2021 Steelers Season Recall: Win streak extended with marginal victory at Cleveland
Steel City Underground presents our 2021 Steelers Recall: a look back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
Nothing lovelier for an AFC North football setting than the Fall season. Even better, or worse as you might imagine (since the game was played in Cleveland) is a Halloween date with destiny between the Browns (who share those awful orange and brown Fall colors) and the Steelers.
As you may have guessed from previous encounters between these two teams, things got ugly. But not in the way you might imagine.
The media was touting Cleveland as Super Bowl contenders all offseason, and the stakes were higher for a Pittsburgh team many had already buried in the preseason, let alone after starting 1-3.
Browns kicker Chase McLaughlin stoked those fears with a 30-yard field goal in the Browns opening possession. The 13-play drive ate almost half of the first quarter, as the Browns got as close as the Steelers 7-yard line, before Cameron Heyward and T.J. Watt both met Baker Mayfield in the Cleveland backfield for a shared sack.
The Steelers offense didn’t go three-and-out, for a change, but still had a miserable seven-play drive which only consumed 27 yards.
The Browns would fire back aggressively, ticking off some more time with an 8-play drive, but they got a little too confident as head coach Kevin Stefanski opted to go for it on 4th-and-1. Cleveland had rode with RB D’Ernest Johnson for most of this drive, but he would be stuffed for a loss on the try by Devin Bush and Watt.
This opened the Steelers to tying the game on a 31-yard field goal, as once again another offense stalled short in the red zone.
The Browns offense would do no further damage either, punting on the next three consecutive drives before halftime. The Steelers were similar, with a punt and then one of the most questionable decisions by Mike Tomlin ever.
On 4th-and-9, no one was fooled when Chris Boswell received the ball and attempted to find Zach Gentry on a fake field goal attempt. Boswell would be jammed to the ground and leave the game injured – he would not return.
The Steelers would get the ball one more time, but take a knee to get to the lockers. When they came out, they’d receive the kickoff to start the third quarter, but went three-and-out.
This gave Cleveland the advantage, as they’d move the ball 86 yards, capped off by a Johnson ten-yard touchdown run that put them up 10-3.
Ben Roethlisberger and company would answer, with their own 78-yard drive that saw Najee Harris run in bunches and finish off with an eight-yard score. Without Boswell, the Steelers were forced to go for two, and would fail, still trailing by a single point.
Harris finished the day with 91 rushing yards (on 26 attempts) and one rushing touchdown. Najee also had three receptions for 29 yards, adding to his over 100 yards from scrimmage total.
A three-and-out by Cleveland would open the door for the Steelers to score back-to-back touchdowns, capping off another long 88-yard drive on 13 plays that saw Pat Freiermuth make a circus catch in the endzone on 4th-and-2.
Once again, the Steelers couldn’t attempt an extra point, and their two-point try would fall short as well, leaving them up 15-10.
This would be the final score in the end, but nearly 11 minutes slogged on in the fourth quarter as the Steelers forced Mayfield to fumble and then harassed him on a drive where Cleveland simply fell apart with poor play selections and penalties.
The two-minute warning ticked on as Mayfield came out on 4th-and-12, but missed his receiver Jarvis Landry for a first down.
The Steelers offense only had to run the clock out, forcing the Browns to use all three of their remaining timeouts. With 1:48 left in the game, Roethlisberger threw a pass to Diontae Johnson that the receiver turned into a 53-yard gain. This helped the Steelers secure a victory, as they would close out the road game without giving the ball back to Cleveland and climb to 4-3 on the season.
