First off, I’m really happy I didn’t have to go into work with another loss hanging over my head.

I bet the rest of Steelers Nation is feeling the same way.

Yeah, this win came against a 0-10 Cleveland Browns team, but I don’t care. Let’s enjoy this win, we deserve it.

Now, let’s talk about the defense.

Terrelle Pryor

The Steelers defense gave up 279 total net yards, 33 rushing yards and 246 passing yards. That’s not too bad considering the Browns have a few pretty good weapons on offense. One is Terrelle Pryor, who’s made a successful transition from QB to WR.

The Steelers defense came to play on the opening possession, stuffing the Browns for two, 2-yard losses (one by fill-in DL Ricardo Mathews and another by Ryan Shazier.) However, Pryor made his presence felt on that first drive, on a Cleveland 3rd-and-6; catching a 36 yard reception on an extended play.

Ross Cockrell had been stellar throughout the year but lost Pryor in coverage. Pryor found the soft spot in the zone and made the play. (It was also a great throw by Browns QB Cody Kessler.)

Pryor finished the day catching 5 of his 10 targets for 97 yards.

Artie Burns

Rookie CB Artie Burns made his third consecutive start in this game, with he and Cockrell playing the same amount of snaps. Following the Dallas game where Dez Bryant made Artie look subhuman, it would be interesting to see if Pittsburgh’s first round draft pick would bounce back against the Browns.

He did.

Burns made his presence felt early. Following the Pryor play above, Shazier would stuff the run again (another 2 yard loss) while an incomplete and a false start penalty backed the Browns up for a 3rd-and-17 from the Steelers 45.

Burns picked off a pass intended for Corey Coleman, finding the ball and making the play.

Some say that Burns should’ve just batted the pass down. I understand that, considering it put the Steelers offense on their own 4-yard line.

But let’s take a positive away from this, shall we?

The positive in all of this is the Steelers first-round pick is making plays. Going into this season, the majority of Steelers fans thought Artie Burns wouldn’t play much, considering it takes some time to get adjusted to the NFL level of play.

Burns continued to show his worth by making a play on the ball.

Other Rookies

Burns isn’t the only rookie making his presence felt: Sean Davis played every snap in this game at safety, and if not for an penalty, would have also been credited with a defensive touchdown.

However, it was rookie Javon Hargrave who came up with a monster game. Many were asking who would step up to fill the void left by Cameron Heyward.

“J-Wobble” answered the call.

With the Steelers up 3-0 to start the second quarter, the Browns drive extended to a 3rd-and-8 from their own 47. Hargrave came up with a crushing sack, dropping Kessler for a loss of 11.

Hargrave also had a defensive touchdown, the game-winning recovery for a score following Ryan Shazier’s relentless, almost superhuman pursuit of Browns QB Josh McCown, who was strip-sacked on the play:

Deebo

Not only did the Steelers come away with a win, but another big, awesome, thing happened: James Harrison broke the Steelers all-time sack record.

Harrison has been one of my all-time favorite players since I became a Steelers fan.

At 38-years old, it looks like he doesn’t plan on slowing down. He makes breaking the sack record look all to easy:

Conclusion

The Steelers defense did their job in this game, and they had to: the weather made it tough on the Steelers offense to pass the ball. The D came to play; they beat up on a bad team, and sealed the win.

I fully except our boys to continue turning things around against a weak Indianapolis Colts offensive line on Thanksgiving night.