Antonio Brown dropkicks a punter, and the Steelers take the second half off before sending their rival neighbor home with their 15th season opening loss in the last 16 years.
The Browns had won one season opener in 15 tries since their return in 1999. Sunday's game against the rival Steelers looked over at halftime, the Browns down 24 points as the teams went to the locker room. But what was a laugher became an even game in the second half, thanks to an impressive Cleveland rushing attack from a couple unknown rookies. In the final minute, however, things returned to normal and Big Ben led Pittsburgh to its usual late win over their lowly rivals.
1. Antonio Brown dropkicks a punter
This was certainly the highlight of the 10 early games. Antonio Brown fielded a punt, broke an initial tackle by the Browns gunner, and then shot through a seam and toward the end zone. All he had to do was beat the punter Spencer Lanning. He probably didn't need much more than a quick fake, but in the moment, Brown decided to go for a hurdle. He just jumped too soon...like way too soon, 3 yards too soon.
Lanning was uninjured, and Brown was flagged 15 yards for unnecessary roughness. The Steelers still scored on the very next play, extending the first half blowout to 24-3. This dropkick only added to the early embarrassment.
2. Rookie rushers Isaiah Crowell, Terrance West roll through Steeler D
Running back is the one position in the NFL where an unknown or unexpected player can quickly become a major contributor. The turnover is constant, and we're used to seeing late-round draft picks and undrafted players become leading rushers. For the Browns, it was rookies Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West who emerged in Week 1 and gashed the Steelers defense.
The Browns scored 24 unanswered points to pull even with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the second half, and Crowell was a big reason for the comeback. Cleveland was embarrassed in all three phases in the first half, falling behind 27-3 and it got worse when Ben Tate was ruled out as they took the field for the second half.
But the loss of Tate only put the spotlight on West and Crowell, an undrafted rookie out of Alabama State (Crowell once starred at Georgia but was dismissed from the team following a 2012 arrest). After an impressive camp and preseason, Crowell surprisingly earned one of the final roster spots, beating out Dion Lewis in the backfield. And with Tate out, the Browns went right to him at the start of the second half. He repeatedly burst through the hole, and got around the tackles almost every time he touched the ball, including two touchdowns in under five minutes at the start of the third quarter.
In addition to Crowell, rookie running back Terrance West from Towson also rolled through the Steelers defense when he was called upon in the second half. West led the team and finished with 100 yards on 16 carries, while Crowell averaged 6.4 yards per carry and scored twice on his five rushes. Tate looked pretty good himself in the first half (6.8 average), but after Week 1, expect to see a lot more of the two Browns rookie rushers.
3. In the end, the Browns Brown'd, and the Steelers were the Steelers
This used to be one of the best rivalries in football, but this reconstituted hollow Browns franchise has done nothing to challenge their neighbors to the east since they returned in 1999. In season openers, Cleveland is now 1-15 during this incarnation of the franchise:
The amazing second-half Cleveland comeback aside, the Steelers were still the last team to score, putting their only second-half points on the board as time expired. Ben Roethlisberger was his usual self against this rival, going 23 of 34 for 365 yards. He drilled a pass through traffic and over the middle to Markus Wheaton for 20 yards to set up the game-winner for Shaun Suisham.
The Browns, on the other hand, blew it in their last two possessions. Driving into Pittsburgh territory, they opted not to kick a field goal from their own 36-yard line and took a penalty to punt it away (for a brutal touchback). When they got the ball back one final time at their 20-yard line, the offense went backwards towards their own goal line, setting up a punt that put the Steelers in good shape for a game-winning drive with less than a minute to play.
Big Ben and the Steelers offense disappeared for an entire half, but the Browns still relented in the final minute because they're the Browns, and this was a season opener.
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