The Steelers dropped their fifth game of the season to the Cleveland Browns this afternoon. With Ben Roethlisberger missing his second consecutive game, turnovers killed the team, as they finished the game with eight.
The game opened up with an explosive play by Lawrence Timmons. On a ball tipped by Brett Keisel, Timmons grabbed it out of the air and took it 53 yards to get the Steelers on the board with a 7-0 lead. The Steelers would force a three-and-out which led to their first turnover of the game.
Rashard Mendenhall, who was one of four running backs to fumble for the Steelers, set the tone early on the turnover game coughing the ball up in Steeler territory. The Browns would get a field goal off of the turnover.
The Steelers were backed all the way up inside their own ten yard line, which is where Issac Redman fumbled for their second turnover of the game. The Browns would eventually scored on a five-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Cameron.
With a little under four minutes left in the first half, Phil Dawson tacked three more points on the board for the Browns, with a 32-yard field goal. On the next play from scrimmage, Jonathan Dwyer coughed the ball up which was recovered by the Browns, and gave all three running backs a fumble on the afternoon. Fortunately, the Steelers forced the Browns to punt and that is where they would put together a nice scoring drive.
They were faced with a third and ten and Charlie Batch took a shot deep into the end zone for Plaxico Burress, which led to a pass interference call, ultimately giving the Steelers first and goal at the one. Chris Rainey was given a carry at the goal line, and went right up the middle, where he was unable to move the pile, resulting in him bouncing it all the way to the outside and going into the end zone, giving the Steelers a 14-13 lead at half.
The second half featured an interception early in the third quarter, thrown by Batch, which was intercepted by Sheldon Brown. The pick gave Cleveland great field position, and they would eventually score on a 15-yard touchdown run by Trent Richardson. The touchdown gave the Browns a 20-14 lead, which would stand as the final score.
The Steelers were given a few chances toward the end of the game to take the lead, but were unable to due to an interception deep in Browns territory, and a fumble by Chris Rainey.
The Steelers had won nine of ten straight meetings in Cleveland up until their loss, and sixteen of the last seventeen meeting overall. The team plays Baltimore next week, and are waiting anxiously to see if Ben Roethlisberger and Troy Polamalu will or will not return for their divisional matchup against their rival.
