Steelers will play to beat the Browns Sunday; James Harrison inactive

**DIESELMAN** · 12-23-2008, 11:38 PM

The Steelers will play to win against the Browns, coach Mike Tomlin said, even though they have already clinched the AFC North title and cannot improve their playoff position with a victory Sunday.

The Steelers will be without free safety Ryan Clark (shoulder) and left tackle Marvel Smith (back) because of injuries. Everyone else that is healthy will play in the 1 p.m. game, Tomlin said today at his weekly news conference.

Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (sprained ankle) and outside linebacker James Harrison
(hip pointer) will be limited in practice this week, but Tomlin said both are expected to play in Sunday's regular-season finale at Heinz Field.

Tomlin was emphatic that he won't treat the Browns game different than any other even though it represents an opportunity to rest some of the Steelers' starters.
When asked if Roethlisberger will play the entire game Tomlin said, "We're playing."

The Steelers are 11-4 and have wrapped up the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs as well as a first-round bye.

By Scott Brown, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

I say have the offense play both ways and give the D some time off

**BlitzburghNation** · 12-23-2008, 11:43 PM

Glad to here this,,,,,,,we need this win and we need to blow out them hashbrowns and feel good going into the play-offs

**BlitzburghRockCity** · 12-24-2008, 12:07 AM

Of course Tomlin is going to say they are playing to win, if he said anything different I'd be worried..LOL. Im also glad he's getting the starters atleast some time in this game. He won't play them the whole time but letting all those guys off for 2 straight weeks well actually nearly 3 weeks till they play in a game again is not a good idea. Our offense is already struggling and compound that with a flat group that hasn't played and it's a recipe for disaster.

Let em play a half and then start yanking em.

**DBR96A** · 12-24-2008, 12:31 AM

12-4 looks prettier than 11-5.

**steelers4life66** · 12-24-2008, 12:42 AM

Ya he defiantly needs to play them for a half or so. That much time off wouldn't be a good thing.

**Steel Trap86** · 12-24-2008, 12:50 AM

HELLO? You play to win the game!!!

This vid defenatley needed to be added to this thread!

They should always be playing to win. Beat the Browns and go into the playoffs as winners!

**DIESELMAN** · 12-24-2008, 04:16 AM

Here is what Tomlin had to say about the game against Cleveland.....

We will use the loss to the Titans as a learning experience; we had our team in here yesterday to review the tape, to talk about it and set the stage for this week as we begin our preparations for the Cleveland Browns. Talking briefly about them, this is a big week for us; and I will tell you why. It is a football game and we are playing the Cleveland Browns; they are a division opponent. When you want to be the kind of team that we aspire to be, it starts with dominating our division. We made no bones about that when we talked about some of the goals that we had at the beginning of the season. We have an opportunity to sweep our division, and that hasn’t been done around here since 2002. We have an opportunity to play in front of our fans and put an exclamation point on what has been a solid season. One of the things that I look at when I study what we have done up through this point is that we have been pretty solid in everything that we have done throughout. We have an opportunity to be 6-2 at home; of course we are 6-2 on the road. We started the season 6-2 in the first eight games; with a win on Sunday we can finish it 6-2. We have an opportunity to be 3-1 in every quarter of the season. However you shape it, a winning performance for us this weekend puts an exclamation point on what has been a solid regular season, and moves us into the playoffs in a good frame of mind to chase the goals that we set out to chase.

**steelersgal86** · 12-24-2008, 06:06 AM

glad to hear it!!!!

**Captcoolhand** · 12-24-2008, 06:58 AM

I can see the headlines now........

Romeo Crennel Fired as Head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
Having played the Pittsburgh Steeler's 8 time in his 4 years as head coach, he's the only Head coach of the Cleveland Browns to never have a single defeat against them.......

**yinzer** · 12-24-2008, 09:29 AM

i'm glad he's playing the starters. i'm just not so sure how amped the players are about it. i know they're all sore and hurting and would probably like to have this week off. oh well. i'm going to be at this game. would be a little more exciting if there were a little more at stake.