When the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns meet Sunday at Heinz Field, it will have been only 17 days since they last played.

Just don’t expect this game to start like that one finished.

“I don’t feel like it would,” Steelers linebacker Bud Dupree said, referring to the skirmish that came during the final seconds of the Browns’ 21-7 victory Nov. 14. “Just because the person who did it is not going to play.”

That person is Browns defensive lineman Myles Garrett. What he did was hit Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph in the head with Rudolph’s helmet, and why he will not play is because the NFL suspended him indefinitely.

Rudolph will be in uniform but will not start. Steelers center Maukice Pouncey will not play because he was suspended two games for punching and kicking Garrett as retribution.

Sorry Had to Run the @steelers @Browns fight back #petty ? pic.twitter.com/CB5BoolA7c

— Jasmine Yakira (@jasmineyakira) November 25, 2019

With no Garrett on hand and with both teams in the thick of a wild-card playoff race, the idea of any pregame or between-whistles incidents was downplayed this week.

“We try to handle everything the same as far as the emotions, as far as keeping those in check,” Cleveland coach Freddie Kitchens said. “We are going to play with passion and not emotion. Sometimes emotions can take you down the wrong road. You have to have passion – but you have to have passion with a purpose.”

The purpose for the Browns, Kitchens said, is their first season sweep of the Steelers in 31 years. The Steelers’ purpose is continuing an improbable run to a playoff spot after starting 1-4 and without franchise quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

One week after the helmet slam heard ‘round the world, the NFL has finalized its discipline for the primary Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns involved.https://t.co/w6XKJMv5Aj

— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) November 21, 2019

“We’re never the initiators of that,” the oldest active Steelers player, Ramon Foster, said 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.”

Several Steelers said they expect officials to set an early example should something remotely nefarious take place. In a game expected to be low-scoring, a 15-yard penalty or two could loom large.

The Steelers vowed not to be the team hurt by one.

“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.”

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