We've had success with KS against the steelers when we force them to cover quick passes with their LBs ... they like to play man and we need to exploit their LBs on our TEs and slot. This could be a great game for Moore to play that Landry type role on the inside.

But I also think this game comes down to our OT's ability to keep their OLB/DE spots from wrecking the game. I'd do anything possible to chip, double, max protect, etc ... even if that means punting the ball away and playing field position

Avoiding sacks, strips sacks, blocked punts, or any other D/ST splash play by them is 100% the key. Make their offense score 20 points against our defense using the full field

Really the team has amazed me. And really thought the season would be the last if the coach went down for another losing season. But that he has proven me and others like me as well wrong so far. Despite Nick Chubb's gone for the season. You all are really surprising everybody.

Have the whole offense practicing the Tillman block

Let the Defense loose

Make the Steelers Offensive line pick up Picket off the turf on a constant

Practice being aggressive without creating penalties

Instill the mindset of Smackdown !

Smack them down all game !

Make TD's and PA's priority !

Get the offense running on all cylinders and don't look back

Game plan for a beating !

well, so much for our offense trying to do anything

jc

PJ walker, looks like you're our guy for the remainder of the season

Oh boy

Well, with Watson out, I say we just run. Smash mouth, and misdirection. Low scoring game. Make their offense beat our defense. Run it right at Watt.

I can see another game where we outplay them, and then lose because of a turnover. If that scumbag Watt gets a defensive score, I will be furious.

Jordan Schultz
@Schultz_Report
The #Browns are planning to start rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson at QB this week vs the #Steelers, barring a last-minute change of heart, sources tell
@BleacherReport
.

PJ Walker would be DTR’s backup.

It's probably time. Give him the reps and set a gameplan to assist him.

DTR is starting. Double oh boy?

I agree. I keep reading about all of this "upside". Since when was upside playing well against players whom most of which aren't even in the NFL anymore? And for fans that think analytics means so much, maybe they should look at the success rate of fifth round QB draft picks as a reference point.

Hopefully, this is a case where they feel he is more ready for this than he was before and is now the best choice rather than a case of them wanting anyone but Walker.

Run.The.Ball.Down.Their.Throats. No wide sweeps, no penalties.....

I'm very much behind that. Just continue the bullying pattern from last week. B and C gap right at Watt to start the game. Pull Teller on him. Set the tone early.

There's also a reason why I don't have a playcalling sheet, though, too

Our gameplan should ne prayer ...... lots of prayer.

If God is answering prayers for football teams we have bigger issues to worry about. Except maybe Notre Dame.

I take the last pittsburgh game and throw it out the window.. I don't think its even relevant or indicative of how this game will go.. we lost the face of the franchise that game and the whole team was feeling that, the game plan went out the window, everyone was reeling. I fully expect us to dominate them this game.. at home, where we've put up some crazy defensive numbers, stick with the run and short passing, if defense plays like it normally does at home, 3 fgs wins this game

Thank you Refs for deleting my post campaigning a positive agenda for this season.

If your post was in reply to any of the back-and-forth garbage that was going on in here, it would have gotten removed with all of that junk. It's just the way the moderation works.

It was laden with a lot of masked profanity. A bit over the top.

It's a fine line, I would have removed it -- no offense to bugs as it was actually a decent post.

well, there you go.... that will always get it removed all on its own.

The game plan has to be ...play your game. I wouldn't do anything special on defense. The only player on defense to worry about is Jaylen Warren. That's it. Play sound defense the way the team has been doing all year. Dictate the action on defense, not the other way around. You don't need to do anything special for Pickett. Just play it straight up.

On O, I cannot stress this enough. Stefanski has to be comfortable going three and out. I would give DTR as many easy passes as possible. Tons of bootlegs. Tons of 3-5 yard passes designed to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible. If he plays well and is showing no signs of nervousness or folding, give him a little more. See how the game goes, but I'd start out as elementary as possible.

If the Browns defense isn't hanging their heads over Watson, and if Stefanski can dial it back for his rookie QB, should be in good shape to win the game. The Steelers might be the worst 6-3 of all time.

This, by far, is the biggest difference between Woods and Schwartz. He stated it in his opening PC, and has lived up 100.

I consider him the biggest addition to the team during the off season. Having talent is fine but it doesn't help if you don't know how to use that talent to its full potential. JOK is the perfect example of that.

So long as the defense can carry (like they have) the offense just has to not give the Steelers points. We gotta take care of the ball. Pittsburgh wins have come through their D basically scoring for the O.

Well, the gameplan better be solid... Pittsburgh just got a huge boost with Burrow down for the count. They're already 2-0 in the division...

Remaining Schedule:

@ Bengals
Arizona 2-8
New England 2-8
@ Colts 5-5
Bengals
@ Seahawks 6-3
@ Ravens 8-3

If neither of us can catch the Ravens, they'll likely be resting players in week 18.

I hope they’re practicing quick outs, like, a lot. Get rid of the ball QUICK. You know the steelers are going to be shelling the living $&!4 out of DTR. They’re also going to be scrambling coverage. Confusion and mistakes are what they’re after. A more salted QB might see lots of opportunities in that scenario but a rook is much more likely to turn the ball over, either int or fumble.

To that end, low turnover probability plays. I wouldn’t be doing anything too complex or too downfield. Run it up the gut… a lot.

I've been trying to read the body language of the pressers this week.

Observation 1: This has actually been my observation all season. The team has taken on the personality of Stefanski, in a good way. Every answer is about going "1-0" this week.

Observation 2: I am concerned the defense will give up because Watson is out. But if you think about it, they really haven't been winning because of Watson anyway. I think the defense is mature and up to the challenge. Body language I would say was "whatever". They seem unfazed.

Observation 3: Media asked this directly to almost everyone this week, and I am not liking the responses or the "body language". How has DTR looked in practice? They either don't want to give anything away or he's been pretty pedestrian. It's probably a double edged sword going against this defense in practice. On the one hand, nothing is going to prepare you more. On the other, you might not have very much success which could lead to confidence issues.

Really don't know what to think or what to expect. The Steelers really aren't that good. I still feel like if you don't turn the ball over, we are in good shape.

In terms of observation 2. The Browns have had to play with backup QB's already this year and I saw no signs of the defense giving up in those games.

I agree Rish, if we don’t turn it over we can beat them. We need to expose them, in our building.

I think we will see more 2 TE sets with Harry B being involved.

The TE's can chip and they are pretty easy routes for the QB to find.

A win tomorrow will be huge, every bit as satisfying as last Sunday's victory. Plus. it should finally give us some respect and credibility with the national media and the rest of the league. A win is the most important thing but there is more at stake for us as a franchise moving forward. JMO

I agree to a point. The media is starting to turn. It will keep turning as we keep winning.

That will help as we recruit free agents. Most players that are good want to be on a contender. They want to play in some of the prime national games. They want a chance for the "ring".

When we were really bad, our big gets were guys like Ross Verba. An OK player who we had to pay way over value.

j/c

Game Plan? Run the ball......a lot!

jc

Have DTR be more of a game manager and focus on not turning the ball over. Let our run game and defense carry us.

I don't think they have any other choice. Sadly I think everyone knows that including Pittsburgh. But maybe they can impose their will even when the Steelers are prepared to stop it. Or at least we hope so.

Gameplan?
Nine Field Goals made by the Browns

stop Pittsburgh every time on defense,

Limit the Pittsburghs' ability to score or get turnovers with their defense to as few as possible, if it can't be zero then as few as possible.

Don't drop back to pass, but find a way to run the ball.
They can't get a sack, 'technically" if your @uarterback has handed the ball off every time before they get there.

Kevin stefanski can get the Browns offense to the 26 yard line like nobody's business, now,,, when they had Brissett, or another overwhelmed @uarterback, things often go south on those drives.

There is no rule that you cannot kick a good FG on first and ten at the opponents 26 after a big gain.

and the gameplan is nine Field goals and stop them every time on defense.

The Browns defense had 6 consecutive 3 and out stops of the forty-niners at home in the 2nd half, just a few weeks ago.

Touchdowns? The Browns defense can score all the touchdowns, they need to match the two that Watson gave up to pitt on MNF earlier this year.

If the Browns defense can get two scoring plays for fourteen points
and
If the Browns offense can get nine field goal drives, and one or so of those becomes a touchdown, then
that's a lot of points for the Browns, 40 or more and that would be a good thing.

Don't put the game in the hands of Harrison Bryant too many times, of Bryant trying to make a catch, no times really? Didn't they target him in play number one last time for a td by the other team?

NINE Field Goals, ... win through attrition.

That's it in a nutshell; that's what winners do. Dominate on the O and D lines and the game is ours....

No doubt that on O we will need to run it well, use our screen game, don’t let their pass rush get to DTR. I am hopeful that he and Tillman have developed some chemistry the past few months, both being backups. Cedric might be a secret weapon tomorrow. Just calling it now .

Limit the turnovers obviously. On Defence, keep doing the usual havoc-raising. Need to not allow their run game to be effective.

I'm very disappointed in Tillman so far. Not sure if he can play or not.

he can play fullback if needed

No way we should lose to Pickett twice in a season regardless of who's the QB, and the steelers defense isn't the defense of old against the run, should be able to run and do some creative short yardage things off PA. I just worry about DTR being about 115 lbs and taking a couple big hits, rest assured, he's going to get smacked a few times

Sounds good. The problem is the Steelers can probably figure that out and gameplan to take away the run. It's not all that hard to for a NFL team to shut down the other teams running game.

We are still going to have to maintain a balance if we hope to run effectively. I just hope we don't open with that swing pass left that seems to get picked on a fairly regular basis at the start of the game.

Obviously we need our run game working. DTW will have to keep passes short or over the middle, slants, with our TE's more involved as mentioned. DTR is not an accurate deep ball passer. Cooper may run shorter routes.
Once again our D needs to perform well. I think we need two turn overs from them. The things we can control will be penalties. Play smart, no off-side's, false starts, taunting, etc. If we get into 3rd and long because of stupid penalties things will not go well.
To win this game I think DTR will need to use his legs more. He won't be able to stand in that pocket long waiting for someone to get separation. If he see's room to run don't hesitate, just go and slide. He is not a big guy so don't wait for a big DE's arm to get to you. Be quick on your reads and dump it off if needed.

Expecting a hard game but I think we'll get the W as long as we aren't more than -1 in the turnover battle. I don't see Pitsburgh getting the big chunk plays other teams have at times. Hope the Refs don't become the deciding factor.

I remember more than once we had young QB's with little or no experience start against us and win. Let's hope for once we can do this to someone else but of course we are who we are and we're playing a well-coached team. We've had a few things go our way this year that usually don't maybe it will continue today.

Excellent point but if they stuff the box and put Moore 1on1 against
A deep crossing pattern I really like that much.
Simple read for the qb with safeties up plus Moore can force there
Dbs to run stride for stride over a 90 yard pattern.
Even if you only hit 1 that changes the complexion of the game.
I if they put 8 in the box try to run njoku up the seem try to keep
The reads simple on hopes that we can get the big play.

he seems pretty lumber-ish .. almost like he could play TE better than WR

I think being not sure if he can play or not is the problem. If he is there to be a receiver, then he needs to be given the chance to receiver the ball. I am not seeing where he is getting much chance.

Maybe that is a Stefanski thing. Maybe he just wants 1-2 guys getting the ball and the others to be downfield blockers. The most chances he has had are on fade routes where most of the time the QB lobs it well out of bounds.

When you have a QB like PJ Walker who is scared to death of throwing a pick, he isn't going to toss up a 50/50 ball.

There's also the fact that he is a very physical type of WR. He's not the guy you wait to get wide open to throw him the ball because he doesn't have great speed. He's the type of WR that if he gets a step, throw him the ball and he'll come down with it. I'm sort of glad that we haven't seen Walker or DTR do that because I question their ability to deliver things like the back shoulder throw with accuracy.

As it pertains to watson, with Tillman mailny working with the backups I highly doubt that watson has had the time working with Tillman to build that kind of chemistry.