The Steelers don’t just need Sunday’s rematch with the Browns. They may need it to keep control of their own season.
Pittsburgh hosts Cleveland with both teams sitting at 5-2, and the stakes are hard to miss. The Steelers already dropped the first meeting, a 27-24 loss to the Browns on Thursday Night Football in Week 4.
Win this one, and Pittsburgh jumps back into first place in the AFC North, at least for now. Lose again, and the path gets a lot steeper.
That’s what gives this game a different feel, even this early in the year. A second loss to Cleveland would hurt on its own, but the bigger issue is what comes next. The Steelers still have more divisional games ahead, and another setback here could leave them digging out of a hole they don’t want to be in.
Pittsburgh’s margin for error is already thin because of the schedule waiting after the bye week. The Bengals are next, and they’ll see each other again in Cincinnati on Sunday night.
Cincinnati has been rolling lately, and last Sunday’s blowout win over the Ravens was the latest sign of that. After that comes a trip to Philadelphia, where the Steelers haven’t won since 1965.
And the road doesn’t get much friendlier from there. Denver, Houston, Jacksonville, a feisty Carolina Panthers team, and two more games against the Ravens are still on deck.
That’s why Sunday matters so much for Pittsburgh. The Steelers have usually handled the Browns well at home, but this Cleveland team is not going away quietly. They need to settle things on the field and shut up the trash talk that’s been building between the two teams this week before heading into the bye.
A win would put the Steelers at 6-2 and keep 10 or 11 wins in play, a total that could be enough to get them into the postseason. But with every AFC North team currently owning a winning record, Pittsburgh can’t afford to slip any further in the division.
If the Steelers end up splitting with the Bengals and Ravens and also drop this one to Cleveland, they could be staring at a 2-4 divisional record. In a race this tight, that kind of mark could be the difference between making the playoffs and watching from home.
In Other News...
Steelers Have One Big Rivalry Streak To Defend This Week
The Steelers come home from Paris with a familiar kind of edge to defend, and this one has been built over years rather than weeks. No matter how much the roster or coaching staff has changed on either side, Pittsburgh has continued to make life difficult for Cleveland in regular-season games at home, turning Acrisure Stadium into one of the Browns' toughest stops on the schedule.
There is still no guarantee of a clean, comfortable outcome in Week 8, especially with the Steelers adjusting to the demands of the trip back from France. Even so, the matchup carries the same old weight for Pittsburgh, which has protected this particular piece of turf for a long time and has another chance to keep that run going against a division rival that has not been able to break through here in years. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Defense Must Set The Tone In A Huge AFC North Test
The next AFC North test brings the kind of familiar tension Pittsburgh has to embrace if it wants to control the game early. Against Cleveland, the Steelers defense is being asked to do more than just hold its ground, with the spotlight on creating an uncomfortable afternoon for Deshaun Watson and setting the tone before the Browns can settle in.
For Pittsburgh, the formula is clear even if the execution is not. Winning the turnover battle and turning pressure into mistakes will go a long way toward deciding whether this matchup stays on the Steelers terms, and the defense will need to be disruptive from the start to make that happen. [Read more 🡒]
Steelers Hit Bye Week In First Place With One Clear Concern
The Steelers went into their bye week with a 27-6 win over Cleveland, a 6-2 record and first place in the AFC North at the seasons midpoint. It was the kind of result that reinforces what Pittsburgh has built so far under Aaron Rodgers and T.J. Watt: a team that can find different paths to a win and keep itself in position in a tight division race.
Still, the comfort level is not complete. Rodgers pointed to the offenses uneven showing after the Browns game, even in a victory that widened the gap in the standings, and the Steelers know the schedule does not get any softer coming out of the break. Cincinnati is next, and with key divisional matchups still ahead, Pittsburghs margin for error will stay slim if the offense cannot become more consistent. [Read more 🡒]