The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns rivalry has had no shortage of drama, especially in recent years. Last year, during a Week Three Thursday Night Football matchup, LB Anthony Walker suffered a season-ending leg injury during a play in which RT Chukwuma Okorafor fell on top of him. The optics of the play weren’t great, but Okorafor did nothing malicious; it’s something offensive linemen are trained to do.
But the Browns spoke out against the play, claiming it was dirty. Myles Garrett at the time called it a “bullshit play” with OL Wyatt Teller claiming Okorafor didn’t have the best intentions. Walker clearly remembers the play, and he said ahead of the Steelers-Browns Monday Night Week Two matchup that the game means a little more to him.
“This week is a little bit more for me, obviously a night game, Pittsburgh Steelers, last year around the same time was when I got hurt. So yeah, it means a little bit more. I’ll leave it at that. But yeah, it’ll be fun,” Walker said via transcript provided by the Browns.
Okorafor really didn’t do anything wrong, but for Walker, it’s his first time facing Pittsburgh since the injury. Getting back on the field in primetime against the Steelers will be a big game for Walker, but any implication that Okorafor did something wrong is ludicrous. The only thing he did wrong on the play was get too far down the field, getting flagged for an ineligible man downfield penalty, which wiped out a nice gain on a shovel pass to RB Jaylen Warren.
It’s pretty hard to tear a quad from a guy falling on you, so the injury to Walker happened before the play. Okorafor likely had no idea that Walker was injured and just fell on him to prevent him from getting up to make a play downfield.
But that incident is clearly providing a little more juice for Cleveland ahead of this matchup, although the two teams played in Week 18 last year, with Pittsburgh getting the win. Walker was out for the matchup with the aforementioned injury.
The timing probably brings up bad memories for Walker, and it certainly sounds like he’s going to have some more pep in his step going up against Pittsburgh. We’ll see if he can help lead the Browns to victory and set the Steelers further back with an 0-2 start.
