Good morning,
Overcast, temps in the 30s, no precip in Cleveland as we write this. Snow should hold off until after the game.
Everyone knows the deal by now – the Steelers need to beat the Browns and have the Jets lose in Buffalo in order to make the playoffs. There IS snow in the forecast in Buffalo, where they put out the word to hire locals at $10 an hour to shovel out Ralph Wilson Stadium if need be.
It’ll be brooms back in Pittsburgh if the Steelers do not make the playoffs. Not so much to sweep out anyone, but to clear the place of what Mike Tomlin called the “stench” from the Baltimore game that will still linger.
That game still hangs over the Steelers, no matter what you have heard or read this week. I believe they have not rebounded from it and their play today could reflect that. Fortunately for them, it would take a much worse performance for them to lose to the Browns today. In Cleveland, they await the firings of their coach and general manager, both reportedly to happen soon after the game ends.
The Browns also will start not Johnny Manziel, who is living it up in concussion protocol in Las Vegas, but one Austin Davis. He is the 24th starting quarterback for the Browns since they re-entered the league in 1999. Gerry Dulac researched how long it has been since the Steelers have had 24 different starting quarterbacks and you have to start at 1968 or 31 years earlier than Cleveland to reach that many.
So, the Steelers could “shoot themselves in the foot” – many of their explanations for their loss in Baltimore a week ago – and still come out on top today.
I won’t even speculate about the Jets vs. Bills. That could go either way, especially if the weather gets heavily involved in things. The Jets are more of a star-crossed organization than a lucky one so it would surprise no one if the Bills win.
The Steelers deserve what they get today – whether a pass into the playoffs (and a likely rematch at Cincinnati next weekend) or by sitting them out for the third time in the past four years. They played well enough to earn a spot right up until that clunker in Baltimore last week.
--- Onto some Stuff:
--- It was a bit surprising that the Steelers waited until Friday to cut Jacoby Jones because had they done so before Thursday, they would not have had to pay him a game check this week. Instead, they are out $51,176 by waiting two days (his $870,000 minimum divided by 17).
--- Class move by the Browns: They have lined up candidates for interviews tonight for GM and coach before they fired the two fellows currently holding those jobs. At least the Philadelphia Eagles did it the right way, firing their coach first.
--- The next coach will be the fourth under the Browns regime of owner Jimmy Haslam, who left the Steelers as a minority owner to take over here in 2012. That will make 4 coach in five seasons. He apparently learned nothing during his four years with the Steelers. The Steelers have had three head coaches in 47 years.
--- I read somewhere that the Steelers offensive linemen want to get DeAngelo Williams 101 yards rushing today so he can hit 1,000. That should be the LAST thing on their minds. Who else would they like to help reach milestones today – Antonio Brown? Ben Roethlisberger? Heath Miller?
The Steelers should have absolutely no other concern today than to beat the Browns, any way they can.
--- And a Prediction:
If the Steelers lose today, I will have picked them right on the button at 9-7, which was my prediction for their final record before the season began. So a 10-6 record looks good compared to the expectations I had for them.
Nevertheless, put in perspective, it will be highly disappointing to them and their fans if they miss the playoffs because of that fiasco in Baltimore last week. Good teams do not allow that to happen. If Manziel were playing today, I’d be tempted to pick the Browns.
Nevertheless, I will go with an uninspiring Steelers victory of 27-17.
First Published: April 6, 2016, 4:06 p.m.