Welcome to the ultimate Pittsburgh Steelers gameday preview on the internet. This is where you come to find everything you need to know about the Steelers and their upcoming opponent! Mike Drakulich (@PghSportsNation) of Steelers Wire brings you inside the huddle for both teams, providing all fans with a game preview, Steelers keys to success, score prediction, fantasy football focus, game information, a detailed breakdown of each team, individual stats, team stats, and team injury reports. Heck, you’ll even know the weather at kickoff. The only thing you’re missing is a game uniform.

 

Steelers defense hungry for rematch vs Browns

When mentioning the word “rivals” the Cleveland Browns have been pretty far down the list since the mid-90’s.

Yes, there is no love lost between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, but it’s kind of hard to call someone a rival when you thump your opponent over, and over, and over again. Since 1999, the Steelers are 34-7-1 vs the Browns.

The bug does not have a rivalry with the windshield… and the Steelers, like the windshield, always wins when it comes to the Browns.

On November 14th, the bug finally put a crack in the windshield, as the Browns defeated the Steelers 21-7. All it took for the Browns was the Steelers to be minus Ben Roethlisberger, Stephen Tuitt, and Benny Snell. Lost during the game was Juju Smith-Shuster and Diontae Johnson to headhunting hits by the Browns defense. James Conner re-injured his shoulder within a few series. Oh, and Mason Rudolph has his worst game of his career, tossing four interceptions.

Yet, there were the Steelers, only down a score for much of the 2nd half.

Their resiliency has been amazing, to say the least.

Oh, and lest we forget the whole Myles Garrett vs Rudolph incident at the end of the game.

Last week vs Cincinnati, Rudolph continued to struggle, which prompted Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin to bench Rudolph, and insert Devlin Hodges into the game. As he did during his appearances against the Ravens and Chargers, Hodges seemed poised in the pocket, doing just enough to give the team a chance to win.

He had the Ravens beat if it weren’t for a fumble by Smith-Schuster in OT. The Steelers were just a few yards away from Chris Boswell’s range and a rousing win. He outplayed future HOF QB Phillip Rivers on the road in LA.

Last week, in the first series he entered the game, he zipped a ball 40 yards downfield to James Washington who took the ball in stride, and rumbled into the end-zone after punking a Bengals defender.

Now Hodges has a chance to add to his lore, as the Steelers have a huge chance to exact some revenge against Cleveland, whom if they beat, will have their playoff hopes on the intersection of slim and none.

One thing is for sure, you can expect a physical, hard-hitting affair when these two teams hook up Sunday afternoon at Heinz Field.

Just don’t look for any dirty tactics by Pittsburgh.

“We’re never the initiators of that,” said Steelers guard Ramon Foster, of tempers flaring. “Look back and see, I don’t think so. People always want to get their rocks off against us. For whatever reason if that’s how they feel, so be it. We’re not going to be the idiots getting penalties this weekend, I know that for sure.”

The crowd will be loud and boisterous, and the defense will be hungry to appease them, but they will do it the right way.

“We’re all professionals. We know how to carry ourselves. We’re grown men,” Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick said. “We’re going to put emotions aside, hard feelings aside, everything else aside. It might put a little more fuel in the fire, obviously, but I don’t think there’ll be any unnecessary actions like there were the first game.”

Do look for the Steelers to jump-start the rushing attack behind the capable legs of Benny Snell.

“Oh, man, you talk about the spark,” Steelers offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. “Now, we can talk about the real spark.”

Snell ran for a career-high 98 yards last week vs Cincinnati. Now he is hungry for more.

“His spark (was) just in his run demeanor,” Fichtner said. “The idea of coming back from injury and not blinking from the first time he stepped on the practice field through the game. Man, he ran with strength. He ran with power. I think he’ll feel better in time.”

Also look for Jaylen Samuels, Trey Edmunds, and Kerrith Whyte to see carries at various series in the game.

“We were going to try and share as many reps as possible because you didn’t want to overload him,” Fichtner said about Snell. “I think the situation kind of called, and he kept begging. When he’s begging, you feel good. … There’s a confidence level there that he shared with us.”

Snell is welcoming as many carries as he can get, as he feels stronger as the game goes deeper into the clock.

“I feel like that is one of my best attributes,” Snell said. “I feel like I get better as the game goes on.”

The offensive line has Snell’s back, and they are excited to provide Snell with a few holes to burst through, and take advantage of a poor Browns run defense.

“I love his tenacity,” Foster said. “It’s pretty cool. It’s refreshing. I told him at practice that I love what you do. In the sense of a young guy, when he runs, good or bad, he’s jaw-jacking a little bit. Nothing malicious. It’s cool to see him excited to play football in this day and age when people are trying to attack the game in negative ways. He’s the way that I remember it in the sense that he’s gritty. I love it.”