After the final whistle of the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers game on Thursday Night Football, CB Greg Newsome II and WR George Pickens ended up in a scuffle in the back of the end zone. Newsome was guarding Pickens on the final Hail Mary play, and they ended up out of the end zone before the ball even arrived. They seemed more interested in venting their frustrations at each other than participating in the final Hail Mary.
Pickens ended up getting restrained by multiple security guards to prevent him from going after Newsome in a bizarre sequence at the end of the Steelers’ 24-19 loss. Newsome had some words for Pickens on social media once the dust settled.
“Fake tough guy,” Newsome wrote. I think we can safely assume that was directed at Pickens given the context clues.
Below is a video of the final play, posted by ESPN’s Brooke Pryor on X.
Pickens didn’t end up having his greatest game. In fact, it was the worst game that he’s had since Russell Wilson entered the starting lineup. Pickens was behind both Calvin Austin III and Pat Freiermuth in receiving yards. He had just four catches on seven targets for 48 yards with 31 of those yards coming on one reception.
There are going to be numerous explanations offered by analysts and fans on the Internet for why the 8-2 Steelers fell to the 2-8 Browns on. Some will blame the short week or the weather. Others will blame the “trap game” nature of playing a perceived lesser opponent before another big AFC North game next week. Browns CB Greg Newsome II has his own theory.
“I don’t think they respected us,” Newsome said in a video posted by 92.3 The Fan’s Daryl Ruiter on X. “I don’t think a lot of teams respected us, so for us to come out here on Thursday Night Football and get a win was huge for us.”
The Browns did a similar thing to the Baltimore Ravens just a few weeks ago. With Jameis Winston at quarterback and OC Ken Dorsey taking over the play calling, they have been more productive as an offense. And regardless of their statistics on defense, they have Myles Garrett and a lot of talent in the secondary. It’s the NFL. Any team is capable of winning any game on any given day.
The Steelers seemed to be saying all the right things leading up to this game. They were focused on the Browns immediately after their win over the Ravens and didn’t appear to be too caught up in celebrating the big win.
We won’t have to wait long for the rematch. The Steelers host the Browns on Dec. 8 in just a couple weeks. I would imagine that will end up being a pretty chippy game after everything that unfolded on Thursday Night Football.
