The Pittsburgh Steelers, as an eight-win team, just lost to a two-win Cleveland Browns team. I generally find that you don’t want to do that, especially if you hope to win the Super Bowl. At the very least, winning the “winnable” games makes losing the tougher games less unpalatable.
And the Steelers know, regardless of the circumstances, that they let one get away against the Browns. It doesn’t matter that they had just played against the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. It doesn’t matter that they were a road team on a short week. And it doesn’t even matter that the second half looked like a snow globe. After all, the Steelers played better in the second half than the first, so how is that an excuse?
It doesn’t even matter that the Steelers erased a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit only to squander the opportunity. They just have to make sure that they don’t let that happen again. In fact, they have to make sure that they don’t put themselves in such a position again.
Steelers LT Dan Moore Jr. acknowledged that the Browns “definitely” brought energy to their first matchup of 2024, according to Brian Batko of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette—”especially with us letting them hang around for as long as we did”.
“It gives a team like that confidence”, he added. “That’s something we have to learn to not do”.
Of course, the Steelers allowing the Browns to hang around may not be the most apt phrasing. After all, the Steelers trailed in the game for about 43 minutes before finally taking the lead. They notched a field goal within the first five minutes, but the Browns took a lead 11 minutes into the game. And the Browns held that until Russell Wilson’s touchdown to Calvin Austin III at 6:15 in the fourth quarter.
The Steelers even trailed by multiple possessions for about four-and-a-half minutes but managed to eras the entire 12-point deficit in just six minutes and change. So this really isn’t a case of the Steelers letting the Browns hang around. If anything, it’s the Browns letting the Steelers hang around, only to pull off the win in the end.
But you still get the point Dan Moore is making. The Steelers can’t afford to allow teams they “should” beat to be competitive. Allow your opponent to remain in striking distance and they very well may strike. Anything can happen on any given play. The Steelers should know, considering their string of bad snap exchanges earlier in the year. Or Jaylen Warren’s fumble at the goal line. Or Corliss Waitman’s untimely shank.
