The Pittsburgh Steelers turned the ball over 8 times on Sunday in Cleveland and were penalized 9 times to the tune of 68 yards in their 20-14 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
Running backs Rashard Mendenhall, Isaac Redman, Jonathan Dwyer, and Chris Rainey all lost fumbles in the game and third string quarterback Charlie Batch was intercepted 3 times as the Steelers now drop to 6-5 on the season.
The Steelers offense was putrid as they converted just 1 of 9 third down attempts in the game and the four greasy-handed running backs combined to rush for 49 yards on 20 attempts. The 8 total turnovers, and there could have been more, resulted in the the Browns scoring 17 of their 20 points in the game. The lone bright spot on offense was that Batch was only sacked once in the game on his way to a 20-of-34 performance good for only 197 yards passing.
The Steelers defense was often backed against the wall, but still allowed 2 touchdowns in the loss despite holding the Browns to just 158 yards passing. They did manage to sack Browns quarterback Brandon Weeden 4 times in the game with outside linebacker Jason Worilds getting credit for 2 of those. Worilds, who entered the game early after LaMarr Woodley left with an injured left ankle, was credited with 4 total tackles and a defensed pass in the loss.
Linebacker Lawrence Timmons led the defense with 10 combined tackles and returned a tipped pass by Brett Keisel 53 yards for a touchdown on the Browns opening offensive series of the game.
In addition to Woodley, right tackle Mike Adams also suffered an injured ankle and he was spotted in a walking boot following the game. Head coach Mike Tomlin would not speculate on either of the two injuries and said that he would know more on Tuesday. Rainey also suffered an injury late in the game but was not mentioned by Tomlin during his post game press conference.
The Steelers now will travel to Baltimore next week to face the Baltimore Ravens.
