Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns: Full Report Card Grades for Pittsburgh
The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered their biggest margin of defeat to the Cleveland Browns in 25 years Sunday, losing 31-10 at Cleveland.
Not since the infamous 1989 season opener, when they lost 51-0 at Three Rivers Stadium, have the Steelers lost by so many points to the Browns. In 2003, the Browns beat them 33-13 at Pittsburgh. The Steelers went 6-10 that season.
At least the Steelers (3-3) aren't on pace to go 6-10 this year. But after two straight 8-8 seasons, they've again gravitated toward .500. They're 21-21 in their last 42 games going back to Week 15 of the 2011 season.
The Browns (3-2) broke from their trend of nail-biting finishes. Each of their first four games were decided by three points or less. They made sure that didn't happen again by scoring 21 points in the second quarter on Sunday and taking a 21-3 halftime lead. The lead grew to 31-3 before the Steelers scored a meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Even though the Steelers beat the Browns 30-27 in the opener, the Browns owned the momentum in the rivalry after their 24-point comeback in the second half of that game. They've outscored the Steelers 55-13 in their last six quarters against them, and Sunday's win was just their sixth over the Steelers in 33 games since they came back to Cleveland in 1999.
Add in the Browns' rally from 25 points down last week at Tennessee, the biggest road comeback victory in NFL history, and the Browns have outscored their opponents 50-10 in the last six quarters.
The Steelers defense, which already has three starters on the shelf, suffered three more injuries Sunday. Steve McLendon, Brett Keisel and Mike Mitchell were the casualties, according to Scott Brown of ESPN:
"NT Steve McLendon (shoulder sprain), DE Brett Keisel (knee sprain) and S Mike Mitchell (knee sprain) are the injuries of note.
— Scott Brown (@ScottBrown_ESPN) October 12, 2014"
According to Mark Kaboly of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Keisel's injury appears to be minor:
"Keisel said he will be OK. He left late in the game with a left knee injury
— Mark Kaboly (@MarkKaboly_Trib) October 12, 2014"
To add a little insult to those injuries, the Steelers now occupy last place in the AFC North, although they have the same number of wins as the first-place Cincinnati Bengals, who are 3-1-1 after tying the Carolina Panthers 37-37 Sunday.
It's still a winnable division.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Ben Roethlisberger was off the mark on several throws and at times didn't appear to be on the same page with his receivers. He forced some throws to receivers who were blanketed by defensive backs.
Roethlisberger completed 21 of 42 passes. His 50 percent completion rate was his lowest since Week 16 of the 2012 season. He took two sacks on consecutive plays in the third quarter. The Steelers were down 21-3 at the time, but they had been at the Browns' 30. A field goal midway through the third quarter could have ignited a rally. Instead, the Steelers lost seven yards on those two sacks and had to punt.
Roethlisberger's touchdown pass went to Lance Moore for 26 yards with the game out of reach late in the fourth quarter. He threw an interception, but replays showed that Buster Skrine trapped the ball, even though the officials didn't overturn it.
Grade: D
Running Backs
2 of 10
Fifteen of the Steelers' 18 offensive plays in the first quarter were runs, and they gained a pedestrian 57 yards on those plays. That's less than four yards per carry.
LeGarrette Blount ran the ball eight times for 27 yards. He picked up only a yard when the Steelers gave him the ball on 3rd-and-goal from the Browns' 3-yard line in the first quarter, and the Steelers had to settle for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
Le'Veon Bell led the team with 82 yards on 18 carries. Dri Archer carried the ball three times, more than he had in the previous four games combined, and gained 24 yards.
As a team, the Steelers ran the ball 32 times for 138 yards, an average of 4.3 yards per carry. Many of those yards were gained with the game out of hand.
Grade: C-
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
At least the Steelers won't have to deal with any controversy over Antonio Brown's streak this week.
They didn't have to pull any tricks to extend to 22 Brown's streak of at least five receptions and 50 yards. Brown had seven catches for 118 yards Sunday.
The Steelers didn't get much help from the rest of their receivers.
Markus Wheaton had a brutal day. The Steelers' downfall in this game began when he couldn't hang onto a third-down pass from Roethlisberger from the Browns' 17 early in the second quarter.
The Steelers were forced to attempt a field goal to add to their 3-0 lead, but Brad Wing mishandled the snap, and Shaun Suisham couldn't get his foot on the ball. The Browns needed just five plays to go 68 yards and take a 7-3 lead, and that set in motion a 21-point second quarter by the Browns.
Wheaton had another rough possession with the Steelers down 31-3 in the fourth quarter. He was wide-open in the end zone and had his fingers on a pass that was a little overthrown, but he couldn't haul it in. Two plays later, he cut one way at the goal line, and Roethlisberger threw it another way. Wheaton was targeted 11 times, more than any Steelers receiver, but he caught just four of those passes.
Roethlisberger threw to Lance Moore six times, but Moore caught just one of those passes. It happened to be the Steelers' only touchdown.
Heath Miller caught only two passes for 19 yards. He didn't catch his first pass until the Steelers were down 21-3 in the third quarter. It was a six-yard gain that gave the Steelers a first down, but he was thrown to again on the next play and dropped the ball.
Grade: D
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
Somehow Roethlisberger was only sacked twice. But those sacks couldn't have come at a worse time.
The Steelers were down 21-3 and at the Browns' 30 in the third quarter. They could have started chipping away at the Browns' lead with a field goal, but Roethlisberger was sacked twice for a combined seven yards. He then threw an incomplete pass on 3rd-and-17, and the Steelers had to punt.
The line helped the Steelers gain more than four yards a carry, but when they had a chance to take control of the game in the first quarter, they fell short of four yards a carry on the ground.
Grade: C
Defensive Line
5 of 10
Apparently the Steelers' stout run defense of the past three weeks was a mirage.
The Browns were successful with the same types of plays that they ran in their comeback from 27-3 in Week 1. They ran the ball 38 times for 158 yards (4.2 yards per carry) and three touchdowns. They gained almost as many yards on the ground as the Steelers allowed in their previous three games combined.
Ben Tate ran for 78 yards and two touchdowns. Isaiah Crowell had 77 yards on just 11 carries and scored on a five-yard run to give the Browns a 7-3 lead in the second quarter.
Cameron Heyward had the Steelers' only sack and led the defensive linemen with four combined tackles.
Grade: F
Linebackers
6 of 10
The Steelers had just one sack for the third-straight week. For the second time in those three weeks, they had no sacks from a linebacker. Sean Spence was the only one to even get a quarterback hit, according to ESPN.com.
Jason Worilds had two tackles for loss and Lawrence Timmons and James Harrison both had one. Timmons led the Steelers with 10 tackles.
Tate and Crowell appeared to run through huge holes on their cutbacks all afternoon, and on two occasions tight ends were embarrassingly wide-open for big plays.
The first one came with the Steelers leading 3-0 early in the second quarter. Brian Hoyer faked a handoff, rolled one way and then threw back across the field to Jordan Cameron for a 42-yard reception. On the next play, Crowell put the Browns ahead with a five-yard touchdown run.
In the third quarter, Hoyer used the same play to find Jim Dray for his only catch of the game. It led to a field goal and a 24-3 Browns lead.
Grade: F
Defensive Backs
7 of 10
When Mike Mitchell is the only bright spot in the secondary, the Steelers are in trouble.
Mitchell broke up two passes, according to ESPN.com, and forced a fumble that Cortez Allen recovered. The Steelers' only takeaway didn't come until they were down 31-3.
Mitchell and Allen both committed pass-interference penalties on the touchdown drive that increased the Browns' lead to 31-3.
Hoyer completed just eight passes, but he threw for 217 yards. That's 11 yards less than Roethlisberger threw for, and Roethlisberger completed 21 passes. Hoyer connected on passes of 51, 42, 31, 31 and 24 yards.
Tight end Jordan Cameron led the Browns with three catches for 102 yards and a 51-yard touchdown. Miles Austin was their top receiver, catching the ball twice for 29 yards.
Allen was frequently targeted and seemed to regress after two straight games with an interception.
Grade: D
Special Teams
8 of 10
Everything began to unravel for the Steelers when Wing botched the hold on Suisham's field-goal attempt early in the second quarter. The Steelers could have had a modest 6-0 lead. Instead, they were down 7-3 less than two minutes later, and the Browns never looked back.
Archer just can't seem to reach the 20-yard line whenever he runs a kickoff out of the end zone, and the Steelers averaged 2.8 yards on four punt returns. Antonio Brown had nine on two returns. Archer returned one two yards, and Vince Williams is credited with a return even though all he did was down it.
Wing punted better than he held for the field goal, averaging 46 yards on seven punts.
Grade: F
Coaching
9 of 10
The Steelers again were conservative early in the game, running the ball 15 times on the first 18 offensive plays.
The Steelers stayed committed to the run in the red zone. A pass-interference penalty gave them the ball at the Browns' 7-yard line, and they reached the 3-yard line on two runs.
They threw the ball in the red zone too much last week, but third down from the 3-yard line would have been a good situation to throw. Instead, they gave it to LeGarrette Blount, who picked up just one yard. Three yards is a little too much ground for a short-yardage bruiser like Blount. The Steelers settled for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.
With the Steelers down 14-3 in the second quarter, Archer ran it 15 yards, and Bell picked up six yards and three yards on the next two plays. So on 3rd-and-1, Roethlisberger went into the shotgun and threw an incompletion. The Browns made it 21-3 on their next possession.
Another questionable call was the Steelers' decision to punt, down 31-3, with 12:09 left in the game. They were in four-down territory at that point.
The Steelers seemed ready to play at the start of the game. They played a better first quarter than they did against Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. But they appeared mentally fragile when they fell apart so quickly after the aborted field goal. That's a reflection of the leadership.
Grade: D
Final Grades
10 of 10
| Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
| QB | D |
| RB | C- |
| WR/TE | D |
| OL | C |
| DL | F |
| LB | F |
| DB | D |
| Special Teams | F |
| Coaching | D |
| Cumulative Grade | F |
The Steelers held the Browns to minus-eight yards of offense in the first quarter, but they again failed to score a touchdown in the red zone and couldn't take command of the game. They followed one decent quarter of football with three awful quarters of football.
This performance is a failure because of how quickly the Steelers collapsed in the second quarter. They were out of the game by halftime against a .500 ballclub that needed all 60 minutes to get its two wins.
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