Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken has seen enough of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ veteran defensive core to know the routine by now.
Ahead of the Week 4 Thursday Night Football matchup, Monken joked that it might be time for T.J. Watt, Cam Heyward and the rest of Pittsburgh’s longtime defensive standouts to hang it up.
“I think it’s about time that he retires … and Heyward and all those guys,” Monken said. “Credit to those guys.
How long they’ve done it, at the level they’ve done it. It’s been tough to go against.
"Those elite players are challenging, like every week in the NFL, but those guys along with the other guys they have in their front-seven and in the back. Credit to him, he's doing it like I've always seen him do it."
Monken is in his first season leading the Browns, but he’s no stranger to dealing with Watt, Heyward and Pittsburgh. His first run in Cleveland came in 2019 as the team’s offensive coordinator, his only year in that job with the Browns. That season, Cleveland and Pittsburgh split their two meetings, with Watt collecting a sack in each game and Heyward adding a half-sack and a fumble recovery.
He saw plenty more of the Steelers during his time with the Baltimore Ravens from 2023 to 2025. Pittsburgh went 5-1 against Baltimore in the regular season over that stretch, and Watt piled up five sacks in those six games. Heyward didn’t record a sack in the five games he played, but he did finish with 24 tackles.
Monken’s Ravens also knocked Pittsburgh out of the 2024 Wild Card round, winning 28-14. Watt was held without a stat in that game, while Heyward finished with 10 tackles.
The Browns come into the game at 2-1, right alongside Pittsburgh and the rest of the AFC North.
Cleveland’s offense has helped fuel the team’s two-game winning streak, even if the production has been modest. The Browns are averaging 266.0 yards per game, third-fewest in the league.
Their rebuilt offensive line has been under pressure as well, giving up a 38.8 percent pressure rate, which ranks 16th in the NFL according to SumerSports.
Pittsburgh’s defense, meanwhile, was tested more in Week 3’s 30-27 win over the Cincinnati Bengals than it had been in the first two weeks. The Steelers allowed 352 yards and managed only one sack, a game-ending strip sack by Derrick Harmon.
Watt, who had 3.5 sacks and a pick-six across Weeks 1 and 2, didn’t register a single pressure against Cincinnati, per Pro Football Focus. Heyward, though, posted a season-high three pressures.
On paper, Pittsburgh’s defense still looks like the more dangerous unit compared with Cleveland’s offense. And while winning at Huntington Bank Field has been a difficult task for the Steelers in recent years, and they’ve never won on Thursday Night Football in Cleveland, the expectation remains that Watt, Heyward and the rest of that group can take control as the game goes on.
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Steelers Backfield Issue Puts Thursday Night Focus On One Familiar Name
The Steelers backfield picture got thinner again heading into Thursday night, with Rico Dowdle ruled out for the Week 4 game against the Browns because of a toe injury. Dowdle had already missed practice during the buildup to the matchup, and now he will sit out for a second straight game, leaving Pittsburgh to sort through its options without one of the backs it had been counting on.
That puts the spotlight back on Jaylen Warren, the veteran who is expected to handle most of the workload against Cleveland. For a Steelers offense trying to stay on schedule in a divisional game, Warrens role only grows more important with Dowdle unavailable, and the way Pittsburgh manages the rest of the backfield will be one of the quieter storylines to watch once the lights come on. [Read more 🡒]