The Cleveland Browns have had an interesting week with the decision to trade away veteran QB Joe Flacco before they began their preparation for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Flacco served one game as the backup to rookie Dillon Gabriel and the Browns have since decided to move him. Now, the Browns aren’t 100 percent solid on whether or not Shedeur Sanders will be the backup in Week 6.
Cleveland’s trip to London has them returning home to play another game on the road this week, against the Steelers as mentioned. Pittsburgh is coming off an early bye week and is 3-1 on the season so far. It’ll be the worst vs. the team in first in the north this weekend and the Browns are facing a much different Pittsburgh team than last season. To learn a bit more about the Steelers, I’ve caught up with A to Z Sports’ Rob Gregson.
Thornhill has played the majority of the Steelers' defensive snaps, taking on a 64% snap rate thus far. Speaking remotely, those reps have occurred at free safety. That being said, the splash plays haven't come...yet. Thornhill has just 14 total tackles, and despite the seven turnovers forced by the Steelers in the last two games, he has forced zero.
A great look here at the hit from #Steelers S Juan Thornhill on #Jaguars WR Brian Thomas Jr. to force the incompletion.
— Josh Carney (@ByJoshCarney) August 11, 2025
Good click and close, great technique at contact point. Teach tape hit. pic.twitter.com/gMpfzSh5Vr
The Steelers haven’t been great on defense when looking at the numbers, specifically through the air. What has been the struggle for the Pittsburgh defense?
You never want to use the injury excuse, but the last time the Steelers were on the field, they had an injured Darius Slay playing alongside the absence of Joey Porter Jr., Jalen Ramsey, and Brandin Echols. Pittsburgh expects Porter Jr. and Echols back, but Ramsey feels like a long shot for the Cleveland game. Beyond that, communication issues continue to persist, and the team's inability to stop the run has had a cumulative effect, though Pittsburgh bettered itself against Minnesota in that regard.
Normally, I would expect the Steelers to play down to the competition in this one. But Aaron Rodgers has changed the accountability in that locker room. Not to mention, Mike Tomlin is 14-4 all-time after the bye, and the Steelers have beaten the Browns 21 times in a row at home in the regular season. 24-17 Steelers
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