Cleveland (1-4) at Pittsburgh (3-1)
Sunday, 1 p.m. EDT, CBS.
BetMGM NFL Odds: Steelers by 5.
Against the spread: Browns 2-3; Steelers: 2-2.
Series record: Steelers lead 82-65-1.
Last meeting: Steelers beat Browns 27-14 on Dec. 8, 2024, in Pittsburgh.
Last week: Browns lost to Vikings 21-17 in London, England. Steelers were off on their bye.
Browns offense: overall (27), rush (26), pass (24), scoring (31).
Browns defense: overall (2), rush (1), pass (4), scoring
(21).
Steelers offense: overall (29), rush (31), pass (27), scoring (17).
Steelers defense: overall (20), rush (19), pass (30), scoring (28).
Turnover differential: Browns minus-4, Steelers plus-7.
RB Quinshon Judkins. He had his first 100-yard rushing game in the NFL last week with 110 yards on 23 carries against Minnesota. He's the first Browns player to record at least 70 scrimmage yards in each of his first four games. The second-round pick is second among NFL rookies with 347 yards rushing yards and has three carries of at least 30-yards this season, tied for most in the league. The last Browns rookie to have a 100-yard game against the Steelers was Terrance West in 2014.
OLB TJ Watt. The perennial All-Pro is starting to look like his old self after a quiet opening two weeks. Watt has three sacks over his last two games and collected his eighth career interception in Pittsburgh's victory over Minnesota. Watt has long feasted on the seemingly never-ending rotation of Cleveland quarterbacks. He has collected 17 of his 111 career sacks against the Browns.
Steelers LT Broderick Jones vs. Cleveland DE Myles Garrett. Jones switched from right tackle to left during the offseason and the former first-round pick has steadied himself of late following a shaky start. Yet the challenge will be considerably harder against Garrett, arguably the best pass rusher in the league. Expect Pittsburgh to give Jones plenty of help. They used a jumbo package against Minnesota that included having reserve lineman Spencer Anderson line up next to 300-pound-plus tight end Darnell Washington.
Browns: DT Mike Hall (knee) has yet to see action this season. ... DT Shelby Harris (knee/rest) did not practice Wednesday.
Steelers: WR Calvin Austin III is out with a shoulder injury. ... Everyone else is likely to play, including DB Jalen Ramsey, who spent the off week nursing a hamstring problem. ... CB Joey Porter Jr. will return after missing three games with a hamstring issue. ... OLB Alex Highsmith is also back after an ankle injury forced him to sit out two games.
The longtime AFC North rivals have split the season series in five of the last six years. The Steelers, however, have dominated the Browns at home. Pittsburgh is 23-1 in the regular season against Cleveland since Acrisure Stadium opened in 2001, including the last 21 straight. The lone asterisk during that span is Cleveland's upset victory in the first round of the 2020 playoffs. Pittsburgh's home winning percentage (.958) versus the Browns is the highest in the NFL since 2001.
Cleveland has scored 17 points or fewer in 10 straight games dating to last season. The last team to do that was the 2000-01 Arizona Cardinals, who had a 13-game run. ... QB Dillon Gabriel is looking to become the first Browns rookie QB with at least two TD passes in his first two games. ... WR Jerry Jeudy is tied for the league lead with five dropped passes according to Sportradar. He leads with league with 18 drops since the start of last season. ... TE David Njoku needs 36 yards receiving to reach 4,000 for his career. He led Cleveland with six receptions for 67 yards and a touchdown last week. ... TE Harold Fannin Jr. leads the team with 21 receptions, tied for the most by a Browns rookie after five weeks. ... The Browns lead the league in run defense (75.6 yards per game) and second in total defense (247.8 ypg). ... Cleveland has not allowed a 300-yard passer in 33 straight games, the longest active streak in the league. ... Garrett has a sack in his last three games against the Steelers. ... DT Maliek Collins had a season-high two sacks last week. ... LB Carson Schwesinger leads NFL rookies with 31 tackles. ... P Corey Bojorquez is tied for second in the league with 11 punts inside the 20. ... The Steelers are 24-12 all-time coming off a bye and haven’t lost a game following an off week since 2016. ... Gabriel will have his work cut out for him against a veteran Pittsburgh defense. The Steelers have dominated rookie quarterbacks through the years. Pittsburgh is 51-15 all-time against first-year quarterbacks since 1970, including a 27-4 mark at home. ... Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers is looking for his first victory at Acrisure Stadium. He has won in 30 different stadiums during his career, the seventh-most by a QB in NFL history. ... Rodgers could move into the top five all-time in career yards passing with a big day against Cleveland's top-ranked defense. Rodgers enters Sunday with 63,738 yards passing, 350 short of former Steeler Ben Roethlisberger, who's fifth. ... Pittsburgh's running game found traction in Ireland after a wobbly start, but faces a step up in class against Cleveland's top-ranked run defense. Steelers RB Jaylen Warren is expected to return after missing the Vikings game with an ankle injury. Kenneth Gainwell thrived in Warren's absence, running for a career-best 99 yards and scoring a pair of touchdowns. ... Steelers WR DK Metcalf has a touchdown in each of his last three games and is averaging 17.4 yards per reception, third-best in the NFL. ... Pittsburgh DT Cam Heyward has turned swatting passes into an art form. He led all defensive tackles with 11 passes defensed in 2024 and has one in each of Pittsburgh's last three games. All three deflections turned into Steeler interceptions. ... While the Steelers have had their issues stopping opponents, they remain among the best in the league when it comes to creating takeaways. Pittsburgh has produced 10 turnovers through four games, tied with Chicago for second-most in the league behind Jacksonville (14). The Steelers' plus-7 turnover differential is second in the NFL and Pittsburgh's plus-34 turnover differential since the start of 2023 is tops in the league.
Touchdowns might be hard to come by with one of the league's stingiest defenses on one side (Cleveland) and one of the NFL's top ball-hawking units facing a rookie quarterback on the other. Maybe the safest bet is on Steelers kicker Chris Boswell, the second-most accurate kicker in NFL history. Boswell has made 88% (277 of 318) of his kicks since joining Pittsburgh a decade ago.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
