The Pittsburgh Steelers have gotten on the right track after their Week 3 win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Unfortunately, they don't have a lot of time to really celebrate and/or reflect on this improved performance as the team has to face its Achilles' heel: a divisional game on the road for Thursday Night Football. The Cleveland Browns are proving to be no slouch as they have also begun the season with a 2-1 record. The winner of this contest will hold first place in the AFC North through Week 4.
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Steelers' Aaron Rodgers during a road contest with the Cleveland Browns in 2025.
Hopefully, a new coaching staff will help change Pittsburgh's fortunes here. Head Coach Mike McCarthy did show the ability to make adjustments early in the season, which has been a common critique of his predecessor. If he can figure out how to properly prepare for a rough situation like this, these kinds of games will no longer be seen as easy wins for the other team.
Former quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is not entirely sold that that will be the case. While hosting the latest episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, he gave his thoughts on what to expect from this AFC North showdown.
"I think the game could quickly go into the old, 'Here we go again' category..." Roethlisberger explained. "It's either going to be we are going to blow them out, or it's going to be a really close game where we might lose a close one."
Roethlisberger spoke about how he thinks the Steelers are the far superior team on paper, but at the same time, the games in Cleveland are never easy. Whenever Pittsburgh explodes on both sides of the ball on Thursdays, it's almost always at home. These road games against rivals usually turn into grindy games where either side falters on the last drive, leading to a loss.
It doesn't help that Cleveland is clearly using former head coach Mike Tomlin as bulletin board material with his "Browns is the Browns" take from Week 1. With how hard it has played, especially on defense, it's obvious that everyone is looking to prove the haters wrong. They want to prove that this is not the same old Browns that find hilarious ways to blow games, especially against Pittsburgh.
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New Cleveland Browns head coach Todd Monken calls a play during the second half against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium.
The Steelers haven't truly been embarrassed by the Browns in a game since the infamous 2019 matchup, so even with this extra motivation for Cleveland, this should not be a blowout loss for Pittsburgh. However, if the game is neck-and-neck in the fourth quarter, Steeler Nation won't have a good feeling with all the memories of past games from Huntington Bank Field pouring back in.
With all this said, Roethlisberger is likely not wrong. Asking Pittsburgh to come off of a spirited, hard-fought win and immediately turn around on the road against a hated foe is a very rough task. That's part of the reason why Week 3 was a must-win game for the Black and Gold.
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The biggest thing that the Steelers need to do -- and consistently struggle to do in these situations -- is establish the run and hold onto the ball. Far too often, the offense is not ready for these conditions, and it ends up punting a lot. Jaylen Warren needs to get plenty of touches to set everything else up while wearing down the defense to make the fourth quarter more manageable.
Defensively, it's about being aggressive, but not too aggressive. If that unit plays as soft as it did against the Bengals, Cleveland will march right down the field. On the flip side, there will be a lot of big play potential if the defense over-corrects and tries to focus on the ball too much. It just needs to not allow the offense to have any sort of breathing room.
What do you think about Roethlisberger not being confident in the Steelers' upcoming game against the Browns? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.
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