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Analyzing the Steelers Week 14 win over the Browns, by the numbers

The Pittsburgh Steelers got back-to-back AFC North wins by taking down the Cleveland Browns in their second matchup of the season. Unfortunately, the offense did not have the same output as the week before. The bottom line was the Steelers found a way to get their third divisional win of the season.

So without further ado, here are some of the numbers involved in the Steelers Week 14 win over the Browns.


+2

For the fourth-straight game, the Pittsburgh Steelers had three takeaways while having one turnover of their own. Coming in +2 in the turnover margin, the Steelers had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. The Steelers first takeaway, a Keeanu Benton interception, landed them seven points off the turnover. The rest of the turnovers in the game, including the one by the Steelers, all occurred in the last five minutes. After the Steelers lost a fumble back to the Browns, the Steelers responded two players later with a James Pierre interception. After being forced to punt four plays later, Ben Skowronek recovered the muffed punt and the Steeles held the ball for the remainder of the game.


0:00

I don’t know when I’ve ever seen this before, but the Steelers and Brown split the time of possession perfectly in this game with each of them possessing the ball for 30:00. In the first half the Steelers held the advantage 16:03 to 13:57 and in the second half the Browns held advantage by the exact same numbers.


-33

The last time the Steelers played the Browns, they fell in defeat despite having more yards. This time, the Steelers won decisively despite being out gained by 33 yards. While the Browns only had 300 yards of offense with 104 rushing yards and 196 net passing yards, the Steelers only had 267 total yards. Their breakdown was 120 rushing yards and 147 net passing yards.


75%

An issue when the Steelers played the Browns the last time was the number of times Cleveland converted on fourth down. Going 4 for 4 the first matchup, the Browns went 3 for 4 on fourth down in Week 14. Once again, this was predicated by a poor third down conversion rate with the Browns only going 2 of 13 for 15%. But the other issue with fourth down in the previous matchup came with the Steelers as they were 1 for 3 where in this game they did not attempt a fourth down conversion attempt. Although the Steelers started out poorly on third down going 0 for 4 in the first quarter, they finished 2 for 8 in the first half and 4 of 6 in the second half for a total conversion rate of 6 for 14 at 43%.


50%

The Steelers finished the game at 50% in both goal to go and red zone efficiency. While these are the official numbers, they are somewhat deceiving. The Steelers ended the game in victory formation inside Cleveland’s 10-yard line. Taking this trip out of the equation, the Steelers were a perfect 1 for 1 in goal to go situations and 2 of 3 in the red zone. As for the Browns, they were 1 for 3 in the red zone with their two failures both being missed field goals.


1

Despite giving up 7 quarterback hits, the Steelers did a good job of keeping Russell Wilson upright as the Browns only managed one sack in the game. Although it was Myles Garrett who got there, Russell Wilson chose not to throw an incompletion with less than four minutes left in the game in order to keep the clock running. So Wilson did take the sack, it was at a point in the game strategically where he needed to be tackled in bounds rather than throw the ball away.


52.3

The last time the Steelers played the Browns they only punted once for 15 yards. This time, Corliss Waitman bounced back in a big way. With 52.3 gross punting yards and 45.0 net punting yards, Waitman had four of his six punts go for 50 yards or more with his first traveling 60 yards. On his final punt of the game, Waitman booted a 59-yard punt which had the returner going backwards to field it and losing the ball which Ben Skowronek recovered.


2

A big difference in this game came with the field goal kickers. Chris Boswell converted both of his two field goal attempts with one coming from 54 yards. As for the Browns, they missed 38-yard and 43-yard field goals on both of their attempts.


6

Once again, the Steelers came out on the better end of the penalty calls in the game. The Steelers had 6 flags thrown against them for 61 yards while the Browns had 9 penalties for 81 yards. Eleven of the Steelers penalty yards came on an extremely late intentional grounding call that was very questionable, and the Steelers had an offensive pass interference call that didn’t look that bad on replay. Additionally, the Steelers had a 15-yard roughing the passer penalty called on Alex Highsmith which some claimed was late but still appeared to be quite soft.


1

As I said previously, the Pittsburgh Steelers just needed to find a way to win this football game. They couldn’t afford to drop two games to the Cleveland Browns during the season, and losing to them again would leave a sour taste in their mouth let alone greatly affect their playoff standing. So the Steelers add their 10th tally to the win column for the 2024 season.


So there are some numbers to help put the Steelers Week 14 win in perspective. The Steelers now have secured double-digit wins for the season, but their sights are set on something more.

So what numbers from Sunday’s game stand out to you? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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