The Steelers averaged 1.4 yards per pass against the Colts. The dead fall further forward.
The Browns are likely to beat the Steelers with ease. Your fans will scream out loud because they are too stupid to know that it is an enhancement combination.
There will be no rematch in the playoffs. That would be a blessing for the Steelers.
Here you are betting that the Steelers play against Baltimore. This will not be a blessing.
The Browns enjoy a huge advantage: the lucrative corporate brand of Mayfield versus the DIY brand of JuJu Smith-Schuster. Primanti Bros. it is not the enemy.
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Mark Madden Columns | Sports | Steelers / NFL