- Browns. Poop. Poop. Browns. Cleveland's... Cleveland's like shit. If you'll excuse me, I've had a lot bran today and I need to take the Browns to the Super Bowl.
- Ahhhhhh. That's better.
- So, their offensive line is really, really good. They had some trouble with Dallas in Week 1 and Dallas runs a 3-4 just like us, but I think it's that not everyone has settled in yet. After all, Eric Steinbach and Joe Thomas are now the best left side in the NFL and it's not like they just started sucking overnight.
- Remember what we did to Cleveland (at Cleveland) in Week 1 last year? Remember what happened the next game? The offense came alive, that's what. Now, our defense is much better than the Bengals defense, but I could still still Cleveland getting a serious mad-on and putting up 27 or 31 points on us.
- That's the problem. They lost last week. Expectations are high. This is a division game. It's the Steelers. No matter how crappy they've been since they came back, they've always played us tough at least one game a year. A bounce here, a bounce there, and they could've won a few of those games.
- The defense has a bunch of new starters. Why does this make me poop my pants? Well, they're good players, they're just in a new system and they're still getting used to it. Maybe they figure everything out in Week 5, maybe Week 10. If they figure it out Sunday night -- especially the defensive linemen -- then we got issues. Shaun Rogers is practically unstoppable when he's motivated. Corey Williams was a very capable defensive tackle in Green Bay, then the Browns moved him to end. Sunday night in front of a national audience against the new favorite in the AFC (who also happens to be a division rival) sounds like motivation enough for me. Maybe Williams figures out how to play end in the 3-4 on Sunday. Maybe not. We shall see.
- The Browns, for the first time in a long time, are expected to win. They're expected to be good. They have seven Pro Bowlers. With great power comes great responsibility. Do they step up? I doubt it, but they very well could... at home, nationally televised game, season practically on the line at this early juncture. It's not a "must win" for them, but it's a "man we better fucking win this game" for them.
- Joshua Cribbs. He almost won the second game by himself last season. He's a good dude. He's coming off a Pro Bowl year and he was hurt last week. He smells blood and he's pissed off. Bad, bad, baaaaaaaaaaaaaad combination.
- Number of games we've won in a row in this series. What? I can't poop my pants because I'm happy? Or because I'm too busy looking up statistics on the Internet?
- Roethlisberger was limited in practice this week and Tomlin is not concerned about his knee. He's concerned about Big Ben's shoulder. His right one. That's the arm he throws with. For those of you who aren't "football insiders" it's bad when someone that throws the ball for a living hurts the arm that they throw with. It's worse when a coach is concerned about it. It's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the hell worse when he's worried enough about it to say something in front of the media about it.
- The Browns actually have good linebackers and we've already talked about how good their defensive linemen are/can be. That makes for a good front seven. Now, we blew the Texans off the ball in Week 1, but this is a new week. Against a team that got their asses kicked in the trenches the week before. And we're the Steelers. And they're the Browns. Did I mention that we've won nine in a row and that they hate us? And that the game is going to be nationally televised? John Madden and everything.
- Their secondary? Not so good. Pretty shitty, actually. They lost three guys either to injury, trade, or release and they haven't re-stocked the cabinets. The guys they lost were starters. So, they've got back-ups starting and... not a whole lot behind that. Why does this make me poop my pants? We need Ben to throw to our receivers and Heath in order to take advantage of Cleveland's brown secondary... see #10.
- Derek Anderson has a Kordell-like short leash on him and he knows it. And, I'm not talking about the leash that he and Cowher used in Schenley Park, I'm talking about the fact that Kordell got yanked (he he, yanked) the season after leading the Steelers on a surprising playoff run and going to the Pro Bowl. That was in 2002. In the second game. Against the Browns. Just saying. Anderson will be motivated to not have another crappy game with Brady Quinn waiting in the wings.
- Romeo Crennell knows that the Browns are going to flush his ass if he doesn't win this year. He's been on his guys all week about how bad they played and how big this game is. He's going to be ready. And he's going to be aggressive.
- Braylon Edwards is a very, very good player. He took a lot of flak this week for dropping four balls in the opener. He'll be motivated.
- Kellen Winslow is a soldier. He's got soul and he's a soldier. He's got soul and he's a soldier. He's got soul and he's a soldier.
All intangibles aside, the Steelers are still a lot better than the Browns. Our offense is significantly better than their defense and their offense is not that much better than our defense. Especially since Dick LeBeau has been thinking of ways to confuse their offensive line all week, after seeing the Cowboys do a damn good job of it.
Special teams will be an issue. But, as last season proved, Joshua Cribbs can't win the game all by himself. He can come close, but he can't actually do it.
If Roethlisberger's shoulder is okay, they've got too much talent and too much veteran leadership to go to Cleveland and lose. The Browns may jump on us early, because they're way more pumped about this game than we are, but, if we can withstand that initial shot (and I think we can), we win this game.
Not easily, but we win it.
Steelers 28, Browns 20
Bonus EK prediction:
Steelers 28, Browns 10
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