Cleveland Browns Week 11 studs and duds following second-straight win

The Cleveland Browns moved to 4-6 with a win on Thursday Night Football over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Here were the studs and duds from the Week 11 victory.

Perhaps the Cleveland Browns have finally turned the corner. They were able to knock off the Buffalo Bills in Week 10, which was just their second win of the season.

Then with a short week, they played host to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football. They shot out of the gates on fire and went up 14-0 before the half.

The second half wasn’t as good for them as the Steelers were finding ways to slow them down, and the Browns were also suffering some self-inflicted pain.

However, the defense continued to show up when needed and they sent their AFC North rivals home with a loss. Now at 4-6 thanks to two wins in a row, the Browns have some extra time off before hosting the Miami Dolphins in Week 12.

Before moving on to that game though, we take some time to point out the players who stood out as studs and duds in the big win over Pittsburgh.

Honorable mention stud: Odell Beckham, Jr.

The Browns have struggled to get Odell Beckham, Jr. involved in the early portion of games this season, but that wasn’t a problem on Thursday. Cleveland got him the ball on the second play of the game for a seven-yard gain and then hit him deep two plays later.

Following a sensational third-down conversion from Baker Mayfield to Kareem Hunt, OBJ got deep and pulled in a 43-yard pass from Mayfield. Originally called a touchdown, the play was reviewed and it was determined Beckham was down at the one. Mayfield followed it up with a quarterback sneak for the score, but OBJ deserves just as much credit for his big play.

Honorable mention dud: Sheldon Richardson

Sheldon Richardson had a shot at making a big turnover but got greedy. Under two minutes to go in the half, Juston Burris came in on a blitz and knocked the ball out of Mason Rudolph’s hand. The fumbled ball was on the ground waiting to be picked up but Richardson tried to scoop it rather than simply fall on it. Thankfully, they still stopped Pittsburgh as Chad Thomas got a sack on third down.

Still, the Browns might have been able to go for more points had Richardson gotten them the ball at the Cleveland 42. Instead, the Steelers punted the ball away and that pinned the home team back. Starting at their own seven, head coach Freddie Kitchens decided to just run the final 52 seconds out and go to the half up 14-0.

It was the right call after the punt but they could have been much more aggressive if they were closer to field goal range.