This should not be a trap game Thursday night for the Steelers

[BlitzburghRockCity]

If there was ever a trap game for the Steelers in 2011, this is the one. Now, granted the Steelers have no business looking past any team in the NFL this year regardless of their record. A 9-3 record is something to be proud of but now is the time to get on and stay on a roll. That means you take care of business every week regardless of the opponent. Mike Tomlin said in his weekly press conference that the Steelers are looking only at the Browns and know full well what Josh Cribbs and that team is capable of from past experience.

As you'll see below, the Steelers have owned the rivalry in recent years but we need only look back to 2009 to see what the Browns are capable of when it comes to AFC North matchups.

However we know how this team can play down to their competition. Couple that with the fact that the 49ers game is on the horizon, arguably the biggest game left on the schedule. It's only human nature for a team to look at the Browns record and think this is going to be a win right out of the gate. You have to think that the coaches are preparing the team this week without overdoing it only 4 days rest, and the guys are in the right mindset of taking care of business. The Steelers play these divisional teams twice a year, every year so you have to wonder why anyone would even consider looking at the Browns as an easy win just based on their record. These games are usually pretty close.

Some interesting stats on this game:

-The Steelers lead the series overall: 62-56.
-Since the Browns return to the NFL in 1999, they have only beaten the Steelers 4 times.
-Cleveland has not swept the Steelers since 1988.
-Since 1988 the Steelers have swept the Browns 10 times. (Keep in mind during that time the Browns were not in the league for 3 years).

Despite Pittsburgh's domination of the Browns since their return to the league, there are plenty of indications that this rivalry is still one of the NFL's best:

• In a 2002 Wild Card playoff game at Heinz Field, it seemed the Browns were about to avenge their former playoff loss to the Steelers when they held a two-possession lead with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. But the Steelers staged perhaps the greatest postseason comeback in their history to take the lead with under a minute to go and end the new Browns' first postseason appearance.
• In 2004, Steelers LB Joey Porter and Browns RB William Green couldn't wait for the game to start— both players were ejected for a pregame fistfight while the teams were warming up.
• In the fourth quarter of a 41-0 mauling of the Browns in 2005, Steelers LB James Harrison stopped an unruly spectator who had run onto the field, body-slamming the brown-and-orange-clad fan to the ground in a moment that seemed to sum up the sort of day the Browns were having.
• In 2009, a 1-11 Browns team shocked the Steelers with a 13-6 win that ended Pittsburgh's 12-game winning streak against their historic rival. The loss also ended any realistic chance of the defending Super Bowl champions returning to the playoffs.

From AFC-North.com

[steelersgal86]

I would love to see a blow out...but dont see that happening...honestly..the browns defense has looked pretty good...so we need to bring it all...

[LatrobePA]

Browns defense against the pass is right up there, NOW their run defense is at the bottom..

[BlitzburghRockCity]

They gave up 200+ yds to Ray Rice this past weekend, it's clear if you want to beat the Bengals you run the ball and use the short passing game.

So help me if the Steelers start throwing down field all day and don't use a similar strategy that they used against the Patriots, I might just off a bridge!

[LatrobePA]

So help me if the Steelers start throwing down field all day and don't use a similar strategy that they used against the Patriots, I might just off a bridge!

LOL, you nailed it! BA BALL at it's finest!

[coldrolled]

In a 2002 Wild Card playoff game at Heinz Field, it seemed the Browns were about to avenge their former playoff loss to the Steelers when they held a two-possession lead with five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. But the Steelers staged perhaps the greatest postseason comeback in their history to take the lead with under a minute to go and end the new Browns' first postseason appearance.


A Classic..... Who blew this game? The Browns OC. Who was he?

[LatrobePA]

A Classic..... Who blew this game? The Browns OC. Who was he?

LOL I remember watching that game, weren't they still airing it out with a huge lead?

[Mike Tomlin]

LOL, you nailed it! BA BALL at it's finest!

I call it what it is Big Ben ball. When we play less than good teams Ben tries to have career days and just throw the long ball. Those same underneath and short routes are being run Ben just feels they should go for the gusto on damn near every play. BA does not choose who Ben throws the ball to when the play starts.

[BlitzburghRockCity]

We always hear teams talk about not looking past an opponent just because of their record. The Steelers usually say the right thing but making sure they do the right thing is not always the case in games like this. Hopefully they come out with the same fire and intensity as last week and put this one away.

Mike Tomlin amused many at his news conference while talking about Cleveland's Joshua Cribbs Monday.

"We cannot let Josh Cribbs do what he's done to us time and time again in the past. We've been dead Indians in his cowboy movie enough," Tomlin said in a not-quite-PC comment because the coach apparently wasn't talking about the Cleveland Indians.
No, Tomlin meant the Steelers because they have been victims of Cribbs through the years, mostly as a return man. The problem for the Cleveland Browns is that has not been enough. The Steelers have beaten the Browns 14 of the past 15 times they've played, 20 of the past 22.

Thursday, they play again and there is no evidence the Browns can become the cowboys at Heinz Field, no matter how hard Mike Tomlin tried to come to their defense. The Browns are 4-8 (1-4 on the road) after their 24-10 whipping Sunday in Baltimore in which the Ravens ran over them the way the Indians ran over Custer, rushing for 290 yards, 204 by Ray Rice.

To suggest this is a team that might come to Heinz Field on a short week and pull the kind of upset they did in 2009 in Cleveland is to say the Steelers coach will do anything to keep his team's eye on the prize.

Thus, the question: Might the Steelers take the Browns lightly or even look past them to their weekend off considering they've triumphed 14 times in the past 15 against them?

"If we would have played them 14 or 15 times this year, then yes," Tomlin said. "But the team we are assembling and the team they are assembling are different than some of the teams that have taken part in that history.

"We tend to live in the now. We are looking at what they are capable of this year compared to what we've done and what we're capable of this year. We are probably not going to have a level of comfort when looking at it from that perspective."

From the PG

[HUNT4SEVEN]

I believe our Boys understand what's at stake, And the Browns suck at run defense so we should take advantage of that by running Mendy and Redman down there throats, but with BA u never know, so it wouldn't surprise me if we open up with 5 wide We play our best ball this time of year though, so i expect us to put a beat down on the Clowns