3Rivers’ Takeaways: Positives adding up for Steelers as they shake up AFC North rival Browns

Christina Rivers (3Rivers_Writer on Twitter) offers her Pittsburgh Steelers post-game takeaways, both positive and negative, as Steel City Underground extends its coverage of the Steelers’ on-field performances throughout the 2021-22 NFL regular season.

I was admittedly nervous about the Week 8 AFC North matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Although the Steelers had looked like they’d begun to improve on offense, especially in their game against the Seattle Seahawks, and I wasn’t sold that the Browns weren’t more banged-up than they wanted to admit, I anticipated the game was going to be one that would make me want to reach for some heartburn medication before everything came to an end. I wasn’t wrong.

Every gray hair I currently have on my head grew a full quarter-inch on Sunday as I watched but there were some really nice things in the game that allowed me to have mostly-positive takeaways from the 15-10 win by the Steelers.

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More RPO, please and thank you

The Steelers’ offense started off slowly yet again in Week 8, but they progressively improved as the game went on. With the Browns dialing up the pressure on Ben Roethlisberger and focusing on the rushing of Najee Harris, the addition of more run-play option movement after the first half actually created some fantastic opportunities offensively for Pittsburgh. It’s apparent that Roethlisberger and Harris have been working on exchanges; several of the RPO plays were sold well enough that even my eyes were focused on their motion and not necessarily on where the ball ended up.

Utilizing the RPO kept the Browns from being able to just throw the kitchen sink at the Steelers’ offensive line and created some mismatches in the open field. It also allowed Roethlisberger to be more creative with his body language, especially when he found an opening for a two-point conversion run that was unfortunately overturned due to a phantom holding call.

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Guts and glory

The infusion of youth into the starting lineup could have been a huge mistake for Pittsburgh. Thankfully, for the most part, the Steelers have been getting some gutsy play from rookies and younger players. It has to be something the coaching staff and veteran teammates are as happy about as fans are. Najee Harris is as advertised, and had no hesitation lowering a shoulder to keep defenders from easily wrapping him up and once again made a full-stretch leap into the end zone for a touchdown.

Also on offense, Pat Freiermuth took some punishment and battled to make some nice receptions, including a touchdown catch that forced him to battle for a partially-deflected ball in tight coverage, find it, secure it, get his feet inbounds, and score what would result in the game-winning touchdown.

Defensively, when things have gotten tougher, the Steelers have dug deep and gutted it out to create adjustments and better matchups. Against the Browns, the defense was getting gashed by a full-burst rushing attack and three tight end scheme that was unfamiliar and created room for errors and miscommunication. With leadership up front, Pittsburgh’s defensive backfield and interior linebackers were able to recover in time to give the ball back to their own offense for critical points on the scoreboard.

They say, “No guts, no glory.” Well, the Steelers are earning glory by digging deep, even if it hasn’t always been pretty. T.J. Watt and Cameron Heyward continue to be the examples to follow in that sheer will department.

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Additional takeaways and thoughts

The Steelers went to a “tall” package against the Browns. You might say, “Wait, I’ve never heard of that scheme in football.” It’s not necessarily an on-field scheme, but don’t believe that it isn’t something that Mike Tomlin and the Steelers coaching staff haven’t schemed in their minds. With Freiermuth, Zach Gentry, and Chase Claypool in the same offensive set, at one point, it looked like Roethlisberger was throwing balls to an NBA roster instead of the traditional Steelers receiving corps. The Steelers haven’t always fielded the tallest receivers, and their top-performing receivers haven’t necessarily been guys that were six feet tall or over. I’ll take tall and quick as a nice changeup any time the Steelers decide to utilize it, however. Gentry looked like a giant on Sunday.

Nice game, Joe Schobert.

There were plenty of complaints surrounding the play call to have kicker Chris Boswell fake the field goal that resulted in him being nearly beheaded and forced out of the game. Although I completely believe that the hit on Boswell should have been penalized, and I feel for him in what he’ll be dealing with as aftereffects, I like that Tomlin wants the Steelers to be aggressive. How many times has he been publicly called out for being too soft, playing too cautiously? A lot. If Pittsburgh is Sparta, then make a statement in how you play. If that’s the ultimate plan, I’ll take it every week in this NFL season.


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