Cleveland Browns lose to Pittsburgh Steelers, 28-12

The Cleveland Browns dropped their season finale to the Pittsburgh Steelers, ending another disappointing season.

Pittsburgh Steelers fans armed with Terrible Towels were out in full force Sunday as the Steelers traveled to Cleveland for the 2015 season finale against the Cleveland Browns.

Pittsburgh came in with a record of 9-6, vying for a playoff spot, needing a win and a New York Jets loss to secure a postseason birth. Both of those stipulations were met as the Jets fell to the Bills 22-17, and Pittsburgh dominated Cleveland 28-12.

After finishing with a record of 3-13, Cleveland now owns the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 NFL Draft.

With postseason having been out of the conversation for Cleveland for a while now, and head coach Mike Pettine all but fired, there was question if the team would be better off tanking the game in the hopes of earning the No. 1 overall pick, or if beating the Steelers to eliminate them from playoff contention would be sweet enough for Browns fans.

Despite the lopsided score, Cleveland did seem to putting forth a good effort trying to beat their longtime rivals.

After recovering a fumble on Pittsburgh’s first drive of the game, Cleveland was unable to capitalize on the takeaway and turned the ball over on downs. The ensuing eight-play, 70-yard drive was capped off by a two-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller.

As the first quarter drew to a close, Browns safety Jordan Poyer had a great jump on a pass from Ben Roethlisberger and came down with the interception. This time, Cleveland was able to put points on the board, as Travis Coons nailed a 29-yard field goal, his first of four on the day, continuing a season in which he has not actually missed a field goal, despite having four blocked recently.

In the second quarter, Antonio Brown reached another milestone in his already historic career, becoming the first receiver in NFL history to have 125 receptions in back-to-back seasons. He also found the end zone on the end of a 17-yard pass from Roethlisberger.

In other receiver news from the game, Terrelle Pryor finally reeled in his first catch of the season, and it was a beauty. Racing up the sideline, Pryor was able to beat single coverage and climbed the ladder to come down with a 42-yard gain.

Coons added two more field goals to bring the Browns within five, trailing 14-9 at halftime.

Cleveland was able to notch their third takeaway of the game as Craig Robertson picked off Roethlisberger and bobbed and weaved his way to a 36-yard return, setting Cleveland up in great position on Pittsburgh’s nine-yard line. In true Cleveland fashion though, nothing can come that easy. Austin Davis threw to a blanketed Gary Barnidge in the end zone and ended up getting picked off by James Harrison.

In what was arguably Cleveland’s biggest victory of the game, they managed to keep Pittsburgh to only a field goal, ending the third quarter still only down by one score, 17-9.

Cleveland’s scoring for the day was capped as Coons nailed his fourth field goal of the day, another 29-yarder, inching the Browns as close as they would come, at 17-12. From then on, Cleveland gave the game away through sloppy play.

An odd and embarrassing string of events that consisted of a false start and a delay of game while Cleveland was already inside the two-yard line, backed them up to about the one-inch-line. They were bailed out with a nice grab from Barnidge, only to give it away once again as Davis fumbled the ball while getting sacked.

The change of possession granted Pittsburgh great field position, and allowed them to drive and score again as Roethlisberger found Markus Wheaton in the end zone, and after their eighth two-point conversion of the season, bumped their lead up to 25-12.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Browns lost a fumble, once again setting up Pittsburgh with great field position, but were able to hold the Steelers to a field goal.

As if to add insult to injury on this poor performance from Cleveland, Davis threw another interception with less than five minutes left in the game. Cleveland forced Pittsburgh to punt for only the second time in the game, though, and after another turnover on downs, Pittsburgh just killed the clock and the game, and mercifully brought the Browns season to an end and put Cleveland fans out of their misery, winning 28-12 and securing a wild card spot.

The Battle in the Trenches

 Perhaps the biggest factor in Pittsburgh’s success stemmed from their ability to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

The offensive line gave Roethlisberger enough time to write a book in the pocket, helping him go 24-of-36 passing for 349 yards and three touchdowns. Cleveland was unable to get any push on the defensive side, and in form with the rest of the season, Danny Shelton was a big non-factor.

Defensively, the Steelers front seven made life difficult for Davis as he was sacked seven times. Pittsburgh’s strength up front, combined with Cleveland’s weak offensive line, was a combination that was unwinnable for the Browns.

Quarterback Play

 While Roethlisberger was thoroughly the more dominant of the two passers, both had troubles at times with accuracy. Both had passes that just barely missed, and both had passes that were yards off from their target.

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Taking into consideration that Davis was only used in any situation midway through the season, it would be unfair to expect him to come in and be the leader of this team. He’s going to do what Austin Davis does, and that is be a serviceable backup that won’t win you a game, but he certainly won’t be the catalyst in losing it.

Turnovers

 Cleveland was able to create numerous opportunities through their defense in the first half, forcing three turnovers, something they have struggled to do throughout most of the season. The problem being that they were unable to capitalize on those opportunities, giving the ball back through either punt’s, turnover on downs, or turnovers of their own. The Browns had the opportunity to take control of this game from the get go, but they just couldn’t punish Pittsburgh for their mistakes.

In the second half the tables completely turned, as Cleveland gave up four turnovers of their own in the third and fourth quarter alone. For this exact reason, it’s hard to put this loss on one player or one play, but on the team as a whole for lack of ability to seize opportunities, their lackluster ball control, and inability to seize control of line of scrimmage.