The Cleveland Browns improved upon their pathetic total of four wins in 2008 by winning a whopping five games last year.  Baby steps, I guess.  They did, however, win their last four games in a row highlighted by one of the most embarrassing losses in Pittsburgh Steelers history, a 13-6 debacle on a frigid Thursday night.  Following the season, the front office was cleared out with Mike Holmgren being brought in to resurrect yet another franchise.  Coo Coo g’ joo.

STEELERS DEFENSE vs. BROWNS OFFENSE

Poor poor Colt McCoy.  He was on the verge of being cut during the preseason, but due to high ankle sprains to both Seneca Wallace and Jake Delhomme, he’s starting this week.  I’m sure it’s his dream to start an NFL game but that should quickly turn into a nightmare by about, oh, half past one.   They say that which doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.

The Steelers defense will put this theory to the test.

The Browns ranked last in the league in offense last year.  This year, they’ve risen all the way up to 25th.  About the only area of strength on this team is their offensive line.  C Alex Mack and LT Joe Thomas are Pro Bowl caliber.  Their studliness no doubt contributed to RB Peyton Hillis running wild on the Ravens defense a couple weeks back.  Unfortunately, he’s battling a strained quadriceps and is questionable.

Not that it matters since the Steelers aren’t giving up anything on the ground to anybody.  Running the ball isn’t going to work and considering they only have one halfway decent receiver, I don’t foresee passing being much of an option either.  Nope, if the Browns hope to score, their offensive game plan boils down to one thing:

Get the ball to Josh Cribbs.

For those who remember that Thursday night game, Cribbs was an absolute Steeler Killer.  He returns kicks, he runs the Wildcat, and he plays receiver.   He’s a multi-purpose threat that needs to be accounted for on every play.  He’s far and away the Browns best offensive weapon.  Contain him and everything else will fall into place.

STEELERS OFFENSE vs. BROWNS DEFENSE

The Browns ranked 31st in defense last year, 28th against the run and 29th against the pass.  So they gave defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, Rex’s brother, some new toys by going secondary with their first two picks in the draft.  This has led to an improvement as they now rank 18th in pass defense, although they’re still 21st in total D.  Again, baby steps.

But let’s forget about the Browns as they’re nothing more than a bug on the Black and Gold’s windshield.  I’m more interested in talking about the Steelers offense.   The Steelers are averaging 136 pass yards per game and are currently last in the NFL in total offense.   All that is about to change.

Ben Roethlisberger returns from his ridiculous unwarranted suspension.   Last year, the Steelers produced an epic offensive performance.  They featured a 1,000 yard rusher, two 1,000 yard receivers, and a 4,000 yard passer in the same season for the first time ever.   Even with the loss of Santonio Holmes, I have seen nothing to make me think this group is any less explosive.   We just need a quarterback able to make the plays.

I’ve been a vocal supporter of Steeler Football.  And I still believe Bruce Arians got carried away with the Flying Circus last year.  But I also realize the NFL isn’t the same as it was in 1985.  It used to be that you ran the ball to set up the pass.   Nowadays, the opposite usually holds true.

Rashard Mendenhall is off to a fine season.  He’d be off to an even finer season if opposing defenses weren’t able to stack the box against him.   Teams have had little to no reason to fear being burned through the air.  With Big Ben under center, they should be terrified.

My problem with Arians and last year’s offense was his tendency to get greedy.  Big plays and explosive scoring are great.   But it seemed like for every bomb Ben hit, Arians would dial up six more which failed.  An all-or-nothing mentality doesn’t control the clock and doesn’t give the defense any time to rest.  The pass/run ratio was ideal these first four games.  Our quarterbacks simply didn’t have the fantastic playmaking ability Ben has.

Will we see the return of Ben chucking 35+ passes per game?   Or will we see a balanced attack which strikes down-field but also controls time of possession with a commitment to the run?

I don’t know but the answer will go a long way to determining how the rest of the season shakes out.  What I do know is we have a great defense.  If we can add a great offense, this team will be near impossible to beat.   And with a fresh, focused, and HIGHLY MOTIVATED Ben Roethlisberger at the controls, I like our chances.  I like them a lot.

James  Harrison makes a living hunting quarterbacks.   He spends his free time hunting buffalo. I’m not referring to the kind who roam Ralph Wilson Stadium in upstate New York.  I’m talking the big stinky 600 pound beasts who still populate certain portions of the United States and Canada.  While I spent the bye week sitting on my couch eating junk food, Harrison was hunting bison with a 50 caliber military sniper’s rifle.

This weekend, the Silverback and his Pittsburgh Steelers will be going after significantly smaller game when they face the Cleveland Browns.  Let’s face it, if the NFL were a lake, the Browns would be the guppy you threw back because it wasn’t worth your bait.  Although the Brownies have played shockingly well under the direction of quarterback Seneca Wallace.   His ankle injury was a huge blow to whatever slim chances they would have this Sunday.

Furthermore, the walking turnover machine that used to be known as Jake Delhomme also suffered a high ankle sprain last weekend.  It appears that neither quarterback will be healthy enough to start so the Browns will be turning the offense over to rookie Colt McCoy.

Sunday probably can’t come soon enough for Harrison and Mister Woodley.

Let’s take a look at what Dick LeBeau and his defense does to young inexperienced QBs.  I’ve looked over the past few seasons and found eight QBs with less than one year (16 games) of starting experience who started against the Steelers.  Here’s how they performed:

Not pretty, is it?   Needless to say, every one of those games was a win for the Steelers except against Clemens.  He and his Jets somehow managed to pull off an overtime win.

Throwing a rookie quarterback making his first career start to the Steelers D is like throwing fresh ground hamburger into a lion’s cage.  I would almost feel sorry for poor Colt except you see what his wife looks like.  Oh, and the fact he plays for the Browns.

Last week, the Pittsburgh Steelers faced off against a downtrodden franchise struggling to climb out of the abyss.  This week, the Steelers face another downtrodden franchise, albeit one that seems to be moving in the opposite direction towards rock bottom.  The stunning ineptitude of the Cleveland Browns has transformed what used to be one of the greatest rivalries in NFL history into the football version of whack-a-mole.

The Browns featured the second-most anemic offensive attack in the league last year.  So what did they do?   They traded Joey Porter‘s BFF Kellen Winslow to Tampa, lost Donte Stallworth to a season-long suspension for killing somebody in a DUI accident, and just recently swapped star WR Braylon Edwards to the Jets for a shoddy bomb casing filled with used pinball machine parts.  That was the second time the Jets took advantage of ex-coach Eric Mangini‘s new team.  They were also the ones who swapped first round picks with Cleveland, allowing them to move up and take rookie sensation QB Mark Sanchez.

QB is one spot the Browns could sorely use right now.  They started the season with the league’s most fabulous quarterback, Brady Quinn.  Quinn was terribly ineffective as, surprisingly, any man-on-man contact seems to make him play like a scared little girl.  Last week, they turned to Derek Anderson, who led the team to a 10-6 record and made an appearance in the Pro Bowl back in 2007.  Anderson responded by leading the team to their first victory of the season despite passing for…   No.  Words cannot justify how pathetic he was last week.  Take a look at his stats for yourself and keep in mind he played a 60 minute game and WON!

The Steelers offense will likely be the same maddening mix of too many passes and not enough runs with a sprinkling of Ben Roethlisberger heroics.  Speaking of the running game, Rashard Mendenhall was ill part of this week while Willie Parker returned to practice.  FWP has a special shoe designed to protect his Turf Toe so he is likely to play on Sunday.  Man, I can’t even get my Chuck Taylor’s in black unless I custom order them.

The defense they will be working against ranked in the bottom quarter of the league each season under former coach Romeo Crennel.  Mangini decided to copy the Steelers switch to a 3-4.  His boneheaded trades brought over a handful of former Jets, including DE Kenyon Coleman and LBs Eric Barton and David Bowens, to upgrade the defensive side of the ball.  They are currently near the bottom in points given up per game and dead last in rushing yards allowed so whomever carries the ball for us is in line for a good day.  At least until Bruce Arians decides to throw 40 yard bombs on every play.

The Steelers D will be welcoming back Troy Polamalu.  Polamalu, who’ll play with a brace on his injured knee, seems confident the injury won’t have any noticeable affect on either his play or shiny full-bodied hair.  The sad state of Cleveland QB play won’t be much of a test.  What will be tested is our suddenly questionable run defense.  With Aaron Smith gone for the year, our best run-stopper is no longer available.  Jamal Lewis piled up 117 yards last week and despite getting up there in years, shows little sign of slowing down.  This will be an interesting warm-up for the law firm of Kirschke, Eason, & Hood before the main event next week in Minnesota.

Last year, the Steelers narrowly defeated a terrible Browns team 10-6 very early in the season.  They did obliterate them in the rematch but as last week in Detroit has shown, “any given Sunday.”   And while I don’t think this Sunday will be given to Cleveland, I do hope to see a good effort from the Steelers.  The schedule only gets tougher from here so if this team has championship potential in them, now is the time to start showing it.