Browns inactives, injury updates and keys to completing season sweep of Steelers

Week 8 is dripping with opportunity for the Cleveland Browns. This is the spot, playing in a stadium that’s been a house of horrors for decades, that turns a feel-good start to the season into something much more real.

The Browns are as healthy as they’ve been all season and are playing their best football, at least in terms of stringing together all three phases. A win over Pittsburgh would clinch their first regular-season sweep in the rivalry since the 1980s and would vault their record to 6-2 atop the AFC North.

Browns fans have been craving meaningful football. It doesn’t get much bigger than Sunday’s trip to Pittsburgh.

From the key matchups to the injury concerns and everything in between, here’s a primer for one of the biggest games on this week’s slate.

1. How to watch Browns at Steelers in Week 8
2. Browns inactives and injury updates
3. Storylines to follow for Week 8
4. Prediction

How to watch Browns at Steelers in Week 8

• Date: Sunday, Nov. 1
• Time: 1 p.m. ET
• TV Network: CBS
• Announcers: Kevin Harlan (play by play), Trent Green (color), Melanie Collins (sideline)

Browns inactives and injury updates

Note: Cleveland’s inactives will be announced on Sunday morning about 90 minutes prior to kickoff.

Per Jack Duffin of Orange and Brown Report, here is a running tally of Cleveland’s inactive players through the first seven games:

• QB Taylen Green — 7
• RB Audric Estime — 1
• RB Quinshon Judkins — 1
• WR Tylan Wallace — 2
• TE Carsen Ryan — 1
• G Elgton Jenkins — 1
• G Teven Jenkins — 6
• C Parker Brailsford — 6
• DT Mason Graham — 2
• DT Mike Hall — 3
• LB Justin Jefferson — 5
• CB Tyson Campbell — 1
• CB Noah Igbinoghene — 3
• CB Toriano Pride — 2
• S Daniel Thomas — 2

3 Browns are questionable as team works out five players ahead of Week 8

According to ESPN’s Daniel Oyefusi, the Browns worked out five players ahead of the weekend: tackle Blake Austin, guard C.J. Hanson, center Jacob Rizy, and wide receivers Xavier Weaver and Brady Boyd.

The three offensive linemen are notable as the Browns could be without starting right tackle Tytus Howard against the Steelers. Howard suffered a concussion during last week’s game against the Tennessee Titans and wasn’t able to practice this week.

UPDATE (Saturday, Oct. 31, 4 p.m. EST): Browns right tackle Tytus Howard has cleared concussion protocol and was removed from the injury report. He's now set to start against the Steelers.

Head coach Todd Monken did not rule Howard out, however. He was listed as questionable for Week 8 along with defensive back Myles Harden and safety Daniel Thomas.

The Browns also elevated tight end Carsen Ryan for Sunday’s game. The seventh-round rookie was waived earlier this week and signed back to the practice squad.

2 ruled out, 1 questionable for Steelers who enter this game close to full health

The Browns are as healthy as a team could hope to be at this point in the season. They’ll have defensive tackle Mike Hall Jr. back in the rotation this week after he missed the last three games with an ankle injury. 

The Steelers are healthy as well. They ruled out a pair of depth defensive backs in Brandin Echols and Doneiko Slaughter on Friday. Both players have mostly played on special teams for Pittsburgh.

Wide receiver Ben Skowronek is questionable for Sunday with a calf injury. He’s only been targeted four times by Aaron Rodgers in five game appearances this season.

Storylines to follow for Week 8

Can the Browns figure out how to score in the first quarter?

The Steelers enter this game allowing 4.3 points per game in the first quarter. They should be able to put the Browns’ most maddening trend to the test out of the gate.

Cleveland has been outscored 58-13 in the first quarter this season. Its minus-45 margin is the worst in football entering Week 8. 

For whatever reason, head coach Todd Monken’s scripted plays on offense haven’t produced many points. The Browns just played Pittsburgh in Week 4, so if there was a week to break that trend, it would be this week at Pittsburgh. 

Can Aaron Rodgers beat Cleveland’s suffocating man-to-man defense?

The Steelers love to keep the ball in their Hall of Fame quarterback’s hands. They enter Week 8 with the NFL's second-highest pass play percentage.

The Browns might have the secret sauce, though, in the form of the NFL’s highest man rate.

Cleveland played man-to-man on Pittsburgh’s receivers on over 70% of Rodgers’ dropbacks in Week 4. The Steelers’ inability to create quick separation, and Rodgers’ propensity to get the ball out quickly, led to a 55% completion percentage and a lot of failed drives.

There’s no reason for the Browns to change their game plan on Sunday. They’ll likely challenge Pittsburgh’s receivers with an eye on making the immobile Rodgers hold the football and try to beat them with lower-percentage throws down the field.

Prediction

Browns 19, Steelers 17

The Browns are becoming a bad matchup for the Steelers, and that’s why we have them grinding out another close win.

Yes, the 22-game regular-season losing streak in Pittsburgh is a cause for concern. But ever since the second half of the Ravens game, when the Browns erased a 10-point deficit and won with a field goal as time expired, Watson and the offense have found a rhythm.

Watson has been getting the ball out quicker and making sounder decisions. Cleveland has the personnel, like tight end Harold Fannin, wide receiver KC Concepcion, and running back Dylan Sampson, to turn quick passes into big gains, limiting Pittsburgh’s elite pass rush.

This game could easily go the Steelers’ way if the Browns struggle with sacks and turnovers. But if they can protect the football and get it out quickly, they should be in position to win it in the fourth quarter.

Cleveland has the matchups on defense to keep this one close and low-scoring.

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