Pittsburgh threw it 40 times and handed it to Jaylen Warren 17. He averaged 5.5 yards a carry and finished with 93. That's the game, and it's why the Steelers are 2-2 and the Browns are 3-1.
Warren was the most efficient thing Pittsburgh did all night. Travis Homer got two more carries for minus-one yard. Aaron Rodgers threw 40 passes, completed 22, took five sacks for 30 yards, threw three touchdowns and two interceptions, and posted an 83.2 rating. The last of those picks went to Grant Delpit at the CLV 18 with 10 seconds on the clock.
Before that, Andre Szmyt hit a 56-yard field goal at the 0:10 mark, snapped by R. Sunahara and held by Corey Bojorquez, which is how Cleveland got to 27. Then Rodgers went deep right for Roman Wilson and Delpit ended it. Wilson had been listed with an injury and returned to the game; he finished with three catches for 74 yards and a touchdown, including a 49-yarder.
Rodgers' receivers did their part in the aggregate. DK Metcalf caught 5 of 9 targets for 115 yards, 23.0 a catch, with a long of 43 and no score. Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth each caught three balls and a touchdown. That's 299 passing yards and three scores, and Pittsburgh still lost, because the distribution was wrong all night.
Pittsburgh's defense produced enough to win and didn't get it. T.J. Watt had 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, a sack, 2 quarterback hits and a fumble recovery. Payton Wilson had 9 tackles, 7 of them solo, plus a sack. Robert Spears-Jennings had 7 tackles and an interception. Jaquan Brisker and Cameron Heyward had 7 tackles apiece. Cleveland still put up 27.
Cleveland's offensive leaders list explains how. Deshaun Watson is the passing leader and also appears among the rushing leaders, alongside Quinshon Judkins, Jaleel McLaughlin and Raheim Sanders. Four names on the rush list. The Browns don't need one player to win it, and at 3-1 they haven't needed the quarterback to be the reason.
My read: this loss belongs to the play sheet. Rodgers threw 40 times while a back averaging 5.5 a carry got 17, and the final call was a deep shot that became Delpit's interception. Pittsburgh has Watt, Payton Wilson and Heyward playing at a level that should buy the offense margin. It won't buy much if the margin keeps getting spent 40 passes at a time. Warren should be over 20 carries in Pittsburgh's next game. If he isn't, 2-2 turns into a hole the Steelers don't climb out of.
