The Cleveland Browns aren't what they used to be, and for that the Steelers can be thankful.
What they don't need right now is the kind of patsy the Browns were the past two seasons, when they won only five games combined in their not-so-grand return to the NFL.
Two of those five victories came against the Steelers.
"They were 2-14 their first year, they beat us," safety Lee Flowers said. "Then they went 3-13, they beat us. We have to come to play, man."
This one is different, because first place in the AFC Central Division is on the line at the midway point of the season. The Browns (4-3), Steelers (5-2), Baltimore Ravens (5-3) and Cincinnati (4-3) all could be tied at the top by the time the day is over, at least for 24 hours. The Ravens play tomorrow night against Tennessee.
It's the first meaningful game between these two teams since the 1994 season, when the Steelers beat the Browns in the next-to-last game of the regular season to win the division title, then beat them again in the playoffs two weeks later.
That either of them are fighting for the division lead at this point of the season has surprised most of the NFL.
"It's going to be a big game," Flowers said. "Both teams have something to prove, that we are good teams. They're not the same Cleveland team you've seen the last couple of years."
Anyone who thinks an expansion team cannot make an impact so soon should check with Jacksonville and Carolina, who reached conference championship games in their second seasons. Perhaps the best compliments the Browns have been paid this season have come from opposing teams. Both the Jaguars and Chicago Bears have accused their defense of cheap shots.
"I am disappointed that someone would say that about us," Browns first-year coach Butch Davis said, "in light of the fact that our guys play hard. We try to be aggressive. I don't think we are doing anything different than any of the other good defensive football teams in the league are doing."
The Steelers claim they have seen nothing cheap on video tape watching the Browns, and for a team that proclaims its own defense as the "Big Nasty D," they almost have a kinship with what Cleveland is doing.
"Aggressiveness sometimes looks like cheap shots," fullback Jon Witman said. "You may hit somebody late out of bounds or something. I don't know if they really try it, but we see a lot of it. I don't fault them for it. They're playing well. Heck, if you get a cheap shot in there, so be it."
The way to beat that Browns' defense is to run on them, and the Steelers plan to do just that. The also plan to show off their own Big Nasty by blitzing quarterback Tim Couch.
Cleveland ranks 22nd in the NFL in yards allowed per carry, 4.2. The Steelers' running game ranks first in the NFL, averaging 177.7 yards per game and 5.1 per rush. Browns starting middle linebacker Wali Rainer will not play because of an injury.
"I think we can run up the gut on them," Witman said. "They're really aggressive; they shoot gaps really hard. If we get through the line of scrimmage, there are not a whole lot of guys for support back there."
Jerome Bettis has made a habit this season of getting through the line of scrimmage. He has six runs of 25 yards or more. Last season, he had one and in 1999 he had two.
"I'm healthier," said Bettis, who needs 10 yards to pass Ricky Watters for 12th place on the NFL's all-time list. "I'm able to be a lot quicker. Some of those runs would have been nine yards in the past. I would get through the hole but I couldn't do anything once I got past it. But now I'm a lot more creative because I can do more things out there. My balance is back, and I'm taking advantage of everything because I'm healthy.
"I had a couple years that were aaaaaah. Now it feels good to kind of have that resurgence."
The Steelers' passing attack has had a resurgence of its own, with Kordell Stewart throwing for 468 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions the past two games against last season's top-ranked defenses, Tennessee and Baltimore.
Bettis, though, believes the Steelers will have to run to beat Cleveland.
"It's not an issue of can we, we have to. That's our style, it's what we do. We have to run the football in order to be effective as an offense."
Cornerback Corey Fuller sounded as if he were offended when he was asked on a conference call this week whether his Browns could stop Bettis.
"What kind of question is that? We're going to go out and play and see what happens. I'm not going to say what I really want to say."
Fuller did say, "To beat Pittsburgh, you have to be able to do something against that defense" and the Steelers' defense plans to go after Couch. He beat the Steelers in the second game of last season by completing 23 of 31 passes for 316 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He was hurt and did not play when the Steelers exacted their revenge in the return match, 22-0.
The Browns' offensive line has not played well, and they do not run the ball well. They have the 28th-ranked running game in the NFL and are last in the league with a 3.1-yard average per carry. Rookie James Jackson leads them with 417 yards and his 3.0-yard average is 2.2 yards fewer than Bettis.
"This is one [game where] we know they're going to throw the ball," Flowers said. "They're going to do it the whole game, and we have to stop it."
Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis will counter with the blitz.
"We're not going to change our game plan, I'll say it like that," Flowers said. "Tim has a lot of confidence in our secondary to play 'man' coverage, and we're letting the dogs loose."
It shapes up, then, as a dog-eat-Dawg day in Cleveland.
Sic 'em Steelers, Browns to let dogs loose in aggressive defenses 
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