Steelers vs. Browns: Neither team emerges victorious after injuries and suspensions

The Cleveland Browns may have defeated the Steelers on the scoreboard, but here’s why there was no victor on Thursday night this week.

The Steelers may have fallen to the Browns on Thursday Night Football, but neither team emerged from the ashes victorious in Week 11. By now, everyone and their mother has heard about one of the NFL’s ugliest brawls in years.

It began in the final seconds of the game. Mason Rudolph dumped the ball off to Jaylen Samuels for what should have been the last play of the contest. However, the Steelers quarterback wasn’t happy with the way Brown’s defensive end, Myles Garrett, continued to drive him into the ground after the play.

Things spiraled out of control all at once, as Myles Garrett ripped off Rudolph’s helmet and used it as a weapon against him – hitting him square on the top of the head with it. Maurkice Pouncey retaliated by throwing punches at Garrett – even kicking him while he was down.

As expected, the NFL league office handed out suspensions yesterday from the disgraceful acts of violence on the field. Garrett received the worst of the punishment, as he has been suspended for the remainder of the 2019 season.

While the Browns may have advanced to 4-6 and the Steelers fell to 5-5, there truly were no winners in this Thursday night slug-fest.

The Steelers lost in more ways than one. In addition to adding another loss to their record in 2019, they also were devastated with injuries to key players. JuJu Smith-Schuster and Diontae Johnson both left the game early after suffering concussions on big hits, and James Conner reaggravated a shoulder injury that kept him sidelined over the past two weeks.

Even Ola Adeniyi left the game after being evaluated for a concussion on a special teams tackle, and Artie Burns injured his knee. All of these injuries leave the Steelers with a severe lack of depth. T.J. Watt appeared to have reaggravated his abdominal injury mid-way through the contest, but with Adeniyi and Anthony Chickillo both out, he was forced to play more snaps than he would have liked to.

Injuries to Steelers skill players also leave a massive void on an offense that already struggles to move the ball.

For Cleveland, things are looking even worse. Though they added a win to keep their playoff hopes alive, the Browns lost their best player for the season in Myles Garrett. Even if Cleveland somehow makes it to the playoffs, the NFL says Garrett will not be allowed to play in the post-season either. The Browns also lost Larry Ogunjobi for a game due to a violent, blindside shove on Rudolph during the scuffle.

Garrett and Ogunjobi have combined for 15.0 sacks in just 10 games this season. Their losses to an already struggling defense will be monumental.

Nobody wants to see chaos persist quite like that at the end of football games, and neither team emerged victorious in the long run. Both the Steelers and the Browns will need to find ways to overcome injuries and suspensions to try to take their teams to the next level.