Browns Defeat Steelers in Best Win In Years

On a night when the fans froze in the stands, it appeared as though the offensive linemen for the Steelers were frozen in their stance, as the Browns got to Ben Roethlisberger early and often. The Browns sacked the Steelers $100M quarterback an astounding eight times. Keep in mind that the Browns were missing a number of starters on the defensive line, including Shaun Rogers. So DE’s Corey Williams and Marcus Benard each had two sacks to share the team lead. The story on defense though was a secondary of fill-ins, and one wide receiver turned safety (Mike Furrey), that pretty much shut down the Steeler’s wide receivers…..the same receivers who in the first game between these teams earlier in the year, helped Roethlisberger throw for more than 400 yards. Defensive coordinator, Rob Ryan, put his faith in the makeshift group by allowing them to cover the Steelers receivers one-on-one. Though most of the sacks happened within the first seconds post-snap, there were also few that were coverage sacks as well, as Ben struggled to find open receivers, and eventually ended up in the grasp of a Brown defender.

On offense, the Browns did just enough, even though the lost the time of possession battle by a little over a minute. It was far from a stellar passing performance by Brady Quinn, completing only six passes on 19 attempts for 90 yards. The one stat for Quinn that was particularly impressive though was that he did not turn the ball over once. On the ground, Jerome Harrison got the start, but was ineffective early on with less than 10 yards on 7 carries. Rookie Chris Jennings took over early in the game, and was very effective, with 73 yards on 20 carries, and the Browns only touchdown of the game.

The real story of the game for the Browns though, was once again the performance of Joshua Cribbs. He was the leading rusher for the Browns with 87 yards rushing out of the Wildcat formation, and also added 104 return yard, accounting for 201 of the Browns 365 total yards. After the game when interviewed by the NFL Network postgame crew who renamed him “Pay The Man” (just a couple months late guys, but thanks for reading my posts!), Cribbs remained diplomatic and just said he wanted his performance on the field to speak for itself. If the performance was speaking, it was doing so at a very high volume. As I have said many weeks ago, Cribbs needs to be paid. I hope this national display of dominance against the defending Super Bowl champs, was a loud enough call for Joshua Cribbs to be paid like exactly what he is……the best special teams player, and most versatile player, in the NFL.

This has been a miserable season for the Browns and their fans. But for one night, everyone in Cleveland and Browns Backers everywhere, are sitting on top of the world. The Browns didn’t get lucky tonight. There weren’t any bad calls to be blamed or fluke plays that helped them win in spite of themselves. The Browns met their hated rivals, on a cold night in Cleveland and won for the first time in 12 meetings, as they out-punched, out-played, out-hearted, and pretty much knocked-out any chance of the Steelers having an opportunity to be in the playoffs this season. In a season where it’s been tough to find many things to be happy about, the Browns earned the right to celebrate with their performance on national TV. Whether you were a Browns fan or not, and of course unless you were a Steelers fan, this was a feel-good game to watch, as a team that has been through so much, finally won a solid football game.

Tags: Brady Quinn, Chris Jennings, Corey Williams, Jerome Harrison, Joshua Cribbs, Marcus Benard