At 2-8, Thursday night’s game against the Steelers is the Super Bowl for the Cleveland Browns.
As Juju Smith-Schuster said, “the Browns is the Browns” and while the Steelers lost that playoff game in 2020 that is all Cleveland has to hang its hat on when it comes to the rivalry with Pittsburgh.
A divisional game, in primetime, against a hated rival. That’s got to be a huge motivator of the Steelers and their fan base, right?
Not so much for Andrew Fillipponi, who said on The PM Team Tuesday, “Controversially, I’m saying if the Steelers lose to the Browns, I would give them a free pass for this loss based on how they’ve done lately, the difficulty, the strenuous nature of having to play a road Thursday night game after playing the Ravens.”
Those comments had Joe Starkey confounded on Wednesday morning.
“What?!,” said a reeling Starkey. “They get a little pat on the back because it’s been strenuous this season?”
Starkey did say on Tuesday that he would give the Steelers a pass if they get an ugly win in Cleveland.
“This is about survive and advance,” said Starkey. “There’s a big difference here. Win, lose.”
Starkey was also blown away by Donny Football, who agreed with Poni that a loss against Cleveland could be forgotten.
“Donny Football’s on board with Poni for the participation trophy,” said Starkey. “Don’t even go to Cleveland then, hand out little medals on the bus, the second-place medals and everyone an take the night off, if it’s too strenuous.”
This is the Browns, the trash-talking Dawg Pound that has been trying to punch up toward Pittsburgh since the early 1990s and have nearly nothing to show for it in the rivalry.
No other fan base knows how to get under the skin of Steelers fans like those in brown and orange.
The Steelers have a chance to go 9-2 and put themselves in good position for the playoffs, with a tough schedule still ahead.
If this Browns team was good, it would be at least a conversation to have, but at 2-8, the Steelers have to beat the Browns and shut Cleveland up, at least until they meet again December 8 at Acrisure Stadium.