It was a very good game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. It was very one sided at the end of the first half but at the end of the game it was an eleven point difference. It was a very high scoring and a close game but the Cleveland Browns won it. If you have been following this season, this must be stunner out of your mind right now. Browns were the underdogs and faced a strong defense but somehow managed 48 points and 5 takeaways from the defense. They moved on and now play the defending Super Bowl champions the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Rounds. The Steelers got blown away and did not play their best in this football game.
1st Half
1st Quarter – The Steelers received ball first and things started as bad as they could get on the first snap of the game. Their pro bowl snapper Maurkice Pouncey who snapped the football way above Ben Roethlisberger’s head and landed rolled into the end zone. The Browns recovered it and got a touchdown. It was 7-0 14 seconds into the game. The nightmare was starting to boil up for the Steelers. The next drive didn’t get bad until around midfield. The pressure was coming and Roethlisberger had to come out of the pocket to scramble. He dumped the ball to Benny Snell their backup running back. The throw was high way above Snell so MJ Stewart intercepted the ball with one hand. Two straight turnovers for the Steelers was not what I was used to see. The Browns took advantage. It was a 3rd & 4 and Mayfield launched a strike to Jarvis Landry who kept on zig zagging people and found the end zone. That made it 14-0 5 minutes and 14 seconds into the game. The Steelers next drive was also disappointing. They reached a 3rd & 1 and gave it to their fullback Derek Watt brother of T.J and J.J Watt. This time he couldn’t push the pile and made it 4th down. They punted the ball and the Browns got ball once again. Nick Chubb their running back and two tremendous runs taking it into Pittsburgh territory. The Browns were destroying Pittsburgh’s defense and were piling up yards not ready to stop. They reached the red zone rapidly and scored. Kareem Hunt their second string running back scored a lovely physical rushing touchdown. He bulled the Pittsburgh defense players and kept on fighting till the finish. That quickly made it a dominate 21-0 game and the first quarter wasn’t done. After seeing all of that craziness Roethlisberger still couldn’t get his team past midfield. On a 2nd & 20 he threw a pass and guess what?, it went of the fingertips of Diontae Johnson and into the hands of Sheldrick Redwine who returned the ball to the 14 yard line. It was a disastrous 1st Quarter for them and everything went the wrong way for them. The Browns capitalized on another takeaway with a 8 yard rush by Kareem Hunt again. It was a 3rd & 3 and he just juked everyone to take it to the house. 28-0 Browns in the first!! The Steeler’s next possession was a punt. They played very poor in the 1st Quarter and had to play much better in order to win this game. That pretty much ended the first Quarter and the Cleveland Browns were slicing the Steelers who remained at dead zero at the end of the first.
2nd Quarter – For once, the Browns could not get a good drive and punted the football on a 3 and out. The Steelers STILL could not find a opening in the Browns defense and instead the Browns found 1 more takeaway. Roethlisberger was throwing the ball on a 3rd & 2 and his pass got tipped at the line of scrimmage and was up for grabs in the air. Porter Gustin one of the Browns defensive ends made a great diving catch to make it interception number 3 in the 1st half of this ballgame. Sadly, the Browns could not take advantage and punted the ball. That drive for the Steelers was a little bit of a momentum shifter in the game fort them, in a positive way. They started from their own 11 yard line and went 89 yards to get on the scoresheet. They got to the one yard line and then gave it to James Connor who walked into the touchdown untouched. That finally got their car one step forward in hope of winning this game. 28-7 as the 2nd quarter was in its final 5 minutes. The Browns were ready to answer back with 7 more points to maintain their lead. That is exactly what they did. Mayfield executed a quick drive capping of with a simple pass. The Steelers got blitz and Mayfield easily found his tight end Austin Hooper wide open for the score. Cody Parkey knocked the extra point through to make it 35-7. Afterward, with less than 30 seconds on the clock the Steelers needed to get into field goal range to attempt to get 3 more points on the board. They did that with a good ending drive to the half. Roethlisberger passed to the outside to the rookie Chase Claypool who dived out of bounds with 5 seconds left on the clock. Chris Boswell made the 49 yard field goal to end the 2nd Quarter. The final score of the half was 35-10 Browns.
The Browns went on to win that game 48-37 to secure a spot in the Divisional Rounds with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Steelers fought back hard but not enough to win the game. It was a great end to end and very gripping football game which I enjoyed. The Steelers from Week 12 didn’t play very well and got troubled by the Browns big time as the Browns beat one of their arch-enemies. Final Score for the game; Browns 48 and the Steelers 37.
THE END