Steelers vs. Browns: 5 Surprises in Sunday’s Win

Garrett silenced

As foreshadowed in the above entry, Cleveland Browns star defender Myles Garrett was absolutely silenced on Sunday.

Garrett moved around Cleveland’s defense, but was primarily lined up against Steelers LT Broderick Jones. Jones, who had help in some cases, eventually went one-on-one with Garrett as the game wore on, holding the former MVP to a pedestrian stat line of two combined tackles.

Yes, that’s correct: Garrett didn’t even register a solo tackle in this game, nor did he tally any additional stats such as a sack, pass defensed, or forced fumble.

Judkins shutdown

Speaking of being shutdown, most critics of the Steelers defense were largely concerned with Browns rookie RB Quinshon Judkins heading into this matchup.

Since Week 1, Judkins had accumulated 286 rushing yards with two touchdowns, a 4.6 yard-per-carry average and caught six passes for 52 yards. That was playing only 56% of Cleveland’s offensive snaps.

Judkins would play 40% of the Browns offensive plays on Sunday, but was surprisingly held to a season-low 36 yards rushing on 12 attempts: a 3.0 average, which was also a season-low for the former Ohio State Buckeye.

Rodgers upright

For the second time this season, Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers was not sacked by the opposing defense. The first time Rodgers was held fully upright was against the New England Patriots, in a game where he only attempted 23 passes.

On Sunday, Rodgers threw 30 attempts with the Browns only hitting him three times, but never bringing the veteran passer down.

By comparison, Browns rookie QB Dillon Gabriel was sacked six times and hit a total of 16 times.

Officiating

Ron Torbert’s crew is notorious for throwing penalty flags, but Steelers Nation wasn’t close to prepared for the onslaught of laundry on the field Sunday.

The Steelers were tagged with ten accepted penalties, many of which were borderline headscratchers with inconsistent calls throughout the game.

Two different pass interference decisions (one call, one no-call) really made for a frustrating afternoon. Jerry Jeudy got away with a crime, holding Steelers CB Brandin Echols by both shoulder pads as he wrestled the defender to the ground: and received the benefit of a defensive pass interference flag.

Another play reversed roles, as Browns CB Denzel Ward pinned D.K. Metcalf‘s arm in a puzzling no-call, as Ward had practically had at least illegal contact throughout the duration of the play.

T.J. Watt was also called for multiple offside or neutral zone infractions, despite checking over the sidelines with the zebras and giving a thumbs up to confirm his alignment. One of those calls drew the ire of head coach Mike Tomlin, who was in the sideline official’s ear following the flag and first down enforcement.

Yet, the most egregious of the calls on Sunday came during a punt return, as practice squad call up Ke’Shawn Williams had a 47-yard punt return wiped out by an illegal blindside block, attributed to Jabrill Peppers. Peppers, who was running neck and neck with a Browns coverage player, went out of his way to make sure he was not committing a penalty. However, the angle of the play and the official observing, still drew the flag which cost the Steelers not only the 47 yard return, but an additional ten yards after enforcement.