For Pittsburgh Steelers followers, the firing of Matt Canada could not come a second too quickly.
Cleveland Browns followers agree the timing was excellent. That is the place the information got here after the Browns had performed the Steelers twice this 12 months, together with a 13-10 win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, when the Steelers’ passing recreation seemed as unhealthy because it has in literal a long time.
When the information broke over the airwaves of ESPN Cleveland this morning… Brown’s hosts had one response.
“Thank God they waited every week,” Tony Grossi mentioned. “As a result of I believe we might have seen a special consequence the way in which this offense was dedicated.”
Grossi then praised the Rooney household for making the transfer now as an alternative of watching the Steelers’ “season go beneath.” However that is traditionally unprecedented, with a coordinator being fired mid-season.
If the Steelers’ operating recreation served as a spark on Sunday, their passing recreation was a moist fart. RB Jaylen Warren did the heavy lifting because the workforce’s sole supply of offense, dashing for 129 yards, highlighted by a 74-yard landing run, the workforce’s longest dashing rating since Willie Parker in Tremendous Bowl XL. QB Kenny Pickett and the passing recreation fell flat, with the sophomore not passing for 100 yards till the ultimate play of the sport, a virtually meaningless lateral try with two seconds to play after Browns Okay Dustin Hopkins had put Cleveland forward.
Regardless of loads of alternatives, Pittsburgh was unable to place extra factors on the board. With the rating tied at 10, the Steelers had two drives within the last six minutes to take the lead. On 2nd-and-10 from the Browns’ 40, proper on the sting of area objective vary, RB Najee Harris was tackled for a lack of 5. Their third-down play yielded simply two features and the Steelers had been compelled to punt, considered one of 9 on the day.
After a defensive stand, Pittsburgh acquired the ball again with 1:42 to play. Pickett threw three incompletions to WR Diontae Johnson, with the offense taking simply 14 seconds. Cleveland collected the one factors of the second half, rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson main the Browns downfield and establishing Hopkins’ game-winning 34-yard area objective. After the sport, Pickett would admit that the Steelers’ recreation plan was not geared up to fight the excessive quantity of zone protection the Browns performed. Pittsburgh has constructed its recreation plan round man protection.
The Steelers break up their season sequence with Cleveland after beating them in week two, one other poor offensive displaying that relied on two defensive touchdowns to win the sport.
The Steelers will look to reset on and off the sphere this Sunday towards the Cincinnati Bengals and their new offense. And Browns followers might be watching it from afar and will not see Pittsburgh till 2024. Except, in fact, the 2 groups one way or the other handle to fulfill within the playoffs. It will be a protracted shot, which might seemingly imply considered one of them would win the AFC North, however it could make for an excellent storyline.
