The Cleveland Browns get their first chance to show what they’ve got on primetime football tonight as their divisional rival Pittsburgh Steelers travel to FirstEnergy Stadium. After getting punched in the gut a week ago against the New York Jets, this game will tell a great deal about what this team and locker room are made of.
After the rest of the AFC North stumbled just as hard as the Browns did in Week 2, Cleveland still has a chance to take over as the leaders in the division with a win tonight (at least until Sunday). The Steelers and Browns both sit at 1-1 entering this matchup, so it has the makings of another high-anxiety outing.
How do the Browns come away from this game with a 2-1 record? We dive headfirst into that conversation now.
Jacoby stays positive on touchdown-to-interception Ratio
What has separated Jacoby Brissett from Baker Mayfield a year ago thus far has been his ability to keep the football out of harm’s way. Through two games, Brissett has turned the ball over just one time, and it came with 11 seconds left in the game when he was forced to push the football down the field and into field goal range.
This is the recipe for winning with him under center the next nine games. The Browns do not need Brissett to blow the doors off of the stadium, but they need to take care of the football and be efficient. And thus far he has answered the call.
Brissett currently sits in the top-10 of just about every efficiency metric out there, including sitting seventh in DVOA and ninth in DYAR according to Football Outsiders. More of the same should give the Browns a comfortable win over the Steelers, but it should have also given them a comfortable win over the Jets as well.
Even if Brissett is just one passing touchdown to no interceptions, he has put the Browns in the position to win the football game.
Browns do not blow a single coverage
A players-only meeting has been called. And that should be a relief as it would be more concerning had they just chosen to ignore the glaringly obvious through two games. Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has stated communication against the pass has been the emphasis as well.
Good.
After two straight weeks where the Browns have blown two-score leads in the fourth quarter due to blown coverages, this is the last week they have to prove they can get their act together without the serious discussion of somebody getting fired.
This Steelers’ offense is anemic. Quarterback Mitchell Trubisky has put bottom tier quarterback play on tape, they cannot run the football, and their offensive line should be quite overmatched. This, however, was the same against Mayfield and the Panthers as well, but allowed 65% of their yards to strike on two blown coverages and a screen pass.
As long as the secondary figures it out (big ask), the Browns should roll against the Steelers.
Keep Anthony Walker Jr. on the field full time
Keeping MIKE linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. on the field full time might go quite a ways for this team to stay within themselves and towards getting their communication woes handled. As the Browns are currently rotating the defensive communication duties between Walker Jr. and Jacob Phillips, the play of number 5 has been significantly better. Keep him as the main communicator.
Walker Jr. has also stepped up as quite the leader this week, as a team captain should, saying all of the right things during his media availability. Walker Jr. has taken blame that was not his to take and stepped up for this team after getting punched in the mouth. The Cleveland Browns are quite lucky to have Walker Jr. as a leader on this football team.
He is been significantly better than Phillips through two weeks, he is a leader on the defense, and the Browns need to simplify their communication systems. Keep Walker Jr. on the field.
Just put 20 points on the board
For a team that is tied with the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs in the percentage of drives that end in points (top in the league), the Browns have not had much issue putting the scoreboard operator to work. The same cannot be said about the Steelers as previously mentioned.
Their offense has scored just two touchdowns all season long, with kicker Chris Boswell being their leading scorer on the season. There should be no reason the Browns should not be able to outscore this offense.
If the Browns can even put 20 points on the scoreboard, that should be more than enough as the only time the Steelers surpassed that this year was on an overtime field goal (that took all 15 minutes of overtime to hit). It is simple math, the team that scores the most points wins, and the Browns have proven to have a significantly better offense while playing two talented defenses thus far.
Should the Browns get out early and force the Steelers out of their game plan, that will put a great deal of pressure on Trubisky. This is the blueprint.
