Browns' Signature Win over Steelers Marks Turning Point in Race for AFC North

It was surprising when the Cleveland Browns nearly came back to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1.

It was stunning when the Browns upended the New Orleans Saints in Week 2.

It was cute when the they made the Baltimore Ravens work for it in Week 3, and interesting when they again rallied late to beat the Tennessee Titans last week.

Until the Browns put a team away early, though, or made some noise in the division, they were always going to be an interesting footnote to our national football Sundays.

In Week 6's home rematch against the Steelers, the Browns finally figured out how to play a fourth quarter in the first half—and finally entered the national conversation as a playoff contender.

Already without suspended star receiver Josh Gordon and two starting defensive linemen, the Browns lost end Armonty Bryant and Pro Bowl center Alex Mack during the game. Nevertheless, they finally found their first-half mojo, dropping a 21-0 second quarter on the Pittsburgh Steelers en route to a massive 31-10 win.

Balancing the Force

For the second week in a row, running back Ben Tate carried the load for the Browns. He didn't gain a lot of yards with his 25 carries (78), averaging just 3.1 yards per carry, but his two touchdown runs helped salt the Steelers away.

David Richard/Associated Press

His backfield partner, Isaiah Crowell, provided a change-of-pace spark. He averaged a gain of seven yards per carry across his 11 rushes, including opening the second quarter's touchdownfest with a five-yard scoring run and taking a pitch for 24 yards in the third quarter.

This is how the Browns offense was always supposed to look: a power-running committee grinding out yards and extending drives, taking pressure off the passing game.

Quarterback	Team	Yds/Att	Game
Brian Hoyer	CLE	12.8	W6 vs. PIT
Matt Ryan	ATL	11.9	W3 vs. TAM
Brian Hoyer	CLE	11.6	W3 vs. BAL
Andy Dalton	CIN	11.0	W2 vs. ATL
Matthew Stafford	DET	10.8	W1 vs. NYG

Meanwhile, Brian Hoyer was doing everything a quarterback in Kyle Shanahan's offense is supposed to do: take care of the football, sell the play action and bomb it over the top of the defense.

Hoyer completed just 47.1 percent of his 17 pass attempts, but he averaged a monster 27.1 yards per completion and a huge 12.8 yards per attempt. Per Pro-Football-Reference.com, no starting quarterback has averaged more than 12 yards per attempt in a full game all season.

Hoyer not only hit unheralded receivers Travis Benjamin and tight end Jim Dray for 31-yard receptions, but he found Pro Bowl tight end Jordan Cameron for his first touchdown of the season—and it was a 51-yarder that broke the game wide open:

With nearly one-third of its games already in the books, the Browns offense is just hitting its stride.

Forcing Imbalance

New head coach Mike Pettine's strength was supposed to be defense.

Despite a wealth of talent in the front seven and a potentially great cornerback trio in Joe Haden, first-round rookie Justin Gilbert and Buster Skrine, the Browns hadn't exactly been a brick wall.

They'd allowed an average of 26.2 points a game coming into the second Steelers matchup, per Pro-Football-Reference.com, just 24th best in the NFL. "Twenty-fourth best," by the way, is a polite way of saying "ninth worst." With a notably poor season from Haden and little impact from youngsters like Gilbert and Barkevious Mingo, Pettine's specialty wasn't looking very special.

Against the Steelers, though, the Browns defense proved its mettle from wire to wire.

It managed to keep a lid on sensational sophomore running back Le'Veon Bell, holding him to just 82 yards on 18 carries, per ESPN.com, and a long of just 12 yards.

When the Browns offense started scoring points in bunches, the Steelers were forced to air it out—and the defense did a great job of keeping the Steelers one-dimensional.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed just half of his 42 pass attempts and averaged a gain of just 5.4 yards with each attempt. He found the end zone just once—in the fourth quarter when the game was long since over—and fed the much-maligned Skrine his first interception of the year.

Revenge of the Six

With the Ravens blowing out the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Cincinnati Bengals tying the Carolina Panthers, the Browns have moved up in the AFC North.

Mack's loss, who was a key component of the Browns' one-cut run game, could be huge, per Mary Kay Cabot of the Northeast Ohio Media Group:

Yet, the Browns are already missing plenty of players and will get more talent back than they've lost in this game. Besides the Week 5 return of Tate, the Browns' key offseason acquisition, they'll be getting Gordon back in Week 12, with pivotal games against the Bengals and Ravens left to play.

Imagine how effective Hoyer's downfield passing game will be then.

Until this win, the Browns have been this generation's Kardiac Kids, taking every single game down to the wire. They haven't lost a contest by more than a field goal, but they hadn't won a game by more than a safety. This emphatic win not only proves they can control a game from start to finish—it places them definitively above the Steelers.

At 3-3, the Steelers are sitting in the basement, looking up at the 3-2 Browns. The 3-1-1 Bengals are ahead by just that tie, and the Ravens are one win ahead at 4-2. The Browns already have their bye behind them and a very winnable three-game stretch ahead of them. After facing the Jacksonville Jaguars, Oakland Raiders and Buccaneers, Hoyer and the Browns could be a shocking 6-2 at the halfway mark.

Johnny who?