Even though they just beat the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers don’t have much time to celebrate. They have to turn around and prepare to play the Cleveland Browns on Thursday. The Browns might be terrible this season, but they still shouldn’t be taken lightly. They’ve proven they can upset a team if given the chance. And former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman is worried the Steelers may overlook the Browns.
“Even when Pittsburgh’s 8-2 and you feel really good about this huge win against Baltimore, sometimes that’s setting you up for a letdown in another very tough division game against the Cleveland Browns,” Sherman said recently on his podcast. “Jameis [Winston] just threw for almost 400 yards against the Saints.
“It’s not that they can’t push the ball down the field, and they can’t execute. I hope they don’t have a case of overlooking the Cleveland Browns.”
That is a real fear that many fans probably have. The Steelers have looked incredible this year, but they’ve been known to drop games against teams they should easily beat. Look at what they did late last year. They were sitting at 7-4, seemingly on their way to comfortably making the playoffs. Then, they lost back-to-back games against two of the worst teams in the league.
Something similar could happen this week. Sherman is correct that the Browns have shown flashes of better play with Winston under center. They beat the Ravens a few weeks ago. The New Orleans Saints crushed them Sunday, but Winston played fine. The Browns’ offense isn’t totally hopeless.
This upcoming game will be in Cleveland too, so the Steelers won’t have home-field advantage. The Steelers are probably dealing with a lot of emotions after that intense win against the Ravens, but they can’t overlook the Browns. They’ve done such a good job building a lead on top of the division, and a loss this week would undo some of that progress.
The Steelers haven’t beaten the Browns in Cleveland since 2021, when Ben Roethlisberger was still the starting quarterback. This past week was great, but the Steelers have a new mission now.
The Browns’ defense still has some elite playmakers, and their offense isn’t as bad as it was to start the year. The Steelers are used to beating up the Browns, but they shouldn’t let what happened in the past affect them in the present.
