Coming off a bye week, the Pittsburgh Steelers returned to Acrisure Stadium Sunday to host the Cleveland Browns. The Steelers came out victorious on the day, beating the Browns by a score of 23-9. Pittsburgh now advances to 4-1, while the Browns are 1-5.
The Steelers got the ball first and immediately jumped into action with Aaron Rodgers finding Darnell Washington for a 36-yard gain on the first play. They’d slowly move the chains again, but it didn’t take long for that drive to stall. They eventually settled for a 44-yard field goal, which Chris Boswell made, to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead.
The rest of the first quarter went on without much to write home about. The Browns and Steelers matched each other with short, three-and-out drives. Mixed in was a nice punt return from Ke’Shawn Williams, and a pretty long ball from Rodgers to DK Metcalf. But at the end of the first quarter, nobody was close to scoring again, and the Steelers ended the quarter with their 3-0 lead.
On their first drive of the second quarter, Pittsburgh had nearly an identical drive to the one that opened the first quarter. Led by an 11-yard run from Jaylen Warren and a nine-yard run from Kenneth Gainwell, the Steelers worked their way into field goal range again. The drive stalled, and Boswell snuck a 50-yard attempt just inside the right upright to extend the lead to 6-0.
That was followed by another Browns punt, and then the Steelers marched down the field again. It took completions of 12 and 20 yards from Rodgers, but Pittsburgh got into Cleveland territory before its drive stalled out in the same area as the other two scoring drives. Boswell made a 48-yarder this time to extend Pittsburgh’s lead to 9-0.
Getting the ball with three-and-a-half minutes left in the half, the Browns started to move the ball. Dillon Gabriel hit two 11-yard completions and a 14-yarder as part of a methodical drive. Cleveland eventually got to the Steelers’ 13-yard line, where Patrick Queen made a nice play to break up a pass from Gabriel intended for David Njoku. Andre Szmyt converted on a 31-yard attempt to make it a 9-3 game going into halftime.
The Browns got the ball to begin the second half. The Steelers forced and recovered a fumble from Gabriel, but were ruled offside on the play to cancel things out. In an interesting manner, the Browns quickly went three and out to open the second half.
Getting the ball back, Pittsburgh went on a long, methodical drive. Two 10-yard runs, an 11-yard completion to Pat Freiermuth, and a 25-yard completion to DK Metcalf got the Steelers into the red zone. Then, Rodgers found Connor Heyward in the end zone for the first touchdown. The Steelers built a 16-3 lead after the extra point.
Gabriel showed some resilience on the next drive, making several nice throws to lead the Browns down the field. His 18-yard completion to Harold Fannin was the most impressive. However, the drive stalled with his receivers dropping several nice throws from him. The Browns would have to settle for a 53-yard attempt, with Szmyt converting, cutting the Steelers’ lead to 16-6.
Unfortunately for the Browns, the Steelers’ offense had settled into a rhythm. Gainwell and Warren had runs of 10 and nine yards, respectively, and Rodgers found Washington for a 14-yard completion to get the Steelers knocking on the door of the red zone. On the next play, Rodgers went over the top to find Metcalf in the end zone for a 25-yard score. Boswell’s extra point gave the Steelers a commanding 23-6 lead.
The Browns then embarked on a drive that felt like it took forever. It took them 18 plays to move 54 yards, with Gabriel completing a couple of key passes and getting some help from Pittsburgh’s penalties. They made it to Pittsburgh’s three-yard line, but a sack forced them out of range to score a touchdown. Szmyt made a 32-yard field goal to make it a 23-9 ball game.
The Steelers went three and out, and with half a quarter remaining, the Browns had no choice but to score as quickly as possible. To put it bluntly, that didn’t happen. They moved the chains a couple of times, but Gabriel couldn’t find Jerry Jeudy on 4th-and-12, and Pittsburgh took possession.
The Steelers had great field position and moved the chains to get into field goal range. They trotted out Boswell for a 54-yard kick in hopes of making it a three-possession game, but he slipped while kicking, and his attempt ended up well short. The Browns took over with just under four minutes left, down two touchdowns.
Cleveland did a good job to work their way into the red zone, led by a 24-yard catch and run from Fannin. They eventually found themselves in 4th-and-6 at the Steelers’ 14-yard line, but Gabriel threw incomplete. The Steelers took possession and kneelt the clock out to win the game, 23-9.
Now 4-1, the Steelers have a rapid turnaround this week as they visit the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday night.
