There is nothing the Steelers can do on Sunday to atone for what happened the last time they faced the Cleveland Browns.
They can score on the first possession for the third time in four games and it won’t erase what happened on the first play of the game nearly 10 months ago at Heinz Field.
Even if they beat the Browns and pass them in the AFC North standings, it won’t take away the sting of the embarrassing defeat in last season’s wild card game.
The Steelers might be able to find some measure of motivation for their game in Cleveland, but it should have nothing to do with revenge or payback for their 48-37 playoff loss to the Browns in January. It will have more to do with where they stand in the division and their ability to continue their modest win streak after a bye week.
“They whopped our ass at our home and sent us home,” tight end Eric Ebron said. “If you can’t get motivated for that, you shouldn’t be playing football.”
Perhaps, but there is no making up for the embarrassing manner in which the Browns handed the Steelers another early exit from the postseason. While that defeat has been difficult for some players to forget, coach Mike Tomlin said he is not about to use that game to motivate his players for this meeting. Nor should he. To do so would any trivialize the magnitude of that playoff defeat.
“I’m sure it comes up in some form or fashion, but not as a rallying cry or not as a focus of a meeting,” Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. “There are a lot of variables that are 2021 that should have our attention. We’ve got a lot riding on this game.
“Last year’s game means nothing to Najee (Harris), it means nothing to KG [Kendrick Green], it means nothing to Dan Moore, it means nothing to Pat (Freiermuth). You’ve just got to acknowledge that, in the game of football, things change year in and year out and seemingly low-hanging fruit is often times irrelevant to some of the people in the room. We don’t spend a lot of time talking about old stories or old news.”
Still, the debacle that played out at Heinz Field on Jan. 10 has been difficult to forget.
It began on the very first play when center Maurkice Pouncey snapped the ball over Ben Roethlisberger’s head and Browns safety Karl Joseph recovered in the end zone for a 7-0 lead. It continued on the next possession when Roethlisberger was intercepted, leading to a Jarvis Landry touchdown. And it turned into a full-fledged flameout when the Browns scored two more times in the first quarter, taking a 28-0 lead en route to a 35-10 halftime advantage.
This time, the Steelers have a chance to win their third in a row and move to 4-3 in a division where all four teams are .500 or better. They also have a chance to swap places with the Browns (4-3) and move out of the basement of the AFC North.
“The atmosphere is something that has our attention,” Tomlin said. “We realize we’re going into an AFC North road game. We expect it to be hostile. But I think it’s those competitors that fire us up. But forget being fired up; we’ve got to be duly prepared. We’re preparing with an edge, understanding the significance of this game that’s waiting on us. But boy, isn’t that what we signed up for? Significant games, big-time competition, divisional play. It’s a great way to come off a bye week.”
And it should have nothing to do with what happened 10 months ago. Nothing can atone for that.
Tuitt time?
Defensive end Stephon Tuitt is nearly recovered after having knee surgery in September, but it remains unclear when he will be brought off the injured reserve list.
Tuitt has been dealing with the death of his brother, Richard Bartlett, who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in June.
“His return is not imminent this week,” Tomlin said. “I don’t anticipate it, although it’s going well. He’s progressing, but not close enough for participation.”
Tuitt’s absence, coupled with the season-ending injury to nose tackle Tyson Alualu, has created a problem in the middle of the Steelers defense. Without them, offensive linemen have been able to get to the second level and restrict the ability of inside linebackers Devin Bush and Joe Schobert to make tackles.
“The quality of their play could be better, but so could the play in front of them,” Tomlin said. “Together, we eat or do not.”
Injury watch
The Browns are starting to get healthy — sort of — despite the injury to quarterback Baker Mayfield, who has a torn labrum and small fracture in the humurus bone of his non-throwing shoulder.
Mayfield did not play in the Browns’ 17-14 victory against Denver and was replaced by veteran Case Keenum. His status for Sunday’s game has not been determined.
“I don’t know who’s going to play quarterback for them, but much like last week when you have veteran backup quarterback like Geno (Smith), you don’t lose a lot of your personality,” Tomlin said. “That’s what stood out to me watching their last game. We’re not overly concerned with who their quarterback might be, we’re looking at what they do collectively — their run game, their misdirection passing game and all the people they distribute the ball to.”
The Browns are expecting to have running back Nick Chubb (calf) and right tackle Jack Conklin (knee) back after each missed the past two games. And wide receiver Jarvis Landry, who aggravated the same knee against Denver that caused him to miss the previous four games, should play, too.
But they could be without cornerback Denzel Ward (hamstring), who was injured against the Broncos; rookie cornerback Greg Newsome II (calf), who has missed the past two games; and rookie weak-side linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (ankle), who did not play against Denver. Also, receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who is coming off ACL surgery, has been playing with a variety of injuries that have affected his performance.
