Depot Roundtable: Week 14 Steelers Vs. Browns Preview

For the second time in 17 days, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns will battle in another edition of AFC North Football within the Turnpike Rivalry.

The last time these two teams met, the Browns shocked the Steelers with a 24-19 win in a blizzard, scoring the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter against the Steelers’ vaunted defense to pull off the upset, which angered the Steelers. Now, Pittsburgh gets another shot at them, this time at Acrisure Stadium.

The Steelers had a bad taste in their mouths after the loss and now have a chance to right that wrong on the schedule. Talk is cheap, though. They actually have to go out and do it.

Here at Steelers Depot, we’re doing something new this season. While Alex Kozora and Dave Bryan give their in-depth breakdown and preview of the game weekly on The Terrible Podcast, Joe Clark, Ross McCorkle, Scott Brown, Troy Montgomery, and I are doing a weekly roundtable, answering key questions ahead of each game.

Today, we examine the Steelers’ Week 14 matchup at Acrisure Stadium against the Browns.

QUESTION 1: WHO IS THE STEELERS’ X FACTOR AGAINST THE BROWNS?

Josh Carney: OLB T.J. Watt. The last time these two teams met, Watt was nearly invisible, while Myles Garrett went off for the Browns on the other side of the ball. That can’t happen again this week. Watt was just off in the game, and really struggled against Browns’ right tackle Jack Conklin.

With Alex Highsmith returning on the other side and having a juicy matchup against the third-string left tackle for the Browns, Watt has to get into gear and win his matchup against the Browns. Cleveland is probably going to try and get the ball out quickly again, much like they did in the first matchup, so Watt needs to find a way to impact the game, whether that’s getting his hands up at the line of scrimmage to disrupt passing lanes, or even dropping into coverage at times.

What the Steelers cannot do is what they did in the last matchup with Watt, and leave him as a stagnant target and allow the Browns to scheme him out of the game. Watt needs to have a huge game in the AFC North rematch.

Joe Clark:  RB Najee Harris. It’s clear as day how much better Pittsburgh’s offense is when Harris gets going. He ran hard and angry against the Bengals in Week 13, and it opened up the passing game for the Steelers. Pittsburgh should have ample opportunities to make plays on defense against Cleveland, but Harris is one of the keys to getting the offense in sync and getting them rolling early. If he can come out the way he did against Cincinnati with less Thanksgiving food in his belly, Pittsburgh’s offense could hum along.

Ross McCorkle: FS Minkah Fitzpatrick. Its been almost 25 games since Fitzpatrick’s last interception. If there is a quarterback to bust the slump, Jameis Winston, who asked the Lord to deliver him from pick-sixes, is the guy. I have a feeling once Fitzpatrick breaks the slump, they will start to come in bunches. Winston just threw for almost 500 yards and he will be airing it out again. Time for some Minkah ball.

Scott Brown: SS DeShon Elliott. Dude has been a stud – and one of the steals of free agency. His sure tackling will be a key to the Steelers containing Mr. Chubb and making the Browns one-dimensional.

Enter Jameis Winston.

Good Jameis and bad Jameis were never more on display than last Monday night. As Matthew Marczi pointed out, Winston threw six TD passes in Denver but two to the wrong team. Making him throw early and often tees up FS Minkah Fitzpatrick for his first interception since the Steelers’ 2022 regular-season finale.

Troy Montgomery: OLB Alex Highsmith. This one is a little more complicated than it seems. Highsmith missed the Steelers’ first bout against the Browns, and his absence was felt, but not for the reasons you’d think. His replacement, Nick Herbig, performed just fine, recording a huge forced fumble. It was T.J. Watt that really missed Highsmith.

For as much as Watt helps free up Highsmith and Herbig, that’s still a two-way street. Herbig is an ascending player, but there’s a reason Highsmith is the starter. Having him back should help the Steelers’ pass rush be more consistent. He, Watt, and Herbig should wreak havoc on the Browns.

QUESTION 2: WHAT IS THE MATCHUP TO WATCH IN STEELERS-BROWNS?

Josh Carney: OLB T.J. Watt vs. RT Jack Conklin. Sticking with his matchup once again. The Browns had all the confidence in the world in Conklin coming into the matchup, with quarterback Jameis Winston stating prior to the Week 12 game that they knew Conklin was going to do a great job against Watt.

Turns out, he did. Conklin allowed just two pressures in the Browns’ Week 12 win and earned quite a bit of praise for shutting down Watt, who simply had a bad day. All great players have bad days. It happens. But Watt needs a bounce back against Cleveland in a major way.

Conklin had a disastrous game against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football, allowing eight pressures and a sack, so Watt needs to take advantage of the matchup and show once again why he’s the best defensive player in the division.

Joe Clark:  WR George Pickens vs. Greg Newsome II. The two went back-and-forth in the media on Friday, with Pickens claiming he didn’t know who Newsome is (a wildly dumb claim that Newsome quickly debunked by posting a picture of Pickens DM’ing him) and it’s one that both side will want to win. Pickens is questionable with a hamstring injury which could potentially hamper him against Cleveland, but both him and Newsome will be supremely motivated to get the better of each other.

The Steelers need Pickens to put up his usual numbers without any of the drama and attitude issues, but Newsome could bring some of that out of him. We’ll see what happens with these two, but it’s a matchup that could define the game.

Ross McCorkle: OT Germain Ifedi vs. OLB rotation. It’s one thing for Ifedi to allow just one sack against primarily Nick Herbig the last go around, but now he will be going against Herbig, and Alex Highsmith, and Preston Smith, and possibly T.J. Watt. The Steelers are likely to use three-OLB packages and rotate guys around the formation more than normal. Ifedi is not a starter-quality tackle. They need more than just one sack (though it was a strip-sack) against him this time around.

Scott Brown: CB Joey Porter Jr. vs. CB Joey Porter Jr.: Six flags should be associated with the eponymous amusement park, not NFL cornerbacks. Yet here we are after last Sunday in Cincinnati. I get that JPJ is long and physical, but last season he played like an emerging star.

As a rookie.

Mike Tomlin can talk goons and Shaq all he wants. The reality is that Porter has become George Pickens on the Steelers’ defense. Each – for vastly different reasons – are wondrous talents who are wild cards during games.

Troy Montgomery: WR George Pickens vs. CB Greg Newsome II. Hope for the best but expect the worst. Pickens’ behavior during and after the first game against the Browns was inexcusable. His attitude has been a problem over the course of this year, and it’s looking like that isn’t going to change this week.

Pickens and Newsome have been trading verbal jabs across the media, and that rivalry could boil over this week. Mike Tomlin said Pickens needs to grow up, and not getting into an altercation with Newsome would be a good start. Pickens is the Steelers’ greatest weapon, and he needs to be locked in mentally this week. He can’t let Newsome get to him.

QUESTION 3: WHAT IS THE BIGGEST KEY TO THE GAME FOR THE STEELERS?

Josh Carney: Don’t warm up to it this week. The last time the Browns and Steelers played, Pittsburgh got off to a relatively slow start and took a bit to get into the game. On a short week just a few days after a knock-down, drag-out brawl of a game against the Ravens, that was understandable. This week though, the Steelers have the advantage with the Browns coming off the short week.

The Steelers cannot warm up to it. If they were truly angry after the loss, like many reports stated, come out and show it. Start fast and be emphatic about it. Jump on the Browns early, and never let up. Weather shouldn’t be a factor, either, so there are no excuses heading into this one.

Don’t warm up to it, start fast and set the tone.

Joe Clark:  Start fast and don’t stop. Don’t let the Browns hang around. Don’t keep their hopes alive that they can pull off another comeback. Come out fast, score, force a turnover or two, and end this one by halftime. Cleveland can talk a big game all they want, and they’re allowed to after beating the Steelers already. Don’t let it happen again, and don’t even give them the benefit of making it a close game.

Ross McCorkle: Don’t shoot yourself in the foot. Last game, there were a number of coaching errors or decisions that were, in my opinion, overly aggressive for no reason. The long field goal attempt in the snow, the fourth-down attempts, the Justin Fields deep toss on the most important third down of the game, or the accepted penalty on the final defensive drive. Play a safe and logically sound game and the Steelers should win. There is no need to get cute when you are the better team.

Scott Brown: Allow the Browns to Brown. Let them shank a punt when it matters. Let them turn short-yardage situations into splitting the atom. Let them…be the Browns. In the historic rivals’ first meeting this season, the Steelers should have won but deserved to lose. Go figure.

Don’t bother with wonky Cleveland calculus this time. Jump on the Browns early. Give the defense a lead and let Russ cook in between handoffs to Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren.

Troy Montgomery: Don’t allow Myles Garrett to have a repeat performance. In their first meeting, Garrett shredded the Steelers, putting up three sacks. After the game, he declared himself the best defensive player in the NFL. It’s tough to argue against his point when he totally wrecks the Steelers’ gameplan. That can’t happen again.

The Steelers need to do a better job containing Garrett. Maybe stopping him is impossible, but he can’t have three sacks in the first half again. Force someone else to beat you up front, if that’s what it takes. Garrett is too high-profile of a player to not be prepared to face.

QUESTION 4: WHAT IS YOUR PREDICTION FOR STEELERS VS. BROWNS?

Josh Carney: Based on how this matchup went last time, anything can happen in AFC North play. That said, I just see no way in which the Steelers stumble twice against this Browns team, especially after the bad taste the Steelers had following the Week 12 loss.

At home, playing good football and as healthy as they’ve been all season, things line up nicely for the Black and Gold. I see the defense playing much, much better this week, T.J. Watt having a big impact, and the Steelers’ offense keeping it rolling with big plays and a bunch of points. Steelers 27, Browns 16

Joe Clark:  The Steelers are the much more talented team, and I can’t imagine they’re going to come out slow in this one after what happened in Week 12. I think this one could get a little bit ugly for Cleveland. Steelers 34 Browns 10

Ross McCorkle: Jerry Jeudy is suddenly the best receiver in football with Jameis Winston over the last few weeks and he had success against the Steelers the first time around in the snow. In better weather, will he be an even bigger problem? I think the Steelers’ pass rush corrects its mistakes from last game that led to limited sacks and pressure on Winston and it looks way different than the first time around. I am looking for a blowout similar to the New York Jets. Steelers 35, Browns 20.

Scott Brown: A Browns season sweep of the Steelers for the first time since 1988? Nah. Unless the Steelers think they just need to show up Sunday at Acrisure Stadium. And T.J. Watt won’t let happen. The Browns will keep it close for awhile but ultimately fall short. Of course, I wrote the same thing before the teams’ first meeting on Nov. 21. Steelers 27, Browns 17.

Troy Montgomery: Ant, meet boot. That’s what needs to happen this week. The Steelers saw what happened when they allowed the Browns to hang around in their first matchup. They’re the more talented team, and they need to show that this week. They’ve got too many tougher battles on the horizon to drop this game.

The Browns obviously have more than enough reason to win this game. They’re not going to make the playoffs, but they’ve still got a ton of pride. I believe the Steelers are going to defend their home turf though. It’s bold, but I believe the Steelers are going to want to make a statement with this game. Steelers 30, Browns 13.