Steelers prepared to open season in Cleveland
MEMORABLE SERIES MOMENT
Steelers 21, Browns 18
Sept. 10, 2017 at FirstEnergy Stadium
This game is remembered last year for Le鈥橵eon Bell鈥檚 sluggish return from his training-camp holdout, but it should be remembered as the game in which the Steelers鈥� season took a huge hit when Stephon Tuitt tore his left biceps while tackling Isaiah Crowell for an 8-yard loss on the second play of the game. Tuitt ragdolled a tight end and tackled Crowell and left the game. He missed four games in the first half of the season and played one-armed ball the rest of the season. This occurred a week after he had signed a $61 million contract extension and heard interior mate Cam Heyward pronounce himself healthy after missing the second half of the previous season. The smile on Keith Butler鈥檚 face these days stems from having both defensive tackles healthy for the start of this season. The Steelers are 18-6 when both are playing and using both arms.
TALE OF THE TAPE
鈥淕regg Williams鈥� defense has something going on in Cleveland. They play that 4-3 shade with the wide-9 and it鈥檚 highly aggressive. The guy you really have to watch out for is Myles Garrett. His battle with Al Villanueva is going to be special. Garrett has a great bull rush, like LaMarr Woodley in his prime. He鈥檒l get out in that wide-9 and try to get the tackle to turn, and as soon as he does that he bores in with a punch to the chest and puts his forehead into your chin and then he鈥檒l climb your body and get a great bull rush. He put the Eagles tackle on his butt three times. Three times! It was very impressive. He also has a great cross-arm chop, dip and rip move, and a third rush that he takes inside. He has three lethal rushes, but No. 1 is that bull rush. That鈥檚 something Al鈥檚 got to take right away.鈥� 鈥� Steelers Radio analyst Craig Wolfley.
TOP QUESTION
Will the game even be played Sunday in Cleveland?
One meteorologist in Cleveland called this his worst weather forecast for a Browns game in 16 years. 鈥淲e are looking at a HIGH impact weather event Sunday and Sunday night,鈥� Jeff Tanchak wrote on Facebook. 鈥淭he latest data I鈥檓 seeing could cause 5-7 inches of rain starting Saturday night. That means all day Sunday and Sunday night we are looking at continuous heavy rain. Winds will be gusting up to 40 m.p.h. 鈥� I have no idea how they will be able to play football. 鈥� I鈥檓 expecting significant flooding as Sunday wears on and through Monday.鈥�
THREE QUESTIONS:
With LT ALEJANDRO VILLANUEVA
Q: The media mob the other day wanted to know about Le鈥橵eon, but you talked instead about Garrett instead. Are you that worried?
AV: 鈥淚鈥檓 always worried about the player I have to go against. I think if you start worrying about too many things as a player, as opposed to coaches, you鈥檙e not really accomplishing anything. For me it鈥檚 all about focusing on the player I have to go against.鈥�
Q: Garrett didn鈥檛 play against the Steelers in the opener, but had a strip sack in the finale. Did you play against him?
AV: 鈥淚 did.鈥�
Q: What was your takeaway?
AV: 鈥淗e鈥檚 a really good player. Everything that you look for and everything you would expect from a first overall pick, he has. But the NFL is full of really good players. You can鈥檛 say 鈥業鈥檓 facing Myles Garrett鈥� or I鈥檓 facing such and such player and then next week I鈥檓 not going to face a quality player. All players are quality in the NFL. Your technique has to be good all the time. For this week, it鈥檚 a challenge for all of us, a challenge for the defense, a challenge for the offense, and so I鈥檓 just another worker trying to put my bricks on the wall.鈥�
GAME BREAKDOWN
What to look for from the Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium:
ON OFFENSE:
Against that wide-9, expect the Steelers to run sprint draws with James Conner and Stevan Ridley to the left side against Garrett, and then screen against him. They鈥檒l try to make Garrett run, but it would behoove the Steelers to run right at him to try to tire him. They need to make him use his strength rather than his speed and quickness. Then, when all鈥檚 safe, throw off play-action into the secondary, the weaker half of the Browns鈥� defense.
ON DEFENSE:
First-round draft pick Terrell Edmunds will attract media attention as either the starting strong safety or as part of the 鈥渜uarter鈥� and 鈥渄ollar鈥� packages, which employ six (3 safeties/3 CBs) and seven DBs, respectively. But it鈥檒l be the inside combo of Tuitt and Heyward that will attract the attention of Steelers linebackers. The Steelers are 18-6 in the regular season when the two defensive tackles are healthy. 鈥淚 talk a lot of trash to those guys but they really mean the world to me,鈥� said ILB Vince Williams. 鈥淲hen we鈥檝e got those type of forces up front, it makes your job as a linebacker a lot easier.鈥�
PREDICTION
Three factors have combined to drop both the game line and the over/under drastically this week from its opening numbers of Steelers -7 and 46陆, to Steelers -4陆 and 41陆. The obvious reasons are the weather and the determination that Bell won鈥檛 play. The other is that the Browns are believed to be much-improved. In driving to Cleveland for college soccer on Friday, I heard every talk-show host, guest and caller attempt to outdo each other on how easily the Browns will win. But Conner is far more prepared than was Bell in last year鈥檚 opener, when he and Ben Roethlisberger were completely off in the passing game. The Steelers should also feel a unifying effect from Bell blowing them off and the national sports media having nothing but bad things to say about the organization and the locker room. Take Roethlisberger in a hurricane every time, and Conner, the Erie native, should also succeed in the muck. Steelers 19, Browns 13.
BY THE NUMBERS
15: Career-high number of tackles made by Williams in one of only two games he鈥檚 played behind a healthy Heyward and Tuitt. It was a 43-14 win over Kansas City in 2016. The next week, in Williams鈥� only other start with the two tackles healthy, Williams had his second most productive game with 9 tackles in a 31-13 win over the Jets.
25: Snaps by Heyward in the Steelers鈥� first-team shutout of Tennessee in the third preseason game. Heyward didn鈥檛 play in the previous week鈥檚 51-34 loss to Green Bay.
31: Sacks by the 6-4陆, 272-pound Garrett in three seasons as an OLB at Texas A&M. The No. 1 pick of the 2017 draft had 7 sacks in 10 games as a rookie last season, and 2 sacks in his 24 snaps against the Eagles in this year鈥檚 third preseason game.
90: Receiving yards needed by Antonio Brown to become the fourth active NFL player with at least 10,000 receiving yards. Brown, who turned 30 in July, would be the youngest of a group that includes Larry Fitzgerald (35), Brandon Marshall (34) and Antonio Gates (38).
124: Number of times Browns QB Tyrod Taylor has been sacked the last three seasons as the starter in Buffalo. During that time he was sacked 9.1 percent of his dropbacks, the worst of all NFL quarterbacks during that time. Roethlisberger, in those same three seasons, has been sacked 58 times, or 3.6 percent of his dropbacks.
200: Number of regular-season games played by Roethlisberger. The game against the Browns will tie him with Donnie Shell for third place in franchise history at 201. Mike Webster played 220 games and Hines Ward played 217.
DOWNLOADS
n Joe Thomas made his NFL debut as the Browns鈥� left tackle against the Steelers on Sept. 9, 2007. James Harrison beat him for a tackle on the first snap, but Thomas didn鈥檛 miss any of the subsequent 10,362 snaps before an injury last October knocked him out of the lineup and ultimately caused his retirement. Thomas鈥� replacement is an undrafted rookie, but Desmond Harrison isn鈥檛 an ordinary undrafted rookie. He was called the best prospect in the Texas program before he was kicked out of school following a suspension-marred 2014 season. He sat out the next two seasons, but stayed clean at D-II West Georgia before failing his NFL Combine drug test (along with another Browns starting rookie, WR Antonio Callaway) and Harrison went undrafted. The Browns signed him and are starting him at left tackle across from Bud Dupree in the opener.
n The Steelers, who led the NFL and set a franchise-record with 56 sacks last season, sacked Taylor five times in their 2016 win in a blizzard at Buffalo. Dupree led the way with a 2陆 sacks that day, the only multi-sack performance of his four-year career.
n The Steelers have won 10 consecutive regular-season road games against AFC opposition, and a league-best 10 consecutive divisional games, twice that of the second-best Minnesota Vikings with five. A loss at Baltimore on Nov. 6, 2016, was the previous Steelers loss in each category.
n The Steelers ruled tight end Vance McDonald out of the game because of a foot injury. Jesse James and Xavier Grimble will be their active tight ends, with third tackle Chuks Okorafor slated for outside work in the jumbo package. The Steelers might also use rookie running back Jaylen Samuels as an H-back, but must always remember that OLB T.J. Watt played the position in college, has huge, soft hands, and that his brother J.J., a defensive end, has 3 touchdown catches in 3 career targets.
n Ramon Foster missed most of the preseason with a knee injury, but made it back in time to regain his position from super-sub B.J. Finney. Here鈥檚 what center Maurkice Pouncey likes about playing next to Foster, the 10th-year vet: 鈥淗e鈥檚 a big-body presence who鈥檚 done this a long time. When guys do this a long time, they know the game a little better. They know situations. They know where the ball鈥檚 going to hit because of the play call. They know how to set up their blocks. Now, some players, the way they play offensive line, on every single play they try to go out there and try to dominate their guy. But some plays you can鈥檛 be as aggressive because you know where the ball鈥檚 going to go. Ramon鈥檚 a savvy veteran that way. He knows zone schemes and gap schemes and things like that, and he鈥檚 very communicative. He talks a lot out there and helps guys out, making sure they know who the mike is after I say it, making sure Al knows we鈥檙e coming that way. He communicates really, really well.鈥�
n Will the Steelers rally around Conner with the dour news about Bell? 鈥淣o,鈥� said Foster. 鈥淚t鈥檚 more what about Conner can do. Conner鈥檚 worked hard. Conner鈥檚 a runner. His position is running BACK, so our job is to just do ours up front and let him shine. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a who type of thing. I think it鈥檚 just, hell, we just want to win this game, and the best way to win this game is to make sure that young guy gets off.鈥�
PARTING SHOT
鈥淭he good thing we鈥檝e got, I think, is our locker room. Probably our strongest suit is our locker room. That鈥檚 going to always be the case here.鈥� 鈥� Steelers defensive coordinator Keith Butler.