Meaningful football

The last time the Browns played a meaningful game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Butch Davis was in his second season as the head coach, Kelly Holcomb was the quarterback and the game was played in Pittsburgh.

The year was 2003. The date: January 5. The scene: One of the National Football League’s two AFC wild-card games. The sweet aroma of the postseason. History records it as the only playoff game the resurrected Browns ever played.

The Browns held leads of 24-7 early in the third quarter and 33-21 late in the fourth quarter before the Steelers rallied to win, 36-33, in the game’s final minute.

And now the Browns, who began the 2019 season losing six of their first eight games, finally play their long-time rivals in a meaningful game Sunday in Pittsburgh after all those frustrating seasons of godforsaken football that has rendered their constituency longing for anything that resembles hope.

Playing football in Pittsburgh has been a way-too-long exercise in futility for the current iteration of this franchise. The last time they emerged victorious in the Steel City was Oct. 5 in 2003. They lug a 15-game losing streak there  into Sunday’s game.

The Steelers are one of the NFL’s toughest teams at home under the stewardship of Mike Tomlin, who is 81-29 on home turf since 2007. He has never lost to the Browns in Three Rivers Stadium.

The litany of losing there extends deeper into the past with only the one victory in the last 20 visits and just two in the last 28. No wonder coach Freddie Kitchens cautions calling this a rivalry is incorrect.

“It takes two to have a rivalry,” he said earlier this week. “So we’ve got to do our part. That’s not going to sit well with some people, but to me, you’ve got to win your share to make it a rivalry.”

Kitchens, whose club handled the Steelers, 21-7, a couple of weeks ago, will try to do something this franchise has not done against the Steelers for more than three decades. The last time the Browns swept a season series against the Steelers was in 1988 when they were the original Browns and Bernie Kosar was the quarterback.

They were so dominant back then, they swept three straight season series against Pittsburgh in the Mark Malone-Bubby Brister era. Since 1999, though, the Steelers have swept a dozen season series against Cleveland. That’s the kind of dominance that caused Kitchens to throw up the caution flag.

Tomlin, whose job of preventing the Browns from not only a season sweep but avoiding falling into a second-place tie with them in the AFC North with a loss, is coaching at a distinct disadvantage.

He no longer has quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (injured), running back Le’Veon Bell (now with the New York Jets) and wide receiver Antonio Brown (self destructed) to rely on when in trouble. JuJu Smith-Schuster, his best wide receiver is out, as is James Conner, his best running back.

The defense that harassed Mason Rudolph, who replaced Roethlisberger, into four interceptions a couple of weeks ago, will face Devlin Hodges, an undrafted free agent who came off the bench and rallied the Steelers past winless Cincinnati last week after Rudolph was benched. Benny Snell Jr. and Jaylen Samuels shoulder the run game.

It will be interesting to see how the Browns, whose confidence appears to be growing with every victory, respond to the importance of this game. Their three-game wining streak shows they are learning how to win games, which is a vital part of the process.

This franchise has played football in self-destruct mode for so long, all teams have to do is wait around patiently and eventually the Browns will do something that shatters any chance of winning a game.

But there have been signs lately indicate that might be changing. Entering the red zone this season has proved more dangerous for the Browns than the opposition, During the winning streak, however, the Browns have entered the zone 12 times and Baker Mayfield has thrown seven touchdown passes.

He has also thrown only one interception in the last four games after throwing 12 in the first seven, and has been sacked just six times in that span after being decked 21 times in the first seven.

The Pittsburgh defense, which thrives on sacks (38) and takeaways (28), has played only two games this season where it did not cause at least one turnover – the opener against New England and the Browns game two weeks ago, both losses.

As was the case in the first game, the key to keeping the Steelers’ defense relatively quiet rests with the offensive line, which kept Mayfield clean in the first game. He was sacked just once. Offensive right tackle Chris Hubbard received plenty of help from a tight end against outstanding Pittsburgh outside linebacker T. J.  Watt.

Speaking of tight ends, indications are David Njoku, injured in the second game of the season, is ready to return. His absence is one of the reasons Mayfield has had problems this season. If he returns, that opens up things for wide receivers Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr.

It will also be interesting to see how tightly the officials call this one, considering the first game ended in a brawl in the final seconds when Browns defensive end Myles Garrett and Rudolph tangled.

It cost 33 players nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in fines. Garrett’s ultimate suspension will keep him inactive until next season. But the Browns got some good news when defensive end Olivier Vernon was cleared to play against the Steelers.

One more important factor: The Steelers will be without All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey, an active participant in that brawl serving the final part of his two-game suspension. Losing the anchor of that offensive line is a huge break for the Browns.

The second game against a division rival is never easy to win, especially on the road and extra especially because it’s Pittsburgh. But talent will be the deciding factor in this one. One team is loaded on offense from a skill standpoint; the other isn’t even close. 

Nick Chubb racks up his sixth 100-yard game of the season – he had 92 yards in the first Pittsburgh game – and Mayfield throws two more scoring passes, while the defense smothers the struggling Steelers offense. It will be close for a while, but the series sweep finally belongs to the Browns this season. Make it:  

Browns 20, Steelers 13