Grading The Steelers' Week 1 Win Over Cleveland
By Christina Rivers
One of the things that the Pittsburgh Steelers coaching staff, including offensive coordinator Todd Haley, insisted the team must do better was start games stronger and faster. The Steelers went out and scored 27 points before halftime, allowing the Cleveland Browns only a field goal. What should have been more of the same in the second half became a complete turnaround as Browns rookie running back Isaiah Crowell rushed for two touchdowns in the third quarter. With both teams tied and time running down in the fourth quarter, Ben Roethlisberger led the Steelers down the field to set up the Shaun Suisham field goal to win, 30-27.
Quarterback
Roethlisberger threw for 365 yards and a touchdown to receiver Antonio Brown, completing 23-of-34 attempts for the game. Spreading the passes around, Roethlisberger tagged five different receivers, including Brown. Late in the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger utilized the no-huddle to orchestrate two passes to Markus Wheaton for 11 and 20 yards respectively in the final 47 seconds to set up the winning field goal. Roethlisberger threw one interception but recovered his only fumble in the game.
Although not a quarterback, Robert Golden had a passing play of his own. The Steelers attempted a fake punt situation where Golden came away with the ball and threw a 25-yard pass to Antwon Blake in an attempt to gain the first down. While the play was successful, the Steelers were still required to return the ball to the Browns via a Brad Wing punt in the series. Grade: A-
Offense
Le'Veon Bell and (Antonio) Brown led the Steelers on offense against Cleveland. Bell ran for 197 total yards and a 38-yard touchdown on 21 attempts. Brown completed five catches for 116 yards and a score. Overall, the Steelers were able to convert 24 first downs; six on the ground and 16 through the air. The offense converted 33 percent of their third downs while improving their fourth-down conversion rate (1/1). The offense accumulated 490 total net yards for the game.
While a knockout punch looked to have been thrown before halftime as the Steelers scored three offensive touchdowns in just over eight minutes, the offense continued to work. LeGarrette Blount's 7-yard touchdown run capped an 80-yard drive in the final minute of the first quarter. Despite the overall success, the offensive line allowed four sacks on Roethlisberger. Grade: A-
Defense
Pittsburgh has been transitioning into their more youthful, sleek defense and they were able to handle what Brian Hoyer and the Browns threw at them for the most part for 30 minutes. When they returned after the half, the fact that they were able to garner no defensive takeaways and only sack Hoyer three times turned into a situation where they had to focus on the fundamentals once again. Cortez Allen and Troy Polamalu led the defense in tackles with six apiece, while Jarvis Jones, Cam Heyward and Jason Worilds all added sacks.
Where the Steelers defense shined was in holding the Browns to only being able to convert 2-of-11 third downs. Their struggles were mainly with the Browns' rushing game in the second half. Overall, the Browns were able to rush for 183 yards on 30 plays and two touchdowns. In the end, the Steelers defense was stout enough to prevent any last minute opportunities by the Browns to break the tie, forcing Cleveland to punt the ball back to Pittsburgh. The Steelers still need to work on defense in the redzone. Grade: B+
Special Teams
While Brad Wing continues to have lackluster performances as the Steelers' punter, averaging just 43.7 yards on six attempts, kicker Shaun Suisham was perfect on the day. Of three field goals attempted, Suisham hammered each one between the uprights to score nine points and ultimately the kick that won the game.
Rookie Dri Archer handled kickoff duties for the Steelers, fielding two for an average of 14 yards, his longest for 17 yards. Antonio Brown took three punt returns for an average of 15 yards, his longest for 36. Grade: B
The win over Cleveland may give Pittsburgh a sigh of relief after a rough 2013 regular season and 1-3 record in the 2014 preseason. They'll have a short week to prepare for the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday, Sept. 11. Against Cleveland, Brown registered his 17th consecutive game with a minimum of five catches and 50 yards, but was the object of an unusual play. Midway through the second quarter, Brown attempted to hurdle Browns punter Spence Lanning and ended up offering a karate-like kick to Lanning's facemask. The result was that Brown may have made the highlight reels for the strange play but was whistled for unnecessary roughness.
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Christina Rivers has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers and National Football League professionally as a reporter and photographer for over a decade. Rivers studied exercise physiology and sports psychology at Brigham Young University as a student-athlete. Christina is a freelance writer covering all things NFL. Her work can be found on
Examiner.com.