Pittsburgh Steelers: Cleveland has improved, but only in Cleveland standards

The Pittsburgh Steelers start their season with an easy win on the road against the Cleveland Browns.

Yes, this is a win. Pittsburgh has had the Browns’ number since the turn of the century. Actually, it’s pretty hard to remember the last time Cleveland put up a real fight against the Steelers.

Nothing is different this time around. The Browns have made impressive offseason moves, but they’re still far from being a competitive team. DeShone Kizer, Myles Garret, and Jabrill Peppers summed up one of the best drafts of 2017, but three players are not going to turn the worst team in football into a contender overnight.

What Cleveland did was make themselves competitive to the bottom half of the league. Something they should be proud of. Right now, they might be the best up and coming team in the top 10 of the 2017 NFL Draft.

The Steelers aren’t anywhere near there, though. Pittsburgh is a Super Bowl contender with a few teams in their way from winning their seventh Lombardi. Unfortunately, Cleveland isn’t anywhere close.

Week 1 is a warm up for Pittsburgh to see how their offense flows, and how far their defense has truly come. Yes, it should be a competitive match at times, but for the most part, the Steelers have too much talent to keep this close for four quarters.

The Browns are going to make the AFC North a much more competitive place some day down the road. But Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers, it isn’t going to happen. In 2017 it isn’t going to happen.

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Things will change, and Cleveland is making the right moves to become the NFL force they want to be. Right now, though, they’re still the same old Browns. Which means Week 1 is an easy win for the Steelers.