2023 Steelers Season Recall: Loss in Cleveland forces Pittsburgh to make changes
Steel City Underground presents our 2023 Steelers Recall: A Look Back at Pittsburgh Steelers games and storylines from last season.
The Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to Cleveland to face the Browns for their Week 11 matchup at Cleveland Browns Stadium with a 6-3 record and hot on the heels of the division-leading Baltimore Ravens. What would transpire in this game, however, seemed to negate all of the progress the team had made during a three-game home stretch prior.
The lack of offense resulted in the Steelers’ defense, decimated by injuries, to carry the day. Despite their excellent play in the second half, the defense could not overcome the lack of positives offensively. Outside of a 74-yard touchdown run by Jaylen Warren – the longest rushing TD by a Steelers player since Le’Veon Bell went 81 yards for a score in Week 3 of 2014 – Pittsburgh’s offense was forgettable.
Steelers RB Jaylen Warren once again topped the century mark with nine carries for 129 yards and Pittsburgh’s only touchdown. Warren topped 100 yards for the first time in his career the previous weekend (101), making it back-to-back 100-yard games for the undrafted second-year pro.
For only the third time in ten games this season, the Cleveland Browns rush offense was held to under 100 yards. They had gained at least 150 yards or more in six of their ten games played. While they weren’t held to a season-low on Sunday, the Steelers contained Cleveland to 96 total yards. Kareem Hunt would finish with a 3.0 yards-per-carry average while Jerome Ford finished with a 2.6 average. (Both carried the ball 12 times each.)
Chandon Sullivan grabbed an interception off of Dorian Thompson-Robinson that could have been a major turning point, but his teammates on offense could do nothing with the takeaway. In fact, they couldn’t do anything all game long.
Additionally, Matt Canada‘s play-calling was not good; it may even be looked-back on as abysmal in many instances. The offensive line struggled under the Browns’ consistent defensive pressure. Receivers weren’t sharp or precise, resulting in a passing game that was nearly non-existent on appeared unscripted.
The Steelers had their best field position of the game, starting at their own 48, with just under six minutes remaining in a tie game: and ended up punting after four plays for only nine yards. Even a line marking robot may have had a better chance of securing a first down!
They had another chance, this time with 1:42 remaining from their own 30-yard-line. Steelers QB Kenny Pickett threw three-straight incompletions – all intended for WR Diontae Johnson – and the team would punt.
Quarterback Kenny Pickett looked like he’d regressed and, in what could have been a big moment in the fourth quarter, only took 14 seconds off the game clock in a stall that stole any hope of a game-winning field goal from Chris Boswell. A touchdown was beyond the realm of possible.
The Steelers nearly got the chip off of their shoulder by being outgained by every opposing offense this season. However, in the game’s final moments, the Steelers went three-and-out. The Cleveland Browns would get the ball back and gain 43 yards on 8 plays on their way to a game-winning Dustin Hopkins field goal.
This nudged the Browns offense to finishing with ten yards more than the Steelers, continuing the streak.
The Steelers dropped to a 6-4 record with a 13-10 loss. Changes would be in full swing, as the fans were irate losing to rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who threw for 165 yards and an interception: narrowly finishing with a worse quarterback rating than Pickett (15-of-28 for 106 yards).
Pittsburgh punted nine times, with only two scoring drives on the day: one field goal and the Warren touchdown. The aftermath would be a deal of irony for the Steelers, who usually pummeled the Browns into making in-season decisions and firing coaches following a loss. This time, the tables were turned as Matt Canada was given his marching papers the following day, as the Steelers were in recovery mode to salvage their season in a tight AFC North race that saw the Browns jump ahead by one game.
Next up for the Steelers would be another division matchup in Week 12 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Join us next week as our Recall series sees if the team can turnaround their abysmal offense with only a week to prep for their second leg of back-to-back AFC North road contests.
