Madden Monday: Steelers’ victory over Browns ‘was a necessary evil of a game’
The Steelers’ victory over the Cleveland Browns Sunday certainly felt good from an emotional standpoint.
The Browns are a hated division rival. They won the first matchup of the year. They got pretty mouthy about it. And they haven’t swept the Steelers since 1988.
So why let that happen now?
As a result of all that, 66,845 left Acrisure Stadium feeling pretty good about a 27-14 Steelers’ win in the rematch between the teams. The result improved the Steelers’ record to 10-3.
Yet, as Mark Madden pointed out during this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, in terms of the aesthetics of the win, there wasn’t a ton to get excited about.
“I thought there was nothing encouraging or discouraging. I just thought it was a necessary evil of a game to be played and won,” Madden said. “I think it’s good that it was relatively comfortable. I think they could use a win like that going into the death stretch of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Kansas City. So, while there wasn’t much to like, there wasn’t too much to hate either. And it is impressive that they put the number of points they did on the board without (George) Pickens.”
What it does mean — with the 8-5 Ravens on a bye — is that the Steelers are guaranteed to visit Baltimore as the first-place team in the AFC North two weeks from now. Even if they lose in Philadelphia (11-2) next week, they’ll be 10-4 and the Ravens can be no better than 9-5 with a win over the 2-11 New York Giants on the same day.
In terms of where 10-3 places the Steelers among the AFC’s hierarchy, they are now tied with the Buffalo Bills for the second-best mark in the conference behind Kansas City (12-1). The Bills and Steelers are also knotted at 7-2 apiece when it comes to their conference marks.
“If the Steelers get the 2-seed, let alone the 1-seed, that would do them a great deal of good,” Madden said. “They need to get the (lowest-seeded) opponent possible because I believe in them a lot more if they’re playing Denver in the first round, or getting a bye in the first round. Then again, if they get a bye in the first round, they could get somebody pretty good right away — cold — in their first playoff game of the year in the second round.”
However the playoff bracket shakes out, Madden says he’s got more faith in the Steelers winning a postseason game this year than he has in recent seasons because of the development of the offense with Russell Wilson at quarterback.
“If you wanted me to come up with a reason why they could win a playoff game — and maybe even more than one — I don’t think there’s any area in their team where they just out-and-out stink. I mean, defensive line? Not great, but at least they’ve got Cam (Heyward). Offensive line? Getting a little better. Probably not getting much worse. They’ve got a good left tackle (Dan Moore). That goes a long way. I think the blocking by the tight ends, because they use a lot of them, probably helps. So you tell me, is there any area where they stink? Because I don’t think so.”
I’ll say wide receiver if Pickens remains injured.
“For sure,” Madden replied. “But Russ spreading the ball around covers that to a degree.”
Also in the podcast, Madden and I get into some more specifics about the Browns game. We discuss the Penguins’ recent resurgence, and we have some qualms with the college football playoff.
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