Steelers a home underdog to Browns for 1st time in 30 years

[hawaiiansteel]

Steelers a home underdog to Browns for 1st time in 30 years

CHRIS ADAMSKI | Monday, November 25, 2019

There’s perhaps no greater indignity for the Pittsburgh Steelers than losing to the Cleveland Browns. Two weeks after just that happened in Ohio, the oddsmakers are predicting it will happen again in Pittsburgh.

And that is rare.

How rare? The most recent time that the betting line for a Browns-Steelers game scheduled for Pittsburgh installed Cleveland as the favorite, Chuck Noll was the Steelers’ coach and only five members of the current Steelers active roster were even born.

The Browns covered the spread on Sept. 10, 1989 – easily. Favored by two points that day, Cleveland won, 51-0, at Three Rivers Stadium.

In the 30 years since, the Browns have played in Pittsburgh 27 times (including the playoffs). The Steelers have been favored every time; they’ve won 25 of those meetings, too.

But will that be the case Sunday? The Browns opened up as a one-point choice over the Steelers in the BetOnline.ag sportsbook. And research from BetOnline.ag confirmed that that hadn’t happened since 1989.

Cleveland beat the Steelers, 21-7, on Nov. 14 for their first win against their Turnpike rivals since 2014. The Browns (5-6) have won three consecutive games and can tie the Steelers (6-5) in the AFC North standings and wild-card race with a win Sunday.

The Browns haven’t won at Pittsburgh since Tim Couch was their quarterback – and before Ben Roethlisberger was the Steelers’ quarterback – in 2003. Cleveland won, 33-13, on a Sunday night in early October that year.

That’s the Browns’ lone win in 19 tries at Heinz Field (counting a playoff game at the end of the 2002 season). Their only other victory in Pittsburgh since the 1989 shellacking was a shocking upset as a 14 ˝-point underdog during their first season back in the NFL in 1999. Cleveland scored nine unanswered points over the final 5 minutes and 12 seconds for a 16-15 victory two months after the Steelers beat them in their return to the league, 43-0, in Week 1.

The Browns have not swept the Steelers since 1988. The Steelers have 15 season series sweeps in that time and also won both postseason meetings since then.

https://triblive.com/sports/steelers-a-home-underdog-to-browns-for-first-time-in-30-years/

[hawaiiansteel]

Browns CB Denzel Ward expects rematch with Steelers to be 'heated game' with 'a lot of trash-talking'

Nate Ulrich
The Akron Beacon Journal

Most Browns players resisted delving into the psychological aspects of their upcoming trip to Pittsburgh immediately after they routed the Miami Dolphins 41-24 on Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium.

But Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward didn’t conceal his mental approach to Sunday’s rematch between the Browns (5-6) and Steelers (6-5) when he spoke Monday during a conference call.

“I feel it’s going to be a heated game,” Ward said. “There’s going to be a lot of trash-talking. A lot of guys are going to try to get under your skin and do things to get you out of character. But we’ve just got to stay poised and focused on what we’re there to do and that’s win the game.”

The Browns defeated the Steelers 21-7 on Nov. 14 in Cleveland, though the final score is far from the most memorable part of that “Thursday Night Football” showdown.

The brawl that broke out between the AFC North rivals with eight seconds left in the game resulted in the NFL indefinitely suspending Browns Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett for ripping off the helmet of Mason Rudolph and swinging it onto the Steelers quarterback’s head. During an appeal hearing, Garrett accused Rudolph of calling him a racial slur before the fight, and Rudolph has since denied the allegation. Garrett lost his appeal and won’t play again this season.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/browns/2019/11/25/cleveland-browns-pittsburgh-steelers-rematch-denzel-ward/4299975002/?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzRss&utm_campaign=usatodaycomnfl-topstories

[SteelerOfDeVille]

i will admit that Baker's finally playing like he belongs in the NFL again.. when you have OBJ and Jarvis Landry, you can't struggle as a QB... like just get it to them...

[Steelwolf]

Going to be an interesting game

[Oviedo]

I love being the underdog. Let's smash them. Crowd needs to be in overdrive

[NorthCoast]

Browns media already talking smack about their team getting ready to dominate the Steelers for the next 10 years. There's a whole lot of pent up demand in Cleveland for a winning season.
Steelers better figure out a way to win or those of us living within earshot of Browns fans will have miserable lives until the Steelers figure out the QB position.

[Buzz]

Duck picks up the O somewhat; Steelers squeak by the Stains in the grudge match.

Steelers 22
Cleveland 19

[hawaiiansteel]

[Steelwolf]

Browns media already talking smack about their team getting ready to dominate the Steelers for the next 10 years. There's a whole lot of pent up demand in Cleveland for a winning season.
Steelers better figure out a way to win or those of us living within earshot of Browns fans will have miserable lives until the Steelers figure out the QB position.

Rightfully so steelers got handled last game and in fear the same. Office full of browns fan and there stupid christmas ornaments... Im going put myown on there saying 0-16

[NorthCoast]

meh, the Steelers were playing with half a team... CLE had their starting lineup on both sides. The game is winnable but the offense is so weak they cannot afford any mistakes.

[hawaiiansteel]

[Northern_Blitz]

meh, the Steelers were playing with half a team... CLE had their starting lineup on both sides. The game is winnable but the offense is so weak they cannot afford any mistakes.

And we turned it over 4 times. And we're on the road Thursday.

And it was still close to the end.

I thought we'd split with Cle each winning the home games

We win 24 - 17. D gets 3 turnovers and 1 score.

[hawaiiansteel]

Commentary: The Steelers will beat the Browns. Here’s why …

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
NOV 28, 2019

This is not just a football game. It is a referendum on two football franchises — the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns version 2.0.

One has secured its place among the NFL’s flagship enterprises.

The other went 0-16 two years ago.

One owns six Vince Lombardi Trophies.

The other has never won a playoff game (that is, if you believe these Browns were born in 1999, which they were, whereas the Browns of fabled football lore play in Baltimore).

One, for all its recent drama, remains a model of stability, having employed just three coaches since 1969.

The other goes through coaches like coffee filters. Its past six, over 11 years, were fired immediately after losses to the Steelers.

That is the deep background, and if you believe in the force of history, it is pertinent going into a game with so much at stake. You trust one team’s culture over the other’s.

But the immediate background might be more pertinent, and it could be encapsulated this way: The Browns punked the Steelers two weeks ago and have doubled down since.

Freddie Kitchens’ guys ran around delivering head shots like flu shots that night. Tensions boiled over (you’ve probably seen the replay), when Myles Garrett swung a helmet at Mason Rudolph’s uncovered head.

The Browns, rightfully, expressed regret for Garrett’s actions. Garrett issued a written apology to the Steelers and Rudolph the next day, as did Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam.

“We sincerely apologize to Mason Rudolph and the Pittsburgh Steelers,” wrote the Haslams.

And then they took it all back.

Garrett, six days later, accused Rudolph of hurling a racial slur, raising all kinds of questions. Such as, why did Garrett wait so long to speak up? Why would he publicly apologize to a man he claims slurred him and who publicly called him “cowardly”?

Next thing you knew, Browns players were suddenly backing Garrett’s contention, and Dee Haslam was wearing a Garrett-themed beanie to a game.

The Browns, through their actions, essentially rescinded their apology. They double-punked the Steelers. Defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson even poked fun at Rudolph, wishing for his appearance in the rematch.

“Did you see him last game?” Richardson said.

This already was a big game. It is now a Holy War at Steelers headquarters. Steelers players were livid with Garrett over his actions and what they perceived as his lie. The other head shots that night didn’t sit well, either, from coach Mike Tomlin on down. And now there’s trash talk coming from a 5-6 team?

All of that will contribute to a Steelers victory. More tangibly, so will this …

— The Steelers will be better prepared this time, though still woefully undermanned. The untold story of Game 1 was that they hung around and had a chance to tie (if Johnny Holton gets a call or makes a catch, they might have) despite in-game injuries that forced them to use receivers such as Tevin Jones, who'd never played and barely practiced.

— The quarterback play will improve if “Duck” Hodges merely refrains from throwing it to men wearing orange helmets. Tomlin didn’t exactly set the bar at unreachable heights when he said of Hodges, “I expect him to not kill us,” but he absolutely made the right move. He read the psyche of his team and chose the quarterback who has given it a jolt of positive energy over the one who, for the moment, appears beaten.

That doesn’t mean Hodges will play well. It just means Tomlin made the correct call.

— The Steelers will have a better running game with Benny Snell Jr. Plus, Garrett’s out. So is Maurkice Pouncey, but the Steelers are 10-1 in games B.J. Finney has started (at center or guard).

— The Steelers defense began to figure out Baker “Roll to the Right” Mayfield last time. He started 10 for 14 but went 7 for 18 thereafter. There were missed chances for interceptions (Steven Nelson, for one). Don’t expect the Steelers to finish with zero takeaways and just one sack again.

— If one team blows up, it’ll be the Browns, who evoke the old Vontaze Burfict Bengals in this respect: You wonder if they can handle prosperity. They lead the league in penalties. They nearly handed a game to the Steelers’ JV squad. And after three straight home wins, they now find themselves in the pressurized role of favorite, heading into a heated environment, desperately trying to measure up to Big Brother.

As ESPN analyst Louis Riddick put it, “I’m not convinced (the Browns have) the football character required to go on a run.”

Maybe they do. Maybe they really are different this year. The talent’s there. Maybe they will finally arrive, 20 years into their existence.

Better bet: They’ll lose, like the Cleveland Browns usually do.

https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/columns/2019/11/28/The-Steelers-will-beat-the-Browns-Here-s-why-nfl-football-afc-north/stories/201911280129

[SteelSpain]

I love being the underdog. Let's smash them. Crowd needs to be in overdrive

We play better if are underdog. So this is a great new!!

[NorthCoast]

Interesting stat on BJ... Steelers 10-1 when he starts.
The Steelers OL needs youth, and Finney is the start.