After sitting out playoff game, Steelers CB Joe Haden awaits chance to face Browns

Confined to his house because of a positive covid-19 test, cornerback Joe Haden couldn’t believe what he saw unfold on the TV screen in his basement last January as he watched his teammates play his former employer in an AFC wild-card game.

Haden watched the Cleveland Browns score a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage thanks to an errant snap that rolled into the end zone. He watched the Browns build a 28-point first-quarter lead and outlast the Pittsburgh Steelers, 48-37, to advance to the divisional round.

And Haden was helpless to do anything about it.

“It was tough to watch,” Haden said Wednesday, “to see my boys get beat like that. But the game is about momentum, and we’ll switch it up this week.”

On Sunday, the Steelers and Browns will meet for the first time since that playoff encounter at Heinz Field. This one will take place at FirstEnergy Stadium, which Haden called home for seven seasons before joining the Steelers in 2017.

“I want to get out there and play,” Haden said. “It’s another game, but being a division game, going to Cleveland, they are very, very relevant and one of the really good teams in the AFC, so we have to be locked in.”

Winners of two in a row before they paused for their bye week, the Steelers are 3-3 and have a chance to trade spots in the AFC North standings with the Browns, who are 4-3 and in third place.

The game will mark the first appearance for Haden against the Browns in the past three meetings. He wasn’t going to dress for the regular-season finale last year at Cleveland since the Steelers already had clinched the division title and a home playoff game.

Then, Haden tested positive for covid-19 on the eve of the finale. Even though he was asymptomatic, Haden had to isolate for 10 days, per NFL rules, ensuring he wouldn’t be able to play until the divisional round.

“It was tough to be in the basement healthy and ready to go, but you can’t play,” he said.

Haden was left cheerleading for a Steelers victory in the wild-card round that, of course, never materialized. Could he have made a difference had he played? Cam Sutton, who typically played inside in subpackages, started at left cornerback against the Browns.

“The way the game was going, I don’t know,” Haden said. “It was looking crazy. I just know when I’m out there, I always feel like I can help the team out. I can’t say whether we would have won or lost or if I would have changed it, but I feel like my presence helps out.”