The Pittsburgh Steelers are preparing to face the Browns on Thursday night, coming off a huge win against the Bengals. This hasn’t been friendly territory for Pittsburgh in recent years. Mike Tomlin typically fell flat on his face when these types of outings appeared on the schedule.
The Steelers haven’t won in Cleveland since 2021. In the four losses that have occurred on the road in Cleveland, two of those games were played on Thursday night.
In short, the recent history of his rivalry points to the Browns winning in Week 4.
However, this isn’t the same Tomlin team that seemingly struggled against inferior opponents. This also isn’t your usual down-and-out Browns team. In short, Pittsburgh has every reason to enter this game expecting a tough matchup. Likewise, a win this week would be huge.
The Pittsburgh Steelers can’t be lulled into their typical Cleveland trap game
While no one expected the Browns to be a good team this year, they find themselves 2-1 and coming off back-to-back wins. After getting trampled by the Jaguars, they have found ways to hang around against superior opponents and pull out wins late in the game.
Considering the typical structure of an AFC North game (low-scoring and close), this feels like the type of game Cleveland will want. In years past, it has felt like a week when the Steelers are destined to lose.
We haven’t seen enough of Mike McCarthy’s Steelers team to know how they fare against inferior opponents. They looked timid against a bad Atlanta team and were downright awful against a better New England squad, so there is no clear trend to follow here.
This also isn’t the usual bad Brown’s team. They are tied for first in the AFC North, and while their offense hasn’t been great, they have done enough to hang around while the defense forces mistakes.
This isn’t a bad team for a Steelers franchise that has seemingly been caught sleeping against a bad Browns team over the past few years. Frankly, this team better be prepared for a grueling fight in Cleveland.
We saw McCarthy open the offense up against the Bengals. It looked completely different than what we had seen over the course of the first two weeks. That needs to continue, and the Steelers need to capitalize on the aggressive, man-coverage-heavy Browns defense.
On defense, this team has to force Cleveland into some mistakes. Most importantly, you can’t allow the Browns to still be in the game late in the fourth quarter. That has proven disastrous for both the Buccaneers and the Panthers.
Playing on the road against Cleveland on a short week has proven disastrous in recent years. This isn’t your typical trap game, though. The Steelers can make a statement in Week 4, and McCarthy can prove that he doesn’t have the same issues that Tomlin had as coach of the Steelers.
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