When tragedies strike, often the first emotion is to want to shut down for a while.
But life goes on. And as it was, despite the tragic mass shooting that took place in Pittsburgh Saturday, the Steelers had to shake things off and face the Browns Sunday at Heinz Field.
That wasn't the easiest thing to do considering two of the victims were the brothers of former Steelers director of community relations Michele Rosenthal.
The Steelers figured if they had to move on, they might as well do it with a win. And if they were going to win, it might as well be a dominant effort.
That's exactly what happened as the once-beleaguered defense put together its strongest game of the season, limiting the Browns to 237 total yards -- just a handful more than James Conner had by himself -- in a dominating 33-18 victory.
"It was bigger than football. It took a while to even think about football," Cam Heyward admitted. "There were a lot of families hurt because of that. It doesn’t mean it’s all healed right now. A lot of people care. A lot of people are showing love."
Once they started, the Browns (2-5-1), who have now lost 25 consecutive road games -- one off the league record -- and quarterback Baker Mayfield were in trouble.
The Steelers (4-2-1), who haven't lost to Cleveland at home since 2003, only recorded two sacks on the rookie, but they hit him seven other times. And only his elusiveness in the pocket kept it from being a complete rout.
With safety Morgan Burnett and linebacker L.J. Fort healthy, the Steelers used many of their more exotic defensive looks to confuse Mayfield. His final numbers of 22 of 36 for 180 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, look OK. But when you take into consideration he was 7 of 9 for 75 yards and a touchdown in the final two minutes, long after the game had been decided, it's not as impressive.
"He was," slot corner Mike Hilton told me when I asked if Mayfield looked confused. "We were giving all kinds of blitzes from different spots and we just locked in. We played real good ball."
So did Conner. Like the rest of the team, he got off to a slow start. The Steelers trailed 6-0 and had three three-and-outs after one quarter.
But Ben Roethlisberger threw a pair of second-quarter touchdowns to Antonio Brown to give the Steelers a 14-6 lead.
From that point on, it was the Conner show. He had 33 yards on 10 carries and one catch for 12 yards in the first half. He finished with 146 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries and added five receptions for 66 yards, gaining 212 total.
At one point in the fourth quarter, the crowd of 63,780 began chanting his name as he continued to punish the Browns defenders.
"Awesome. Proud of him," Roethlisberger said. "It was so much fun to watch him go to work and be successful and hear the crowd-love for him."
While Conner was doing that, the defense was really turning up the heat. Mayfield had made some plays early in the game by escaping pressure and getting the ball downfield. The Browns also had some success running the ball early with rookie Nick Chubb, who had 52 yards on 10 first-half carries. Chubb finished with 65 yards on 18 attempts.
The Browns had just 10 yards of offense on 18 plays through their first six second-half possessions as the Steelers' pass rushers took a little halftime meeting with Mike Tomlin to heart.
"We were reviewing what we did and where we fell short," Heyward said. "We needed to control the pocket a little bit more. Everything the quarterback had gotten was broken plays. So we tried to clean that up in the second half."
Mission accomplished and another notch made in the win column.
"I think we put some good stuff on the tape," Stephon Tuitt told me. "Now, we’ve just got to continue to do it. It’s the later part of the season now, so we’ve got to do it."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE GAME BALLS
My top three performers:
1. James Conner
Steelers running back
Conner had 24 carries, 146 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He added five receptions for another 66 yards in the air for 212 total yards.
2. Joe Haden
Steelers cornerback
The stat line doesn't do Haden justice for this game, three tackles, two passes defended and an interception. Two of his tackles were for a loss as he helped a defense that limited Jarvis Landry and David Njoku, Cleveland's top two pass catchers, to a combined eight receptions for 39 yards. Njoku didn't have a catch.
3. Stephon Tuitt
Steelers defensive lineman
There were a number of guys up front who were disruptive, including outside linebackers T.J. Watt and Bud Dupree, but Tuitt tied Watt for the team lead with seven tackles and matched Dupree for the team lead in QB hits with two. He also had a sack and a tackle for a loss.
THE GOOD
The Steelers ditched the rotation at cornerback opposite Haden and went strictly with veteran Coty Sensabaugh. Getting Burnett back certainly helped.
But there also was some intimation that things were better because beleaguered corner Artie Burns was not used at all, even when Sensabaugh was injured late in the game. Cameron Sutton was used to replace him.
"Communication," Haden said when asked why the defensive effort looked so good. "Everybody knew what their assignment was. Communication was really good. And then we made our plays.
"I think it’s execution and communication. Once we have our call and we get a body on a body, it’s tough for them to make their plays. It’s still going to happen, but we can’t have people running free. We’re limiting those. When they make a play, it’s because of something they did, not because we helped them out."
The Steelers entered the week as one of the worst teams in the league defending opposing tight ends, having allowed 46 receptions to the position, an average of nearly eight per game.
Mayfield had been leaning heavily on second-year tight end David Njoku since stepping into the starting lineup. In Mayfield's previous four starts, Njoku had 22 receptions for 218 yards and two touchdowns. Mayfield had targeted him with a pass 36 times in that span.
He not only did not record a catch against the Steelers, he wasn't targeted with a single pass. It was almost as if he didn't play.
"He’s a guy that Baker trusts and he had made a lot of plays for him," Hilton told me. "We figured if we could take him out of the game and make other people beat us, we’d be successful."
THE BAD
The Steelers recorded a safety in the third quarter when Dupree was held — tackled, really — in the end zone by rookie left tackle Damon Harrison.
On the ensuing free kick, this happened:
Fullback Roosevelt Nix, in for his blocking, called for a fair catch on the short kick. Ryan Switzer and Brown, who were back deep to field it, both came up quickly and then backed off at the last second.
And they all let the live ball drop and then bounce behind them without recovering it.
"We screwed it up," Tomlin said.
More to the point, Switzer admitted he failed to realize it was a live ball.
"There was a lot of miscommunication, but we’ve got to come down with the ball," Switzer said. "The fault was completely mine. Obviously I was wrong, but I was thinking if he punts the ball, punts are dead and kickoffs are live. Ultimately, a bonehead play by me.
"I was running to catch it. AB was running to catch it. The guy in front of me, Rosie, was calling for a fair catch. We didn’t know who was grabbing it. It was a miscommunication. I’ve got to fall on the ball. AB and I didn’t really understand the rule in terms of punting it or kicking it off."
It wound up costing the Steelers. Cleveland recovered the ball at the 24 and Heyward was penalized for roughing the passer. Then, Terrell Edmunds was penalized for pass interference in the end zone. Haden then drew a holding penalty in the end zone, as well.
Finally, Mayfield threw a 1-yard TD pass to rookie Antonio Callaway to close the Steelers' lead to 16-12.
But Conner then rattled off runs of 30, 16, 2 and, finally, 12 yards for a touchdown to put the Steelers back in control.
"I’m fortunate that the defense and James, the team, had my back and we came out with the win," Switzer said.
THE PLAY
The Steelers were on the ropes midway through the second quarter, leading 7-6, with their offense struggling. Facing a third-and-8 play from the Steelers' 44, Mayfield attempted a rare deep pass from a clean pocket.
But Haden was stride for stride with rookie Damion Ratley and went up and did this:
It was Haden's first interception of the season and first against the team that selected him in the first round of the 2010 draft before unceremoniously cutting him just prior to the start of last season.
"Yeah," he said with a big grin when asked if that one was special.
It not only got the ball back for the Steelers, but it allowed them to possess the ball for all but eight seconds of the final 7:20 of the second quarter, as they went on a 14-play, 87-yard touchdown drive.
THE CALL
Tomlin made a gutsy call to go for it on first-and-goal from the Cleveland 1 with 10 seconds remaining in the first half.
The Steelers were on a long, sustained drive following Haden's interception and Roethlisberger had already tempted fate just moments before by converting a fourth-and-1 play from the Cleveland 4 with a 3-yard pass to JuJu Smith-Schuster.
The Steelers used their final timeout to stop the clock and were clinging to a 7-6 lead at the time. They also would get the ball to open the second half, so holding a 10-6 lead would be a nice ending to the second half.
Tomlin wanted more, and this play was called:
It was a gutsy move since Brown caught the ball outside of the end zone. Had he been tackled, the half likely comes to an end. Instead, the Steelers took a 14-6 lead into the locker room.
"It was critical and (I liked) just the way we managed the moment at the end and got seven (points)," Tomlin said. "Tip of the cap to Ben and those guys to not let the moment get too big for them and maintain focus and execute. It was critical."
It was one of two touchdowns in the second quarter for Brown, who finished with six receptions for 74 yards.
THE OTHER SIDE
There was tension last week between the Browns' head coach, Hue Jackson, and his offensive coordinator, Todd Haley, over the team's lack of offensive execution following a loss at Tampa Bay. NFL.com reported Sunday that Haley, who had spent the previous six seasons with the Steelers in the same capacity, could be fired this week.
"There's nothing wrong with my relationship with Haley," Jackson said Sunday after the game. "I said what I said last week. Obviously, it had legs. I never said I wanted to take over play calling. I said I wanted to help, that's it. Today, it's this big thing because, sure, everyone is going to look and say what's going on? The only thing that is going on is that we need to get better. We need to coach better. We need to play better."
THE INJURY UPDATE
• Ben Roethlisberger, suffered an injury to his index finger on his left (non-throwing) hand in the second quarter. He did not leave the game.
• Coty Sensabaugh, injured his ankle while returning an interception in the fourth quarter that was negated because Mayfield was ruled down for a sack. Sensabaugh did not return to the game and was replaced by Cameron Sutton.
THE SCHEDULE
The Steelers return to the Rooney Complex for film study and a team meeting tomorrow afternoon. I'll have coverage from the locker room from 1:15 to 2 p.m., as the team begins preparation to play the Ravens next Sunday in Baltimore.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Steelers team page for everything from this game.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Browns, Heinz Field, Oct. 28, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS