Pittsburgh Steelers fans will have to wait until Halloween to see the Steelers get another crack at the Cleveland Browns after suffering through two consecutive losses to close the 2020 season, including one in the AFC Wild Card Round at Heinz Field that felt like an end of an era.
With that wait ahead of fans and the media, that Oct. 31 game at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland is beginning to garner a lot of attention. On Friday, NFL.com’s Judy Battista highlighted the Steelers-Browns battle on Halloween as one of the more anticipated games of the season, calling the AFC North tilt “appointment viewing.”
Fortunately for the Steelers, they’ll have plenty of rest heading into their first matchup with the Browns as the Steelers hold a Week 7 bye before the Week 8 battle with the upstart Browns.
“If earlier games against the Bills, Packers and Seahawks haven’t provided enough evidence, this game should tell us if the Steelers will rebound from their devastating slide to end last season and be a division contender again,” Battista writes.
While the matchups against the Bills, Packers and Seahawks will undoubtedly tell us a lot about the Steelers in 2021, throw out the records, previous results and anything else you make thing plays a role in the matchup between the Steelers and Browns because this is quickly becoming a heated rivalry and will carry a ton of weight in the push for an AFC North division title in 2021.
The Week 17 matchup shouldn’t be read too far into, considering the Steelers rested nearly all of their starters ahead of the season finale with a playoff spot locked up. As for the Wild Card Round loss, there are few excuses to make for that one, as the Steelers came out flat right away and handed the Browns a 28-0 lead quickly thanks to turnovers and sloppy play overall.
However, the Steelers do have a 38-7 win at Heinz Field under their belts against this same Browns group in 2020. What exactly will happen in the Week 8 matchup at FirstEnergy Stadium this season? It certainly won’t be a blowout either way, especially with it being an AFC North battle.
Expect a classic AFC North battle that viewers from around the country will tune in for. Appointment viewing, if you will.
