With Mike Tomlin and Russell Wilson at the helm, the Pittsburgh Steelers are making sure not to underestimate the Cleveland Browns. Though just 2-8, Cleveland beat the Baltimore Ravens just a couple weeks ago. And now the Steelers have to play them on the road on a short week after a Ravens game.
So for Mike Tomlin, there’s no time like the present. “He was already on the Browns when we were in the locker room”, Cameron Heyward said of the Steelers head coach’s focus on the road ahead. To be clear, he meant the locker room immediately following Sunday’s Ravens win. Tomlin said in his press conference on Monday that he hadn’t even watched tape of the Ravens game.
In other words, his focus is clear, and that’s on Cleveland. And Tomlin has had the Steelers’ sights set on the Browns since walking off the field last. That includes QB Russell Wilson, though he needs no prompting. Speaking to reporters yesterday, he talked about his short-week process.
“I manage to speed up the days, the timing, especially like when we play on Sunday”, the Steelers quarterback said. “I’m already watching [the Browns] Sunday night and studying early Monday morning and everything else, … just getting really two days ahead. I always try to be two days ahead on a short week like this”.
In the interest of ratings safety, the NFL forces players to play on short weeks on a regular basis. The Steelers and Browns drew the short straw for Week 12, so they play on four days’ rest. But it’s not as though this is anything new for guys like Mike Tomlin and Russell Wilson. They know the drill.
The Steelers did lose Tomlin’s last Thursday game just last year to a bad New England Patriots team. But they won a Thursday game earlier that season as well. Russell Wilson is also coming off a Thursday loss last year, even if that was to the Chiefs on the road.
Wilson has actually lost his last three Thursday games, two in Denver and one in Seattle. His offenses never scored more than 17 in them, twice as the home team. But he won nine consecutive Thursday games before that going back to his second season. Tomlin and the Steelers are 1-4 in their last five Thursday games as well.
That means both Russell Wilson and Mike Tomlin have some bad recent history to overcome. But both of them are changing narratives this year, Tomlin talked about as the Coach of the Year and Wilson a rejuvenated man back on track for the Hall of Fame. But the Steelers are 1-3 against the Browns on Thursday under Tomlin, including two recent losses since 2019.
So maybe Tomlin should have been watching Browns games during timeouts. Perhaps Wilson should have been cramming while Justin Fields was in the game. The Steelers have a great thing going here, but they can’t blow it against the Browns. These are the “easiest” games they have left on their schedule, the ones they can’t afford to lose.
Then again, perhaps Tomlin will be coaching the Browns soon, anyway.
