The Pittsburgh Steelers have now won 23 straight regular season home games over the Cleveland Browns, defeating their division rivals 27-6 to take sole possession of first place in the AFC North.
The Steelers’ defense made its imprint very early on in the game, as Pittsburgh had two fumble recoveries on Cleveland’s first two drives. While the Steelers went three-and-out following the first fumble, they wouldn’t make that mistake the second time around. Rico Dowdle recorded his first touchdown of the season
to put Pittsburgh up 7-0. Dowdle would finish the day with 56 yards on the ground. The next drive would begin the terrific day of Jaylen Warren.
Pittsburgh’s rising star continued his incredible season, getting the Steelers downfield with a 51 yard run. The Steelers, however, would stall in the red zone and settle for a field goal. The teams would exchange field goals over the next three drives, making it a 13-6 Steelers lead, and then Aaron Rodgers put together a terrific drive to end the half.
With just 44 seconds left, Rodgers led a six-play drive featuring a 23-yard Jaylen Warren run and completions of 28 yards to Pat Freiemruth and 15 yards to Germie Bernard. On the final play of the half, the Steelers punched the ball in with a Freiermuth run at the goal line to take a 20-6 lead into halftime.
On their second drive of the second half, Rodgers hit Darnell Washington for a 58 yard catch-and-run, and Jaylen Warren would put an exclamation point on his day with a touchdown, which is where the scoring would end.
Warren tied his career high in rushing yards with 143 and a touchdown, while the defense put up an astounding eight sacks, two of which came from T.J. Watt. The former Defensive Player of the Year now has 7.5 sacks on the season, topping his season total of seven from 2025. Alex Highsmith only had half a sack, but was applying constant pressure to Watson all day. Nick Herbig, Kevin Jobity, Cam Heyward, Patrick Queen, and Keeanu Benton all teamed up for the remaining six sacks.
The Steelers are now 6-2, and hold sole possession of first place in the AFC North heading into the bye week. Additionally, the Buffalo Bills defeated the Baltimore Ravens, putting Baltimore at 4-4 on the season. Pittsburgh will return from its bye week in Week 10 to take on the Cincinnati Bengals.
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