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Week 1 Game Recap: Pittsburgh Steelers 34, Cleveland Browns 7
What you need to know
| Pittsburgh Steelers |
In the head coaching debut of Mike Tomlin, the Steelers continued their domination of the Browns, extending their winning streak in this matchup to eight games and fourteen of the last fifteen. Ben Roethlisberger led the way with four touchdown passes, going 12 of 23 for 161 yards with no interceptions. Touchdown recipients included Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Heath Miller and Matt Spaeth. Hines Ward led the team in targets with six, and finished with three catches for 51 yards. Santonio Holmes caught two passes for 55 yards, including his forty yard touchdown on a short pass over the middle. Tight end Heath Miller led the team in catches with four for thirty five yards. Willie Parker and Najeh Davenport added a catch a piece, gaining negative two and seventeen yards respectively.
On the ground, Willie Parker led the way with 109 yards on 27 carries but did not find the end zone and fumbled once. Throughout the game, Parker was replaced on third downs by an effective Najeh Davenport, who gained 43 yards on eight carries. Third stringer Carey Davis came in on the finals drive to gain five yards on three carries.
Even the wide receivers pitched in on the rushing game, helping the Steelers gain over two hundred yards on the ground, with Cedrick Wilson adding 37 and Santonio Holmes eleven. Ben Roethlisberger was credited with one carry for two yards.
| Cleveland Browns |
The Browns struggled mightily in their opener, and found even an early quarterback change didn't greatly improve their play. Charlie Frye opened the game by completing four of ten passes for 34 yards and an interception, but was guilty of hanging onto the ball for too long and drawing too many sacks, thereby stalling drives. Despite the crowd's pleas for rookie Brady Quinn, the Browns were committed to not bringing him in for this type of situation, and went with Derek Anderson. Anderson responded by completing 13 of 28 passes for 184 yards including a touchdown and one interception.
In the receiving game, Kellen Winslow led the way with four catches for 83 yards, and tied for the team lead in targets with Braylon Edwards. Edwards finished the game with three receptions for 49 yards. Joe Jurevicius had two catches for 28 yards, while Tim Carter added a 22 yard reception on the day. Out of the backfield, Jamal Lewis and fullback Lawrence Vickers each caught two balls. Lewis gained eleven yards, with Vickers catches going for seven yards and the Browns' only score on the day.
Falling behind early, the Browns only ran sixteen official running plays on the day. Newly acquired running back Jamal Lewis was unable to get things going for his new team, gaining just 35 yards on eleven carries, including a fumble. Fullback Lawrence Vickers added eight yards on two carries, with Jason Wright touching the ball once on the day for three yards. Quarterbacks Anderson and Frye each were credited with one attempt, going for negative one and one yard a piece.
What you ought to know
| QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pass: 12 - 23 - 161 - 4 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 1 - 2 - 0 |
Despite completing just 52% of his passes, Roethlisberger looked quite effective in directing his offense, and threw for a career high four touchdown passes on just 23 attempts. All four touchdown passes came from the five yard line or outside, and allowed him to get each of his primary receivers (Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Heath Miller) involved. Roethlisberger averaged 7.0 yards per passing play on the day.
| RB Willie Parker, Rush: 27 - 109 - 0, Rec: 1 - -2 - 0 (2 targets) |
After a relatively slow start to the day, Parker finished the day averaging over four yards per carry, padded by runs of 22 and 25 yards. Unfortunately, on the carry immediately after his long of the day, he lost a fumble deep into Cleveland territory. Parker was relieved on third downs all afternoon long. All four touchdowns by the Steelers came from outside the five yard line, preventing any goal line carries for Parker or any other Steelers running back.
| RB Najeh Davenport, Rush: 8 - 43 - 0, Rec: 1 - 17 - 0 (4 targets) |
Davenport saw time primarily on third downs, where he converted four for first downs on the afternoon, and put the Steelers in a position to convert another on fourth down. His effectiveness in this role may allow him to stay in that role and keep Willie Parker fresh for first and second downs. In addition to his use on third downs, the Steelers utilized Davenport to run out the clock in the fourth quarter.
| WR Santonio Holmes, Rush: 1 - 11 - 0, Rec: 2 - 55 - 1 (3 targets) |
Holmes turned a short pass over the middle into a 40 yard touchdown and showed his explosive playing skills. Given the lead that the Steelers played with all afternoon, the wide receivers, including Holmes, received fewer targets than they typically will throughout the season.
| WR Hines Ward, Rec: 3 - 51 - 1 (6 targets) |
Leading the team in targets, and the recipient of Ben Roethlisberger's first touchdown on a five yard grab, Ward appeared to remain the primary target in this new offense, though it was relatively unchallenged most of the afternoon.
| TE Heath Miller, Rec: 4 - 35 - 1 (4 targets) |
Miller caught all four passes thrown his way, including a short pass on the right side of the field that he took for a 22 yard touchdown.
| PK Jeff Reed 2 - 2 FG, 4 - 4 XP, 10 points |
Reed was perfect on the afternoon, converting four extra points and field goals from 26 and 31 yards out.
| PIT Rush Defense |
With just sixteen carries on the afternoon, the Steelers held the Browns to 46 yards and just over three yards per attempt. They forced a fumble of Jamal Lewis and held him in check all afternoon, allowing him to gain just 35 yards on the ground.
| PIT Pass Defense |
With a ferocious pass rush, the Steelers pass defense came up with six sacks, forced two interceptions and recovered two fumbles. The Steelers kept both Browns quarterbacks at a completion percentage below 50%, and combined for less than six yards per attempt.
| QB Derek Anderson, Pass: 13 - 28 - 184 - 1 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - -1 - 0 |
Anderson entered the game in the second quarter and immediately tried to get Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards more involved, providing some spark to the offense, but not nearly enough for his team that was outplayed in every facet of the game. While leading the offense to its only touchdown of the game, and avoiding the sacks that his counterpart Charlie Frye took, Anderson failed to complete 50% of his passes, and lost a fumble in the 34-7 loss.
| QB Charlie Frye, Pass: 4 - 10 - 34 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 1 - 1 - 0 |
Frye started the game. After being sacked five times and throwing a bad interception in the first quarter and a half, Frye was pulled from the game and replaced by Derek Anderson. Of those five sacks, Frye played a significant role in failing to get the ball out and find an open receiver or hot read.
| RB Jamal Lewis, Rush: 11 - 35 - 0, Rec: 2 - 11 - 0 (2 targets) |
With just eleven carries on the afternoon, Lewis failed to get untracked, and in addition to averaging just 3.2 yards per carry, and having a long carry on the day of seven yards, also lost a fumble with the score 10-0 in the first quarter. The fumble set up a forty yard touchdown reception by Santonio Holmes on the next play. On the Browns' touchdown drive, Lewis was given two carries inside the four yard line, failing to convert on either play.
| RB Lawrence Vickers, Rush: 2 - 8 - 0, Rec: 2 - 7 - 1 (2 targets) |
Vickers accounted for the Browns' only points on the day with a one yard reception for a touchdown out of the backfield.
| WR Braylon Edwards, Rec: 3 - 49 - 0 (9 targets) |
Edwards saw his targets increase once Anderson entered the game, but was unable to get much going on the afternoon. Though Anderson looked deep to him on a couple of occasions throughout the game (including a late interception intended for him), most of Edwards' catches came on short passes, primarily to the right side. Edwards was also guilty of losing a fumble after making a nice catch at midfield.
| WR Joe Jurevicius, Rec: 2 - 28 - 0 (7 targets) |
Most of Jurevicius' targets came late in the game after it was well decided. Jurevicius came up with a first down catch on third down and two that was called back due to an offensive interference call off the ball.
| TE Kellen Winslow Jr, Rec: 4 - 83 - 0 (9 targets) |
Upon the entry of Derek Anderson into the game, Winslow saw an immediate increase in targets, and came up with a pair of long catches (20 and 30 yards) on the Browns' only scoring drive. Winslow was however responsible for ending the Browns' only other drive into Steelers territory, called for offensive interference away from the ball.
| PK Phil Dawson 0 - 0 FG, 1 - 1 XP, 1 points |
Dawson connected on his only extra point attempt of the day.
| CLE Rush Defense |
The Browns were worn down all afternoon, giving up 206 yards on 42 carries as the Steelers attacked with a number of different running backs and had effective gains by their wide receivers as well on end around plays. They allowed Willie Parker to average just over four yards per carry, and they did cause a fumble, but couldn't slow the Steelers down in the season opener.
| CLE Pass Defense |
With just one sack and no turnovers on top of four touchdown passes allowed, this defense was burned all afternoon. Though they made an attempt to apply pressure to Ben Roethlisberger, the linebackers and secondary were unable to stay with their coverage long enough to come up with any key plays to turn this game around.
