The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the midst of the 2024 regular season, and with it being the team’s latest game fans’ hopes remain high heading into the second half of the season. The hope is there is a winning performance on the horizon on Thursday in Week 12 when the team travels to play the Cleveland Browns.

What exactly do the Steelers need to do to on offense to claim their ninth victory of 2024? Let’s break it down…

Offense

Put up points

When it comes to this prime time game, let’s look at some basic averages for both the Cleveland defense and the Pittsburgh offense:

• Cleveland Defensive Points Per Game: 24.8 (24th)
• Cleveland Defensive Red-Zone Percentage: 63.3% (4th)

Now let’s take a look at the Steelers offensive numbers:

• Pittsburgh Offensive Points Per Game: 23.3 (15th)
• Pittsburgh Offensive Red-Zone Percentage: 44.4% (30th)

When you look at these numbers it is clear you can see a vast difference between the Cleveland defense and the Steelers offense. The biggest factor is the Steelers inability to convert in the red-zone. If the Steelers can dominate time of possession, something they’ve done a lot of this season, and finish in touchdowns this game could get out of hand early.

Suck the life out of Cleveland

There is nothing more demoralizing in the NFL than having an opponent impose their will on you in the ground game. The type of performance where everyone in the stadium knows what’s coming, including the defense, and you just can’t stop it. When you look at the numbers, this is a matchup where the Steelers could, and probably should, impose their will on the ground game.

Let’s look at the averages:

• Cleveland Defensive Rushing Yards Per Game: 131.7 (24th)
• Pittsburgh Offensive Rushing Yards Per Game: 136.7 (8th)

Before fans gets excited, it is worth noting last week the Steelers faced the 32nd ranked pass defense in Baltimore, and they weren’t able to capitalize on that specific weakness. Let’s see if Cleveland poses a different threat in their porous rush defense.

Keep the chains moving

The red-zone isn’t the only area the Steelers’ offense has struggled this season, the other area would be on 3rd downs. Plain and simple, the Steelers are struggling in this area. On top of that, the Cleveland defense is a Top 5 unit on 3rd downs. Let’s look at the numbers:

• Pittsburgh 3rd Down Offense: 38.3% (16th)
• Cleveland 3rd Down Defense: 33.1% (5th)

If the Steelers want to make this game over quickly, they will convert in those key areas. Convert on 3rd down and in the red-zone and this game will go the Steelers way.

I talk about this, and MUCH more on the “Let’s Ride”, and you can hear that podcast in the player below this article. In the meantime, be sure to stay tuned to SCN for the latest news and notes surrounding the team as they gear up for game time!