4 takeaways from Steelers dominant defensive display in win vs Browns

Chris Boswell 4th-down pass was a weird call

I get what the Steelers were trying to do here; I really do. However, the decision to have your kicker roll out and throw a pass on fourth down was interesting, to say the least — especially considering what ensued just before this.

Though Pittsburgh was already well within field goal range, Matt Canada’s offense elected to run the ball on third and long instead of taking a shot into the endzone. If the Steelers did want to play the analytics game, this isn’t the way to do it.

I’m not sure if it was a lack of confidence in Ben Roethlisberger or just a poorly called and executed play, but the decision to run a fake field goal in the first half of the Browns could have had some severe consequences. According to NFL Network’s Aditi Kinkhabwala, Chris Boswell left the game with a concussion on the play after throwing the football.

As you probably know, Boswell has been one of the most accurate kickers in football over the past three seasons, and losing him for any amount of time could be devastating to a team that already struggles to put points on the board. I like that Pittsburgh tried to be aggressive, but maybe they should have trusted their quarterback with a fourth-down play instead of their kicker.