Pittsburgh Steelers’ inconsistency exposes them to struggling Cleveland Browns – NFL Preview
Pittsburgh Steelers’ inconsistency throughout the season gives the Cleveland Browns a hope for victory over the hosts this Sunday (Dec. 30) as both teams face each other in the season finale being a way out of playoff contentions.
The win of a home game versus the Steelers earlier in the season may also play to the Browns’ advantage and they try inflicting another loss to the hosts on the weekend.
The Steelers are heading into the game with a number of key players on the sideline nursing respective injuries and overall lack of strength of the squad can trap them in front of the Browns.
A particular concern for the Steelers remains to be the fitness of offence leader, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who, coach Mike Tomlin admitted, is not hundred percent.
The QB is recovering from an earlier inflicted rare rib and a shoulder injury. The rib has been the main hurdle in the way of smooth movement of his arm, and the Steelers stand affected on the offensive line if he continues to face the same problem.
In reality, the offence leader also had some other broader issues on the mind, which although not admitted by the team, are a distraction for him and affected his form to an extent.
One such is his relationship with offensive coordinator Todd Haley. All sides, including Ben himself, have denied Haley remains a problem for the QB, but truth remains that both sides have never got along well throughout the season. The QB still feels uncomfortable
with the OC.
It will be for the first time for coach Mike Tomlin in six years that the Steelers play a game while being already eliminated from playoffs, and it does not bode well with the coach’s work and ambitions for the team.
Overall, the Steelers are heading into the Browns' game with some issues on the agenda of solution. They still hope and have spoken for targeting a win to end the season on a positive note.
Whether the Browns will be able to exploit the team’s situation to their advantage to add another wound to injured Steelers remains to be seen.
The Browns themselves stand missing quarterbacks Brandon Weeden and Colt McCoy, who have respectively suffered shoulder injuries. Their running back Trent Richardson is in an even worse situation, being on the course of elimination from the final game because
of an ankle injury.
Coach Pat Shurmur has ruled out to discard these players out of weekend game until Friday, but onlookers do not speak very positively about participation of the trio in the next tie. If they miss, third-string backup QB Thad Lewis stands a chance winning
his first start as an offence leader versus the Steelers. It will be seen how he performs this Sunday, with all the backing from Shurmur.
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