4 burning questions Steelers desperately need to answer in Week 11 vs. Browns
- Can the Steelers dominate at the line of scrimmage?
- Will the Steelers stick to the ground game?
- Is the Steelers' pass rush going to take advantage against weak o-line?
- Can the Steelers have a commanding win over the Browns?
By Andrew Falce
Can the Steelers beat on the Browns tackles?
While the quarterback injury has been the primary talk about the Browns this week, they are also missing their top three offensive tackles. This has led them to start James Hudson and Geron Christian, and neither are notoriously great starters. Hudson has graded out as one of the worst tackles so far this season, and while Christian has a slightly better grade, he also just took over and hasn’t played a lot of snaps.
The Steelers boast a talented and deep edge rusher room, and they have to exploit this matchup this week. T.J. Watt should be his usual disruptive self, but he has arguably his easiest matchup of the season. Alex Highsmith has consistently played well against the Browns, and Christian could be another winnable matchup.
Pressure on any quarterback makes their lives harder, but against a fourth-round rookie quarterback that looked lost in his lone start this season is a key matchup. While the interior of the Browns line is stronger than its exterior right now, they will also have their hands full with Cameron Heyward. This should leave some openings for the edge rushers.
They need to make an impact. Beyond even the starters, the backups need to be able to rotate in and still command attention. They have done that this season, and continuing to do so will keep the starters fresh. The edge rushers have been huge this season, and they need to keep it up this week against Cleveland.