CLEVELAND -- The Steelers lost a game Sunday here at FirstEnergy Stadium. But in doing so, they just might have shown why they will be the most dangerous team in the AFC playoffs.
Yes, the Steelers dropped a 24-22 decision to the Browns here on Sunday -- the same team they'll face again next Sunday night at Heinz Field to open the postseason.
But they also sacked Cleveland quarterback Baker Mayfield four times, wrapping up the regular season sack title with 56, a mark that ties the 2017 Steelers for the most in team history.
It's the fourth-straight time the Steelers have led the league in sacks -- which has never before been done -- and also extended their consecutive games with a sack streak to an NFL-record 73 games.
And they did it Sunday without perhaps their two best pass rushers -- T.J. Watt and Cam Heyward. You could even argue they did it without their top three pure pass rushers are considered. They've played the last five games without Bud Dupree.
Really, the only one of their top pass rushers they had available in this game was Stephon Tuitt, who took down Mayfield in the fourth quarter for his career-best 11th sack of the season.
The other sacks, they came from Alex Highsmith -- a rookie replacing Dupree -- practice squad player Jayrone Elliott and Chris Wormley, a rotational defensive line player who had seen 108 snaps this season.
If Wormley was able to do this against the Browns' offensive line -- which had its starting five on the field -- what's going to happen when it's Heyward rushing?
Cleveland's offensive line is supposed to be the strength of its team. And against most teams, it is. In two games against the Steelers this season, however, Mayfield was sacked eight times. And that was despite being pulled in the third quarter from the Steelers' 38-7 win over the Browns at Heinz Field back on Oct. 18.
So, in a little less than seven quarters against the Steelers this season, Mayfield was sacked eight times and hit 13. And that was on 45 total pass attempts, including 27 in this game.
The Browns can't protect Mayfield against the Steelers. Then again, nobody seems to be capable of protecting their quarterback against the Steelers.
Their 56 sacks this season are easily the most of any AFC playoff team. Of the seven AFC playoff teams, the Colts have the second-most sacks with 40, while the Ravens have 39 and the Browns and Bills have 38.
The Chiefs, who rode their pass rush and Patrick Mahomes canon of an arm to the Super Bowl last season, when they had 45, finished this season with just 32. As for the Titans, forget about them. They finished the season with 19 sacks, just four more than Watt's league-best 15.
And it doesn't seem to matter how well a team protects. The Steelers still get theirs.
The Browns allowed 18 sacks in their non-Steelers games this season, which would have ranked second in the league behind Pittsburgh -- which gave up a league-low 14.
Same goes for the Colts. The Steelers sacked Philip Rivers five times in a 28-24 win over the Colts last week. Indianapolis finished the season tied with the Packers for the second-fewest number of sacks allowed this season with 21.
That pressure creates bad throws, punts and turnovers. And it's why this team is as dangerous as any that will be competing in the AFC playoff field.
• Was Mason Rudolph perfect in this game? Of course not.
His interception, despite being hit in the head by a blitzer as he threw, shouldn't happen.
But it also should have been a penalty.
Regardless, it's a pass that Rudolph shouldn't have thrown. But outside of that play, he managed the game well, throwing for 315 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
He also hit three passing plays of 40 or more yards. Ben Roethlisberger has four 40-yard completions all season.
Now, that's not to say anything bad about Roethlisberger. But one of knocks on Rudolph after his 10 games played last season was that he wasn't connecting on those deep throws -- something supposed to be a strong point coming out of Oklahoma State -- all that often. In fact, last season, he had just five such completions.
But Rudolph stood in the pocket in this one and completed passes down the field. And he did some of his best work on possession downs, converting five third downs that were eight or more yards and a pair of long fourth downs, one that was a fourth-and-6, the other a fourth-and-10 pass that he threw for a 28-yard touchdown pass to Chase Claypool.
I don't care who he was playing against, Rudolph had to make some big-time throws to get those conversions, helping the Steelers go 8-for-17 on third down conversions and 2-for-2 on fourth downs.
"I don’t know that I was surprised by it," Mike Tomlin said. "It was reasonable to expect improvement in his play. This guy has been working extremely hard really for 12 calendar months. At the quarterback position, there are not many opportunities. This was his first extended action of the 2020 football season so we anticipated him being better, and he was.”
I don't know that Rudolph changed any minds in terms of him being the Steelers' quarterback of the future. That's a tall task. But at the very least, his play should quiet some of the talk that the Steelers need to acquire a "veteran backup" this offseason. At this point, Rudolph is their veteran backup.
• Given the way Rudolph was playing and converting some of those long third downs, I think I would have scaled back the Josh Dobbs usage a little bit.
I get it. It was something you could throw into this game to give you a chance to move the ball a little more unconventionally -- or conventionally considering how many teams are using running quarterbacks.
But the Steelers went to the Dobbs package a couple of times after Rudolph had hit long pass plays to put the Browns on their heels.
"We thought his mobility could be an X factor. It is a little-known trivia fact that Dobbs ran for 850 (yards) his last year at Tennessee so running it is an asset to him," Tomlin said. "We just wanted to infuse that into the game, particularly in some situational components of play – maybe third down and maybe red zone. I am appreciative of his efforts, as well. He had an opportunity to put his hand in the pile and be a positive contributor to our efforts.”
It's OK to use once in a while. And it gives future opponents -- including the Browns next week -- something extra for which to prepare. But even though Tomlin said the Steelers could use it in future games, they would have to have three quarterbacks active on game day to do it. And that's not all that likely.
Rudolph is clearly the backup. And it's obvious given they didn't allow Dobbs to throw the ball past the line of scrimmage on any of his five pass attempts the Steelers don't trust him to do that.
Besides, you're not taking Roethlisberger off the field for a gadget play. To me, that's just silly.
• Interestingly enough, the Steelers actually ran the ball pretty effectively in this game. Again, that's what happens when you hit some plays downfield.
They finished this game with 85 yards rushing on 20 attempts, with James Conner leading the way with 37 yards on nine carries. He also have five catches for 25 yards.
That was about all I needed to see of Conner in this game. Much like his 10 touches for 60 yards in the win over the Colts last week, getting 62 yards on 14 touches from Conner shows he can be a factor in the playoffs -- as long as he stays healthy.
• The Browns losing Olivier Vernon in this game to an ankle injury was huge.
Since returning from the COVID-19 list, Myles Garrett has 2.5 sacks in five games. He was shut out Sunday by the Steelers, recording just four tackles and no quarterback hits. Give Alejandro Villanueva most of the credit for that. He played well Sunday.
Vernon, meanwhile, had the Browns' lone sack in this game, which gave him nine for the season. All nine of those sacks had come since Week 8. He's been the Browns' more dangerous pass rusher over the second half of the season. And if he can't play next Sunday, Garrett alone isn't going to beat the Steelers.
• Tomlin has been well-known for pitting players against each other for playing time. And sometimes, that competition can get heated.
That's likely what happened Sunday when rookie Carlos Davis and Isaiah Buggs had a little dust-up on the sideline.
Tomlin jumps in quickly and settles things down. But we can guess that Buggs or Davis -- or both -- said something that touched a nerve.
"We have some gamecocks, and every now and then, they fight a little bit but all in the right spirit," Tomlin said. "We are trying to win football games, and they are trying to win football games. That is just a part of it. We don’t apologize for that. I hate that it became public, but it happens sometimes. You have emotional men fighting their tails off and fighting their tails off to win.”
That kind of stuff does happen. Heck, I've gone after a teammate before in the heat of the moment. Doesn't mean anything and you can bet Tomlin will have both guys in his office Monday morning getting things settled.
• That had to be a weird feeling for the Browns. Yes, they won a game to clinch a playoff spot for the first time since 2002. That's great.
But they couldn't have felt good about winning this one by two points with the Steelers sitting the players they had missing from this one.
Sure, you can say that the Browns were missing some guys, too. But other than cornerback Denzel Ward, the other five players the Browns had on the Reserve/COVID-19 List are what are referred to in scouting circles as JAGS (just guys).
The Steelers, meanwhile, will be getting back three Pro Bowl performers, including the probably NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and their future Hall of Fame quarterback.
• It was a really good idea for the Steelers to feature Claypool in this game.
The rookie caught his ninth touchdown of the season, which leads all rookies, and his 11th touchdown overall. It also allowed him to set the Steelers' rookie record for catches (62), while matching Louis Lipps in touchdown catches.
More importantly, it re-established Claypool as a major threat in this offense, something the team had gotten away from a bit in recent weeks.
Claypool was targeted a team-high 11 times in this game and finished with five receptions for 101 yards, his second 100-yard game of the season.
"It was our intention to feature him a little bit," said Tomlin. "We wanted him to have that type of rhythm and that type of confidence in his playmaking ability going into January ball. We were able to check that box.”
Seeing this play on film won't be comforting to future opponents.
That's simply Claypool outmuscling a defensive back for a touchdown. And at 6-foot-4, 238 pounds, there's not much a defensive back can do in that situation other than hold on and hope.
• If the Browns don't run Nick Chubb 25 times against the Steelers next weekend -- if they're able to continue running the ball -- Kevin Stefanski isn't the offensive guru that most claim him to be.
It's obvious that it's Chubb that makes the Browns offensive line look good -- and not the other way around. All you have to do is look at the difference between Chubb's numbers from Sunday -- 14 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown -- versus what Kareem Hunt did -- 10 carries for 37 yards.
Every time the Browns take Chubb off the field, they're doing the defense a favor. And Hunt is a former NFL rushing leader.
But Chubb is clearly Cleveland's best player. Not Mayfield. Not Garrett. He makes that offense dangerous.
• The Steelers are 4 1/2-point favorites to beat the Browns next weekend.
Now, they beat them 38-7 in Pittsburgh earlier this season. And I don't expect a repeat of that.
But with everything on the line, the Browns sweated out a two-point win at home Sunday.
I would expect the Steelers to be a 6-point or more favorite by the time this game is kicked off next Sunday. So, take advantage while you can.
Yes, the Steelers haven't played an opponent in back-to-back games since they played the Broncos in Week 16 and then faced them in their opening playoff game in 1978. But no matter what they say, the Browns feel like they accomplished something by simply making the playoffs.
They had T-shirts made for being a Wildcard team, for goodness sakes.
Not done!! HISTORYYYY 🔥 pic.twitter.com/AZ7URfAqo3
— Mack Wilson (@5mackwilson1) January 3, 2021
That's not what winning franchises do.
Certainly this is a big step for the Cleveland franchise. And you do have to get into the playoffs to be able to take the next step.
But it sure does look like they're a team just happy to be in the tournament.