It wasn’t perfect or their best game, but the Steelers finally got a win! The Steelers walked the line between dominance and flopping at times, but they pulled through and finished the game strong.

We’ll have more in-depth analysis later in the week, but for now here are my quick thoughts following the Steelers win (man, I haven’t typed that word in awhile!).

Offense

The game ball for the offense goes to Le’Veon Bell. He got the ball early and often, finishing the day with 201 yards from scrimmage. He got into the endzone too, scoring a rushing touchdown two weeks in a row.  Bell is starting become the centerpiece of this offense and has proven to be a true workhorse back.

The Steelers finally found 2 point conversion redemption! After a bizarre sequence where Browns penalties gave the Steelers multiple shots at a touchdown, the Steelers finally got in. Rather than taking the field goal, Mike Tomlin chose to go for 2 in order to make the score 14-0 going into halftime. After going 0-4 last week, the Steelers were able to redeem themselves and successfully convert a 2 point attempt.

Today was Ladarius Green’s second game with the Steelers, but he’s still yet to make an impact. His prime opportunity came on a pass in the endzone that he dropped. Yes, a defender got his hand on the ball, but with the amount we’re paying Green he is expected to make those tough catches. He clearly is still recovering from injury and getting back in the swing of things, so I won’t declare him a bust yet. Remember, it took Mike Mitchell a season with the team to find his groove.

The offense was conservative today, but that seemed to be the gameplan. Because of the high winds and cold weather in Cleveland, they stuck to short passes and gave the ball to Bell a lot. This didn’t result in a lot of yardage for the team, but it helped the team dominate in possession time. The Steelers possessed the ball for about 34 minutes compared to the Browns’ 26 minutes.

Defense

First things first, the defense got 8 sacks today!

• Stephon Tuitt – 2.5
• Arthur Moats – 1.5
• Lawrence Timmons – 1
• Ryan Shazier – 1
• James Harrison – 1
• Javon Hargrave – 1

I’m not sure if it was scheming, the Browns offense line, or just the guys feeling good, but the pass rush was the best we’ve seen in awhile!

Lawrence Timmons was definitely a key for the pass rush. We saw him coming around the edge more than we’ve seen all season and he was very effective.

It would also be a crime to not mention James Harrison. He may have only had 1 sack, but that 1 sack broke the Steelers all-time record for sacks. With 77.5 career sacks, the record now belongs to Harrison. He got his first career sack in Cleveland and then broke the record in Cleveland, a perfect narrative.

The Steelers rookies got a lot of work today and overall played well. Artie Burns got his second career interception and Javon Hargrave got his first career sack as well as a touchdown. Sean Davis played solid overall but his most noteworthy play was a whiffed sack.

Last but not least, we have to mention Stephon Tuitt. Tuitt stepped up today in Cam Heyward’s absence. He finished the game with 6 total tackles, 2.5 sacks, and 2 tackles for loss. All day we saw him hustling to the ball and disrupting the line. After having a relatively quiet season, today was a great day for the young player.

Final thoughts

As I mentioned before, the game wasn’t always pretty. What’s important though is the team was clutch at the end of the game and finished strong, and it’s no fun being all negative.

This defense has its holes and flaws, but they played well today despite what many are saying on Twitter. My favorite tweet of the day was:

#Steelers completely dominate the game & plenty of fans pissed off they didn’t dominate enuf.

— David Todd (@DavidMTodd) November 20, 2016

The Steelers held the Browns to only 9 points. For some perspective, here’s what they put up against other teams:

• Patriots – 13 points
• Titans – 26 points
• Bengals – 17 points
• Cowboys – 10 points
• Dolphins – 24 points

This defense has had its fair share of struggles, but this unit is improving.

Looking forward, I hope this team can build off the momentum from today. Their pass rush was finally able to show signs of life, which was must needed after some poor weeks. Bud Dupree returned to the field today but only played 1 snap because the team was doing perfectly fine without him. We’ll likely see him more during the next game as he works his way back from injury.

Hopefully they take from what worked today and build off of it. This team is still frustrating at times, but I still have confidence in them. They don’t look like a Super Bowl team at the moment, but i’ll never lose faith in my Steelers.