Good morning,
We’re in Cleveland, where it’s dry (finally) but cold and breezy. They don’t play these games unless it is below 40 and while it may reach that temperature today, it will feel more like 28, which is about high for the wind chill in Cleveland.
The Steelers are primed for an upset. They are 3-point favorites but coming off a demoralizing loss at home to Baltimore and with the Ravens up next, this is a dangerous game for them, especially without their top two quarterbacks available.
Let’s get right to some stuff and more reasons for the above:
--- Batch will come under a good pass rush today. The Browns have 27 sacks, which are nine more than your Pittsburgh Steelers have. Rookie tackle Mike Adams will be under siege , particularly from defensive end Jabaal Sheard, a second-year player from Pitt.
--- The Browns aren’t exactly ball hawks but they have nearly twice as many takeaways as do the Steelers, 17-9.
--- Cleveland has a much more dangerous return game with Joshua Cribbs, who has brutalized the Steelers kick coverage teams in the past.
--- Rashard Mendenhall is likely to start at halfback, meaning the Steelers will not go with their most productive back, Jonathan Dwyer, and likely will again try to keep their legs fresh, or divvy things up among the three of them, including Isaac Redman. Dwyer should be starting. He leads the team with 410 yards rushing and his 4.6-yard average per carry is a full yard more than Mendenhall and Redman.
--- What are the chances that Plaxico Burress runs at least one wrong route because of his newness to the offense, and Charlie Batch throws the other way, resulting in a pick-six?
--- The Steelers still are OK at stopping the run, as they proved last week against Ray Rice, but they’re not like they used to be and today they get heralded rookie Trent Richardson, who is on pace for more than 1,000 yards rushing but who has not been the game-changer the Browns had hoped he would be.
--- So, here’s my pick: Cleveland, in a rare upset of the Steelers, 17-16.
First Published: April 6, 2016, 4:17 p.m.
Updated: December 14, 2520, 8:49 a.m.
