Pittsburgh Steelers fans armed with Terrible Towels were out in full force Sunday as the Steelers traveled to Cleveland for the 2015 season finale against the Cleveland Browns. The team needed and got a New York Jets loss to the Buffalo Bills.
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Wow. No, not because the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Cleveland Browns 28-12. The victor between the Vikings and Packers will be the No. 3 seed.
For a team that dominated in the early stages of the series (the Browns won the first eight games and 16 of the first 18), Cleveland poses little threat to the Steelers these days. It all seemed like a long shot at best. Over the last three games, he has had two games averaging between them close to 15 receptions for 188 yards, which doesn’t leave many targets to spread around to the other pass catchers.
As the first quarter drew to a close, Browns safety Jordan Poyer had a great jump on a pass from Ben Roethlisberger and came down with the interception. Brown also finished the season fourth all time with 1,834 yards this season.
Thiefs: DB Jordan Poyer and LB Craig Robertson intercepted QB Ben Roethlisberger.
Travis Coons kicked four field goals for the Browns, who appear headed for yet more change.
Roethlisberger accepted blame for the unexpected loss to the Ravens and could take out his frustrations on Cleveland’s injury-decimated secondary. Austin Davis threw to a blanketed Gary Barnidge in the end zone and ended up getting picked off by James Harrison. The Bills beat the Jets 22-17, while Pittsburgh knocked off Cleveland 28-12, the only results that would have gotten the Steelers into the postseason. There has not been an official word as to what exactly Williams injured, but he was spotted congratulating teammates after the game in a walking boot. He leads the league in passing yards per game and would lead the league in passing yards if he didn’t miss four games. He recovered a fumble by Steelers receiver Antonio Brown on Pittsburgh’s first possession and returned the ball 9 yards.
As if to add insult to injury on this poor performance from Cleveland, Davis threw another interception with less than five minutes left in the game. Williams’ status for this week’s wild-card round playoff game against the Bengals is still up in the air.
CHICAGO – If this becomes the final game with Detroit for Calvin Johnson and the final game with Chicago for Matt Forte, they both gave their fans something to remember. Cleveland was unable to get any push on the defensive side, and in form with the rest of the season, Danny Shelton was a big non-factor. Jones won’t make the playoffs and challenge Brown as the most risky receiver in the postseason.
While Roethlisberger was thoroughly the more dominant of the two passers, both had troubles at times with accuracy.
Draft Order: With the Titans losing to the Colts and the Browns to the Steelers, the Browns will have the second overall pick in next spring’s NFL Draft. The problem being that they were unable to capitalize on those opportunities, giving the ball back through either punt’s, turnover on downs, or turnovers of their own.
But the Steelers, as a No. 6 seed, will be spending the month on the road if they want to reach Santa Clara come February.
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“That is a guy that has so much command in the room, so much respect amongst his peers and us”, Jennings said of Coughlin.
