PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (92.3 The Fan) – The Browns have suffered many brutal losses in this building, but this might be the worst of them all, for multiple reasons, and on multiple levels.
The Steelers scored two defensive touchdowns to rally for a 26-22 victory over the Browns, who lost running back Nick Chubb for the season, as both teams are now 1-1.
Here’s our top Brownie Bites from another nightmare in Pittsburgh for the Browns Monday night.
Crushing blow – The loss of Chubb was devastating, but not the reason for the 20th consecutive regular season loss at Acrisure Stadium. “It’s hard to replicate the heart and soul of your team, but again, we got to find a way to win,” linebacker Anthony Walker said. “Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. He won't feel sorry for us. Nick's probably like you guys should have f*****g won that game and I know that's the person that he is.” Chubb was carted off the field early in the second quarter after Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick went right into Chubb’s left knee while making a tackle on a five-yard run. “Obviously it's a huge loss,” receiver Amari Cooper said. “Nick is like the engine of the team. You know what I mean? The best player on the team. It's tragic, very unfortunate. I'm very sad for Nick, sad for this team losing Nick. Not only is it not ideal, but this is a tragedy.” It was the same knee Chubb had surgically repaired at Georgia. The injury was so gruesome ESPN didn’t show the replay, but the scoreboard at Acrisure Stadium did and the sellout crowd let out a gasp. “I feel like he's somewhat invincible,” defensive end Za’Darius Smith said. “I watch him work hard each and every day, and you hate to see that happen to your teammates, especially up there like Chubb. But like I said, it's just, it is the next man up now and hopefully we can get somebody back there that's going to carry that ball and make the same plays that Chubb will make.”
Can’t make it up – The absurdity of this latest loss in Pittsburgh can be quantified as follows: The Steelers didn’t run a single offensive play in the red zone, and still won. The Steelers trailed by three in the fourth quarter and had -7 yards offensively in the final 15 minutes, and still won. The Browns had more than twice as many first downs than the Steelers – 20-9, and yet Pittsburgh won. The Browns also outgained the Steelers 408-255, and lost.
4 on the floor – Deshaun Watson had a terrible night. The final numbers: 22-40 for 235 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His rating: 70.3. “Still coming along,” Watson said. “I feel like tonight it was s****y as far as that. There's some plays that we capitalized on and we did good, but as far as my part, it is not good enough and I put that on me. The first play…I got to give him a better ball. The forced fumble for a touchdown for them, you can say this guy can do this, but I got to protect the ball. You're not going to put it on anyone else. You put it on me. I can take the full blame, I can take the criticism and I'm going to do that. And I told everyone in our offense, the whole team, I'm going to do better for this team, for this organization so we can win games like that. And I'm fine with taking the criticism and I will be better.” Watson was flagged twice for personal foul facemask penalties. The first saw him try to go after the Steelers bench, which was barking at him for grabbing linebacker Kwon Alexander by the facemask and throwing him to the ground while out of bounds. The second came while he was trying to escape a defender rolling right. “Both times was my fault,” Watson said. “I'm stiff warming just like everyone else and once they grab my arm as I'm running, they keep pushing. Only way I can really let go is to swing across. And once they do that…my hand is stuck in their helmet or in their facemask, so I got to do a better job of just hitting with the palm, I guess, and just releasing as much as I can so we don't get those penalties.” The Steelers sacked Watson six times.
Steeler D TDs – The first play of the game was a bad omen of things to come. Watson’s pass bounced off the hands of tight end Harrison Bryant, then off Fitzpatrick and into the hands of linebacker Alex Highsmith, who returned it 30 yards for a touchdown and a 7-0 Steelers lead 9 seconds into the game. Highsmith later strip-sacked Watson with 6:58 remaining and Watt scooped up the loose ball and ran it in from 17 yards out for a 26-22 lead. “We just did too many things that contributes to losing, and again, we got to take care of the football,” Stefanski said. “They have two very, very good rushers as you know, so you try to do your best to slow them down. So yeah, that's the challenge. But bottom line is we just didn't do enough.”
Familiar foes – Former Brown Larry Ogunjobi sacked Watson for a loss of seven to begin the drive after Grant Delpit's interception before Hopkins missed his first field goal as a Brown. Ogunjobi recovered a Watson fumble on a fourth-and-1 at the 43 with 22 second left in the first quarter.
Did it again – George Pickens did it to the Browns again with a 71-yard touchdown catch and run that saw him blow by the secondary for a 16-11 lead with just over 6 minutes left in the first half. “We didn't play to our standard, cornerback Greg Newsome II, who feels he will be fine after hyperextending his shoulder, said. “We left a lot of plays out there on the field. So we're going to go see the film, try to correct it, but I don't think, I wouldn't say we played a great game. We lost and we gave up 71-yard explosive. That's not our standard. It is not okay so we're going to find a way to fix it.” The Steelers went for two after Jordan Elliott was offsides on the PAT. Pittsburgh fumbled on the two-point try.
Cooper catches – Receiver Amari Cooper, who was questionable with a groin injury suffered during practice on Saturday, led the team with seven catches for 90 yards.
Fantastic Ford – Running back Jerome Ford stepped up in a big way after Chubb went down. He caught a three-yard touchdown on the very next play. “Definitely a for Nick score,” Ford said. “I pretty much tried to give it all I got for Nick today.” Ford ripped off a 69-yard run down to the one to set up a Pierre Strong 1-yard touchdown run. Ford finished with 106 yards on 16 carries. “He studies hard, knows what to do, runs hard,” Stefanaski said. “There's a reason we like him. There's a reason he's a big part of what we do and obviously his role will increase, and I think he's ready for that.”
Hit or miss – Kicker Dustin Hopkins hit a 43-yard field goal to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 7-3 in the first quarter. Hopkins then missed from 43 wide left after Delpit’s interception. Hopkins drilled a 55-yard field goal with 22 seconds left in the first half cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 16-14.