3 bad things from the Browns’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers
By Chad Porto
The Browns looked awful on Monday against the Steelers
I had this feeling the moment the Bengals won and the Broncos lost on Sunday. The moment the Browns were eliminated from the playoffs I knew it. That feeling was that this team was going to come out flat and unsure of itself and boy did it. I tried to be optimistic. I thought playing for a win over the Steelers and a winning season would be something they’d still do. Pride still matters, right?
Wrong, apparently. There was a lot that went wrong. A lot. Mostly on the offense but honestly, after thinking about it all night, I don’t think the defense deserves as much credit as some want to give them for this game. Ben Roethlisberger is among the worst quarterbacks this year. They still threw the ball 46 times despite Najee Harris tearing up the Browns. They clearly didn’t have their best game plan either.
Somehow, as bad as Mayfield was, Roethlisberger had an even worse game than him according to their QBR’s. The Browns didn’t stop a high-powered offense, they got lucky against a one-trick pony.
Yet it wasn’t the Steelers poor offense that made me think the Browns defense got too much praise (though they do deserve some, our corners are legit), it’s because of Jadeveon Clowney throwing a shoe, Malick Jackson for starting a fight, and Grant Delpit for roughing the passer call.
Undisciplined behavior. Arguably the biggest issue this team has faced all year once again bit them in the rear. If it wasn’t for Clowney throwing someone’s shoe, the Browns could’ve won. It would’ve been ugly, and many would be right in saying the team shouldn’t have, but they could’ve won. That shoe penalty was the catalyst for them to score a touchdown.
All that said, and the defense still wasn’t as bad as what else happened.