The Steelers didn’t just beat the Browns on Sunday. They controlled the game from the opening whistle, rolled to a 27-6 win, and walked into the bye week at 6-2 with sole possession of first place in the AFC North. Pittsburgh also kept a familiar streak alive: Cleveland still hasn’t beaten the Steelers in Pittsburgh since 2003.
The biggest difference in this one came on the ground. Jaylen Warren and Rico Dowdle set the tone early and never let up, exactly the kind of punch Pittsburgh had in mind when it brought Dowdle in this offseason.
Dowdle opened the scoring with a nine-yard touchdown run, while Warren piled up more than 100 rushing yards in the first half before finding the end zone in the third quarter. The Steelers’ 160 first-half rushing yards were the most by any team in a half this season, a number that tells the story all by itself.
Darnell Washington kept making his case as one of the Steelers’ most dangerous passing-game weapons. He only caught three passes, but those grabs went for 94 yards, and 64 of those came after the catch.
That’s the kind of production that forces defenses to stay honest. Whether it’s in the red zone or on a wheel route, Washington keeps showing why he’s such a problem on every snap.
The defense was just as suffocating. Patrick Graham’s unit deserves plenty of credit for how it has played over the last month, and Sunday was another example of that surge.
Pittsburgh sacked Deshaun Watson eight times and held Cleveland to 34 rushing yards, a paltry 2.3 yards per attempt. Patrick Queen and Payton Wilson were active in the middle, with Queen finishing with 1.5 sacks and Wilson stacking up several strong run stops, including one for a loss.
Rookie safety Robert Spears-Jennings also made an early impact by forcing a fumble on the opening drive. It was total control from start to finish.
Not everything was clean, though. DK Metcalf had a rough afternoon, catching just one of his six targets for four yards.
Late in the third quarter, Aaron Rodgers put one downfield right in his hands, but Metcalf bobbled it and Denzel Ward came away with the ball. For all the offense Pittsburgh generated, the biggest-name receiver on the roster barely factored in.
The red zone issues also lingered. Twice in the first half, the Steelers reached first and goal inside the 10, and on those two drives they ran six plays from inside the 10.
Five of those six snaps were passes, even with the run game humming. The Steelers kept leaning on fade routes in those spots, and while it didn’t cost them in a lopsided win, that approach will need to sharpen up if they want to finish the season by clinching a second straight AFC North title.
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