Cleveland Browns: Position grades from an ugly loss to Pittsburgh

Offensive Line: F

It was a disastrous afternoon for the Browns’ offensive line. Overwhelmed by a far superior Pittsburgh pass rush, the line was dominated all afternoon.

Early on, when the Browns tried to run the ball, Steelers defenders would not allow even the slightest of openings. When Cleveland finally realized that running the ball wouldn’t work and abandoned it altogether, the offensive line was manhandled by an aggressive pass rush.

The edges especially gave the Browns trouble. Joe Thomas and Austin Pasztor struggled mightily, as well as John Greco. Cameron Erving played as well as expected, as he was dominated on snap after snap. Erving also made his presence felt later in the game, committing penalties on two consecutive snaps.

Stunts were the real problem though, accounting for eight sacks, a bunch of incompletions, and even a touchdown. Pittsburgh always brought one more pass rusher than the Browns could block, proving to be an effective strategy against a team that appears to have something against in-game adjustments.

The unit is now back to square one, finding that they are capable of doing absolutely nothing an offensive line sets out to do. What this means for them is that they will likely go back to focusing on establishing a running game, something that will be a challenge no matter how hard they try.