In a constantly changing world, it’s nice to know there are some things you can count on.  Politicians will lie, birds will poop on your windshield minutes after you’ve washed it, and the Cleveland Browns will always stink.

The Pittsburgh Steelers wrapped up the second seed in the AFC and a first round bye by laying a 41-9 pasting the hapless Brownies.  As I’ve said before, last year’s Thursday night debacle may have been the best thing that ever happened to us.  It gave Steeler Nation a reason to believe in a Rivalry which had become pointless, it fooled pitiful Clevelanders into thinking their sad franchise was in the same universe as the Steelers, and, most importantly, it ensured the Steelers would never take anybody lightly ever again.  What we saw yesterday was a team which has come full circle from that embarrassment of a little over a year ago.

Troy Polamalu returned to the line up and his presence paid immediate dividends.  Colt McCoy’s second pass of the day was batted by his own man right into Troy’s waiting arms.  It’s amazing how a rather pedestrian secondary looks so much better than they are when Troy is out there.  On the Steelers first play following the turnover, Ben Roethlisberger hit Mike Wallace with a 56 yard touchdown bomb and the route was on.

Big Ben hit the Flash with a 41 yarder on the Steelers next drive, setting up a one yard TD plunge by Rashard Mendenhall.  Mendy would bang home another one yarder later in the 2nd quarter as the Steelers scored touchdowns on their first four possessions.  Following a sweet diving interception by Ryan Clark, Ben hit Heath Miller at the pylon for another score.  After being slapped around for thirty minutes, the Browns’ balls finally dropped, forcing us to settle for a FG to ruin the streak with ninety seconds remaining in the half.

The passing game looked fantastic with Ben hitting eight different receivers while going 15/22 for 280 yards.  Wallace had another 100 yard day while Hines Ward and Heath provided steady hands over the middle.  It was rookie Antonio Brown‘s turn to shine as he caught 4 balls, including a nice 26 yard catch-and-run along the sideline.  The rushing attack was a little rough as Mendy finished with only 36 yards on 14 carries.  As painful as this is to say, I think going forward the Steelers will have to become more of a pass-first offense.  The patchwork line seems better at pass blocking than run blocking (Ben wasn’t sacked once) and, while I like Issac Redman, the team’s loaded with weapons at wide receiver.

The Steelers defense played a magnificent game with only a garbage time touchdown against third stringers marring their day.  Ziggy Hood had his finest effort of the year, recording four solo tackles (two for loss), a sack, and narrowly missing the quarterback a couple other times as he was a disruptive force all afternoon.  Lawrence Timmons was all over the field as he seems to be getting back to early season form.  The secondary held up well with William Gay playing in relief of a limited Bryant McFadden.  The Browns only managed one meaningful 80 yard drive which stalled at the Pittsburgh 2, where Eric Mangini decided to show the hostile crowd his mangina by kicking a field goal on fourth down.

At least you can always tell people you were on The Sopranos, Genius.

You could just hear the howls of protest from whining Yinzers when Ben and company came out to start the third quarter already up 31-3.  Big Ben capped off his nearly prefect afternoon by engineering a thirteen play 77 yard drive which consumed over seven minutes.  It was mostly pass plays which shows you can control the clock without running the ball.  The drive ended with a bit of TRICKERATION when Antwaan Randle-El took a reverse, stopped, and fired a bullet to Hines standing all alone in the end zone.

From that point on, it was a preseason game as rookies and back ups held the pitiful first team Browns mostly in check.  Jonathan Dwyer saw his first action of the season and looked okay.  Byron Leftwich didn’t fare as well, getting sacked twice and looking a bit confused at times although he can still fire the pigskin.  Part of the problem was superstar rookie Maurkice Pouncey left the game with a stinger so he was stuck with Doug Legursky as his center.

What more can I say?  I know I joke a lot about Pittsburgh Paranoia and stuff but Steeler fans tend to be a pretty optimistic bunch.  I remember when I was a kid and Mark Malone was behind center for the Black and Gold and overhearing my Dad and uncles saying, “You know, they just need a couple more players…”  If that’s not crazy optimism, I don’t know what is.  But between the most tumultuous off-season in Steelers history, the quarterback mess to start the season, a very challenging schedule (we ended up playing 6 playoff teams), the injuries to an already mediocre offensive line, and the Ginger Dictator and his zebra striped minions attempting to screw the team over on a weekly basis, I don’t think even the most die hard Steeler fan could’ve envisioned we’d be sitting in this position at the end of the year.

I had a bad feeling when the Steelers kicked off the year on September 12th.  Here on January 3rd?   All I can say is, “I’ve gotta a feeling….”

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And days o' auld lang syne.

Lyrics aside, I still don’t like the Cleveland Browns.  And I’m sure the Browns haven’t forgotten the beating handed to them by the Pittsburgh Steelers way back in week six.  Well, except for Joshua Cribbs and Mohamed Massaquoi, who probably don’t remember much from that game thanks to James Harrison.  I’m sure Silverback will be more than happy to renew acquaintances if either should be dumb enough to venture in to his part of the field.

You’ll have to forgive me if this Know Thy Enemy is shorter than usual as I’m still a bit exhausted from New Year’s.  No, I wasn’t drinking like a college girl in Milledgeville.  I was late, got stuck in traffic, then had to run up nine flights of stairs just to make sure I got to the party in time to be with my girl when the clock struck midnight.  That damn “Dice” song is still stuck in my head.

There’s not much to say anyway.  After we destroyed the Brownies, figuratively and literally, they went on to defeat the Saints and Patriots in back-to-back weeks.  Yes, Cleveland beat two of the four teams we’ve lost to this year.  And they narrowly missed beating the Jets the week after all that.  But they’ve lost their last three in a row, two of which (Bills and Bengals) were very winnable games, so they may be up-and-coming but they’re not quite there yet.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. BROWNS OFFENSE

The Browns seem to have found a keeper at quarterback with rookie Colt McCoy.  He was the man behind center for those big wins and despite pretty unimpressive season numbers (5 TDs/6 INTs 1,400 yards in a half season’s worth of work), he’s shown enough to earn the starting job next season.  With a few more weapons at his disposal, he should prove to be a more than adequate signal caller.

Peyton Hillis has been the breakout star for the Browns this season.  The Browns’ recent struggles can be traced to his missing time due to injury.  To get an idea how huge Hillis is to Cleveland’s offense, not only is he the team’s leading rusher (10th overall in the NFL) but he’s the team’s second leading receiver.  P-Hill hasn’t practiced this week due to his sore ribs but with this being the team’s final game of the year, it is expected he’ll be out there on Sunday.

The Steelers defense will greet him with a rush defense seeking to set one of the best marks in NFL history.  They’re currently allowing a meager 64 rush yards per game.  The next best D is allowing 90.  If the Steelers can keep that mark under 65 for the season, they’ll be only the third team in the last thirty-five years to accomplish that goal.

Troy Polamalu practiced on Friday and is listed as questionable.  The Steelers are saying he’s “50-50″ but Troy sounds more optimistic than that.  Reading between the lines, it sounds like he’s pushing to play while they’re reluctant to risk him getting hurt on the eve of the playoffs.  I would play him since a first round bye is absolutely crucial to making any kind of run but the second we open up any kind of lead, he should go right back to the bench.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. BROWNS DEFENSE

The Browns rank a notch above the Steelers in pass defense while they’re near the bottom against the run.  They also have the fourth fewest total sacks in the NFL.  Despite all this, they’re allowing only a smidge under 20 points a game which is better than the Chargers, Jets, Eagles, Patriots, or Giants.  So while they give up plays, they’ve clearly mastered the philosophy of “bend but do not break.”

Ben Roethlisberger has quietly put together a very nice season.  In addition to throwing for 3,000 yards, his 15/5 TD-INT ratio is a career best.  If not for the four missed games due to the unfair unwarranted unjustified suspension, he would’ve hit the 20 TDs/4,000 yards mark for a second consecutive season.  When you factor in the patchwork line, crippling injuries, and the officials out to get him, one might argue this has been the finest season of his career.

Rashard Mendenhall and Mike Wallace have done their part by contributing 1,000 yard seasons to the Steelers cause.  Hines Ward is sitting at 710 so barring some sort of crazy shootout, he’s not going to add another 1,000 yard season to his Hall of Fame credentials.  I’ll have more to say about Hines after the season is over in February but for now I’ll simply leave it at this.  While he’s clearly not the centerpiece of the passing game nor is he even the team’s second best option anymore (Heath Miller deserves that honor), I believe his heart and experience are not only key in big games but contribute to our young receivers coming along so quickly.

Josh Cribbs has not returned a punt or kick for a touchdown this season.  If the Steelers don’t allow any cheap points, I think they’ll be more than able to take care of business on Sunday.  To put this game’s importance in perspective, if the Steelers lose, they can fall from the second seed all the way to the sixth.  However, as I’ve said throughout the season, this team clearly learned from last year’s mistakes and never takes anything for granted.  Good news for the Steelers, not so good for the Browns.