Pittsburgh gives thanks after Bills win helps send Steelers to playoffs

New England will be the No. 2 seed in the AFC after losing at Miami, while Arizona will have the other bye in the NFC despite getting routed 36-6 by Seattle. Williams said he almost came back into Week 17 against the Browns.

Cleveland: The Cleveland Browns sacked head coach Mike Pettine on Sunday, hours after they wrapped up another disappointing National Football League season with a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are ready to start over in the playoffs.

They’re in. And they’re unsafe.

Ben Roethlisberger looked shaky at times against the Cleveland Browns this week and DeAngelo Williams suffered an ankle injury that might make the Steelers one dimensional on offense.

“Many wanted the Steelers out of the top 10 following the Week 16 hiccup in Baltimore”.

Pittsburgh pulled off its parlay on the Great Lakes.

Coach Mike Tomlin, though, knows that Toussaint will have to be more productive against the Bengals if needed. We need somebody that’s smart.

“I assumed there was a fight or a Steelers fan was beating up a Browns fan”, he said with a laugh.

And Buffalo Bills Coach Rex Ryan made certain the playoff drought of the New York Jets, the team he used to coach, continued. “I know they’re excited about 8-8, and we’re excited that they got us in”. Now, with Roethlisberger joining the tournament, with his track record of playoff success, the Steelers are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

While the Steelers will rely on their passing game for the most part against the Bengals, Toussaint can help open up that pass game by becoming an effective runner. He stressed the importance of protecting the ball on offense and creating turnovers on defense after the Steelers turned the ball over twice and failed to get any on defense in a loss to the Baltimore Ravens the previous week.

When Buffalo completed its win over the Jets, the Steelers began hugging and high-fiving on the sideline.

“And every time there is a reset, it puts you further away from achieving that goal of making the playoffs and once you’re in, making that push for a Super Bowl, which is every player’s dream”.

There were the 1,599 yards in 11½ games that Brown had with Roethlisberger, and there were the 235 yards that Brown had in the 4½ games in which Roethlisberger was out with injury.

For the Browns (3-13), another terrible season ended in shambles. Owner Jimmy Haslam, who vowed in August that he wouldn’t “blow things up” will likely clean house, ousting Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer.

The Broncos saw off San Diego 27-20 in their final regular-season game and will hope to reach their second Super Bowl in three years, having lost heavily to Seattle Seahawks in 2014.

Haslam, wife Dee, Brown and Jed Hughes from the Korn Ferry consulting firm will be the only ones involved in the search, excluding president Alec Scheiner, whom Haslam said will remain in charge of the business side of the organization. Pittsburgh could be without running back DeAngelo Williams, who sprained his right ankle against the Browns.

“We are not happy with just winning the AFC South”, Houston wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins said.

Once the Browns have their new coach, the plan is to hire a GM.

Haslam also reportedly announced the promotion of executive VP, general counsel Sashi Brown to executive VP of football operations at a Sunday night press conference.