Steelers sneak into AFC playoffs with 28-12 win over Browns

That’s hardly ever a problem.

ANOTHER COSTLY INJURY: Although Sunday proved a fortunate day for the Steelers on many levels, they didn’t leave Cleveland unscathed.

The Bills beat the Jets 22-17, while Pittsburgh knocked off Cleveland 28-12, the only results that would have gotten the Steelers into the postseason.

The Steelers finish with the same 10-6 record as the Jets but advance to the playoffs on a tiebreaker.

Roethlisberger later threw a pass for Martavis Bryant that Cleveland safety Jordan Poyer timed perfectly to pick off and give the Browns a first down at the Steelers 24, which resulted in a field goal. “If we have to do that, we have to watch and wait”.

As usual, it was the Roethlisberger-to-Brown connection that covered up Pittsburgh’s blemishes.

When the Bills completed their win over the Jets, the Steelers hugged and high-fived on the sideline and thousands of Pittsburgh fans waved their Terrible Towels with delight. It was nearly that easy for him against Cleveland’s injury-ravaged secondary.

No Answer: WR Antonio Brown had 13 receptions for 187 yards an a touchdown on 17 targets.

Cleveland Browns head coach Mike Pettine walks to the locker room at halftime during an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, in Cleveland. New slate, 0-0 and all that, but it will take one massive turnaround for the Steelers to become the team we thought they could be just about a month ago. At times it seemed the Steelers might repeat their dismal performance against the Baltimore Ravens, losing to a awful team.

“I don’t know. I wasn’t”, he said, to laughter.

Primanti Brothers tweeted from its official account Sunday: “We’re shippin’ sammiches for the #wildcard bout with the Bengals!” He also had an end around for four yards the week prior.

Romeo Crennel (2008), Eric Mangini (2010), Pat Shurmur (2012) and Rob Chudzinski (2013) were all fired following season-finale losses to Pittsburgh. Browns coach Mike Pettine was sacked after posting a 10-22 record in two seasons. 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 Steelers, however, aren’t quite ready to heap all the blame on the defense.

And at the end of the day, fans did get everything they had been hoping for, at least for this week. “We’re where we need to be”.

-DE Stephon Tuitt sacked Browns QB Austin Davis twice.

Of course, the Steelers didn’t qualify for the playoffs until the last game of the season without having some flaws. “We have guys like Coach Butler (current defensive coordinator Keith) and Coach LeBeau (former defensive coordinator Dick) teaching like that, they show you the way and really set us on the right path”. If we know that you didn’t make a play or that you can do something better we’re going to tell you before the coaches get to you. In the postseason the line needs to play a cleaner game without giving away yards. “They had us doing a little bit of coverage this week”. While Roethlisberger had three touchdown passes against the Browns on Sunday, he also had two interceptions.

The Jaguars cut the lead to 10-3 on a 43-yard field goal later in the second. For this exact reason, it’s hard to put this loss on one player or one play, but on the team as a whole for lack of ability to seize opportunities, their lackluster ball control, and inability to seize control of line of scrimmage.