Pittsburgh 31, Cleveland 28

The Steelers have some pretty impressive stats thus far in the season. They are the second leading rushing team in the league, are fifth overall in offense and have the number one defense in the NFL whether you look at run defense, pass defense or points scored by an opponent. But there is one statistic in which Pittsburgh is noticeably poor – the yardage gained by their opponents on kickoffs. With an average return of 26 yards by Steelers opponents who receive their kickoffs, Pittsburgh is ranked 27th in the league. Says Pittsburgh's new head coach Mike Tomlin; "One thing is for certain, we stink on kickoff coverage.” C'mon Mike, don't sugar coat it, tell us what you really think.

Telling us what he thinks of the Steelers kickoff return coverage isn't the style of Josh Cribbs, a 3rd year wide receiver out of Kent State and Cleveland's designated return man for the past three years. Instead he preferred to show us what he thought of the Pittsburgh special teams by blasting through them twice on Sunday for huge gains. The first time he ripped off a big return the Steelers had just answered the Browns early touchdown by scoring a field goal of their own to make it 7-3. Pittsburgh kicker Jeff Reed then launched a pretty good 63 yard hanger at Cribbs who fielded the ball at the 7 yard line and then patiently followed his blocker, Browns running back Jason Wright as he kicked out Steelers Bryan McFadden to clear a lane on the left side of the turf. Cribbs then proceeded to outrun every other Steeler on the field, getting tripped up only after he had taken it down to the Pittsburgh 3 yard line. The Browns scored quickly after a dumb taunting penalty by Steelers safety Anthony Smith and led it 14-3.

Cribbs got his second big run early in the 4th quarter right after Pittsburgh had taken the lead for the first time all day on a 30 yard touchdown run by Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, the longest run of his career. The kickoff was actually muffed by Cribbs who got his fingertips on the football as it went over his head and settled right at the goal line. Woe to the Steelers coverage team who thought that it was too big of a mistake to recover from; Cribbs made them pay for their lack of faith by picking the ball up and tip-toeing down the right sideline for a 100 yard touchdown. Cribbs dancing among his blockers to shield himself from the few remaining Steelers who had a shot at him beyond the 40 yard line was absolutely a thing of beauty, and the Browns went up 28-24 with just over 11 minutes left in the game.

Despite those heroics by Josh Cribbs and the excellent passing game by Cleveland QB Derek Anderson in the first half of the game, the Browns folded miserably in the second half. The runback by Cribbs was the single piece of offense the Browns got after halftime. Their remaining second half drives were pitiful, and until the final minute of the game they failed to get even one first down. The Steelers on the other hand continued to grind it out and picked up three more touchdowns in the second half to take the lead 31-28. On their final drive of the game the Browns finally managed to move the ball about 30 yards but it was too little too late. With only 11 seconds left on the clock and facing a 4th and 7 they brought kicker Phil Dawson on to attempt a 52 yard field goal which would have tied the game, but Dawson's kick was about 5 yards short and the Steelers held on for the win.

This was a huge game for a lot of different reasons. Aside from the nasty rivalry between these two teams who are just a 2 hour drive down the Ohio turnpike from each other, it was a battle for first place in the division. Had Cleveland won it would have put them in a tie for first place in the AFC North and not only would they have had the same win-loss record as Pittsburgh they would have equaled both the Steelers division record and conference record. In other words, it would have been a whole new season.

The Browns under the leadership of Derek Anderson have played with so much heart over the past 7 games, going 5-2 after their opening day loss to the Steelers. You hate to see them melt down when facing the real test of their fortitude, but there is no getting away from the facts; the Browns passing offense, their claim to fame this season failed them in the clutch. The Steelers victory, although very close owing to three first half failures in the red zone that gave them 9 points instead of 21, was deserved nevertheless.