The Steelers fell to the Browns 13-10 on Sunday, coming out on the short end of another defensive battle between AFC North opponents.
Pittsburgh’s offense finished with 249 total yards, but 74 of them came on Jaylen Warren’s touchdown run early in the third quarter.
The club had only 12 first downs and was 3-of-14 on third down, punting nine times in the contest.
After the game, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin credited Cleveland when asked what his team has to do to get its offense going.
“They have a really good defense. They make a lot of offenses look like that,” Tomlin said in his press conference. “Coupled with their venue, we have to give them some credit. We knew their reputation in Week 2. Maybe the rest of the National Football League didn’t. It’s kind of been confirmed in the weeks after that and obviously they were really good today.”
After Tomlin mentioned during the week that the Steelers would need more from Kenny Pickett, the quarterback finished 15-of-28 for just 106 yards. He was sacked three times.
“I think the Cleveland Browns had a lot to do with that,” Tomlin said when asked what he’s seeing with Pickett that isn’t clicking. “I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t compliment them on their players, their schematics, how they played today. The venue component, from an offensive perspective. There’s a lot of things that were challenging today.”
Pittsburgh is now 6-4 and currently the AFC’s No. 7 seed. The club will have another divisional matchup next week against Cincinnati. While the Bengals won’t have Joe Burrow, Cleveland didn’t have Deshaun Watson on Sunday either.
