It’s not the first time we’ve heard it this season, but it doesn’t make things less painful to watch. After a horrible offensive performance by every Pittsburgh Steeler not named RB Jaylen Warren, QB Kenny Pickett admitted to reporters that the Cleveland Browns deployed a different game plan than the Steelers expected coming into the contest.
“The plan was, they play a lot of man-to-man,” Pickett told reporters via Steelers.com after the game. “They didn’t play a lot of man-to-man today. They threw a lot of zone looks at us. Different zone looks. We were expecting them to come in play, man. We gotta adjust better.”
The Browns are generally a man-heavy team thanks to their strong cornerback play. Denzel Ward, Greg Newsome, and Martin Emerson is as strong of a top-three as you’ll find, Cleveland investing heavily in the secondary in recent years. Their personality was to put eight in the box to stop the run, especially against a Steelers rushing attack coming off two strong rushing performances against the Tennessee Titans and Green Bay Packers. On paper, that would open up vertical shots along the outside, cornerbacks left one-on-one with the Steelers’ receivers capable of making plays.
But Pittsburgh’s passing game sunk as low as it has in quite some time, likely since the 2019 season when a combination of Mason Rudolph and Duck Hodges started most of the year after Ben Roethlisberger’s season-ending elbow injury. Pickett finished with just 106 passing yards. Accounting for sacks, the Steelers as a team passed for 77, their worst output since 2010. George Pickens “led” the way with four grabs for 38 yards while Diontae Johnson had two catches for 16 yards on eight targets.
While the Browns had plenty of ugliness on their side in this game, they had the excuse of a rookie quarterback making his second NFL start. Cleveland has a great defense, but Pittsburgh was slightly outplayed and majorly outcoached in this one, as Pickett’s comments highlight.
Pittsburgh has little time to reset and figure out some way to get this offense going, facing another AFC North opponent next weekend in the Cincinnati Bengals. Game plan, execution, everything is on the table to be fixed. And fast.
