Avoiding disaster
After losing 4 games in a row, Browns managed to end that negative streak on Sunday at home. They defeated the Bills, even though they were in a very difficult situation at one point in the game. A few minutes left to play, down by three. Bad exchange between Baker Mayfield and Kareem Hunt, Jerry Hughes recovers the fumble and returns it for the touchdown. Ball game... Fortunately for the Browns, that play was called as an incomplete forward pass after the review, so they had another opportunity and they took advantage of it.
Despite the win, not everything was as smooth as they'd like to be. Their red-zone offense was pathetic, with 10 or so plays inside the opposing 5-yard line and only one touchdown. That seems crazy, considering that they have Nick Chubb in the backfield, who was gashing Buffalo's leaky run defense all day long. They stood by their words when they said that they are going to force-feed their star receivers. Despite being shadowed by Tre'Davius White for most of the day, Odell Beckham was targeted 12 times and came up with 5 grabs. Jarvis Landry was perfect with 9 out of 9, for 97 yards.
Survivors
On the other side, Steelers keep finding ways to win. Most of us thought that they are in big trouble when Ben Roethlisberger went down in week 2 loss to Seattle. But they've been 5-2 since then and are currently riding on a 4 game winning streak. Offensively, they tweaked things a bit to help out their 2nd year QB Mason Rudolph. The offense is not as explosive as it was before, but they are taking care of the football and not really hurting themselves with negative plays.
But the star of the show has been the defense. Trading for Minkah Fitzpatrick was a brilinat move because it seems that he was the missing piece that they needed to connect all the dots on that side of the ball. He's been making game changing plays on top of being solid in both coverage and against the run. Pass rushing unit with TJ Watt, Cameron Hayward and Bud Dupree is terrorizing opposing OL's and making the job easier for their corners that now don't have to cover for 5+ seconds.
Browns vs Steelers best bet
I am looking at the under here with both defenses matching up well against each other. When we talk about Cleveland and their offense, they have been their own biggest enemy so far this season. They have no identity and the playcalling was confusing more often than not. They can run the ball, but would also like to get the ball to the playmakers in the passing game, which they were unable to do because of the poor pass protection, bad timing, receivers not being on the same page with Baker Mayfield and the offense struggling to find rhythm overall. Steelers will bring the heat tonight, put Mayfield under the pressure and prevent Browns from getting things going on offense.
When talking about Steelers, they've mostly been a dink&dunk offense since Rudolph took over. Bunch of designed screens and short passes to running backs, trying to get some yards after the catch. Vs zone defense, where defenders are mostly facing the line of scrimmage, it is difficult to get a lot out of those plays. Only long throws that Rudolph has been making consistently are the deep in-cutting routes, but he's getting a bit predictable with those and I doubt Dionte Johnson and James Washington will be able to shake of Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams on the outside and manage to get open in those soft spots of the zone.
