What Cleveland Browns fans should look for when Steelers play Buffalo

Cleveland Browns will face the Steelers again; after that, who knows?

The Cleveland Browns will play the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night of course, but Sunday also has some interesting games for Browns fans, including the Pittsburgh Steelers invasion of the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night, as a  teaser for the following night’s big game. The Browns are scheduled to play the Steelers in the last game of the season, which will have playoff implications for both teams. Pittsburgh is looking for a first game bye in the playoffs, very likely they will need to have a victory over the Browns to have a chance to earn that bye. The Steelers own the tiebreaker against the Kansas City Chiefs, by the way.

The Steelers to this point have been absolutely dominant on both sides of the ball. They have outscored their opponents 334-211. They have a bone-crushing defensive line, and no weaknesses in the defensive lineup, earning their ranking as the top defense in the NFL. They lead the NFL in fewest points allowed, fewest passing yards given up, and most sacks. The only sign that they might be human is that they have only the fifth-fewest rushing yards allowed.

The Bills on the other hand have barely outscored their opponents, 333-306. That is, they have scored about the same number of points behind rocket-armed Josh Allen, but their defense has given up 95 more points than the Steelers.  So why are the Bills -2 point favorites on the oddsmakers boards?

Let us respond by giving our loyal readers a homework assignment. Please watch the game and tell us whether you think Big Ben Roethlisberger is still Big Ben, and in particular whether his bionic elbow is still holding up. He’s definitely a Hall of Fame talent based on his on-field credentials for his career. He has still been deadly accurate at the short passing game this season, but is he still as strong now as he was at the beginning of the season?