Browns' Jacoby Brissett provides Steelers different challenge than Baker Mayfield

When the Pittsburgh Steelers face the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night, they won’t have Baker Mayfield to put on the ground anymore.

In the two games between the AFC North rivals last year, the Steelers sacked Mayfield 13 times, including a whopping nine in the penultimate game of the regular season at Heinz Field.

With Mayfield moving on to Carolina, the Browns have turned the journeyman Jacoby Brissett while Deshaun Watson serves his 11-game suspension.

At 6-foot-4, 235 pounds, Brissett is 3 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than Mayfield.

“He’s a big, strong guy,” outside linebacker Malik Reed said. “Other than their run game, which is great, he’s a guy who can withstand some hits in the pocket and get away. He’s elusive and stronger than you think. He doesn’t go down easily.”

Brissett, who was sacked twice through two games, doesn’t figure to be a good matchup for a Steelers pass rush that will be without NFL defensive player of the year T.J. Watt for the second game in a row. Minus Watt on Sunday in a 17-14 loss to New England, the Steelers didn’t generate a single sack on quarterback Mac Jones, who was hit just three times.

After setting the NFL record by recording a sack in 75 consecutive games, the Steelers have been shut out three times in their past 17 games. Not coincidentally, Watt missed two of those games and missed a large portion of the third (at Minnesota last year).

Against New England, the Steelers rotated Alex Highsmith between the left and right outside linebacker spots. Reed made his first start with the Steelers and played two-thirds of the defensive snaps. Jamir Jones and Delonte Scott combined to play 13 snaps in relief of Highsmith and Reed.

The Steelers will trot out the same group against the Browns and hope for better results.

“I’ll just say that we need more pressure and we want more pressure,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said. “We’ve got to, as we like to say around here, we’ve got to get in the lab and get it done because that’s how we live. We’re a pressure team, we like to get pressure on the quarterbacks, we like to make quarterbacks uncomfortable.”

The Steelers knew it would be difficult to sack Jones on Sunday because of New England’s emphasis on its running game. In an attempt to stop the run, the Steelers used a heavy nickel package that included three down linemen, two inside linebackers and one outside linebacker on the field.

Reed said the pass rush was better than what didn’t show up on the stats sheet.

“I (drew) a holding penalty. If I didn’t get that hold, I’d have gotten him for sure,” he said. “Other times, I thought I was close, too. You have to keep going as a pass rusher. You have to have a relentless mindset and keep going after the quarterback as much as you can.”

The Browns, though, have Brissett to complement the NFL’s leading running game. If the Steelers can’t stop the run, they might not get many chances to go after Brissett.

“We have to get them so they have to throw the ball down the field,” defensive tackle Cameron Heyward said. “(If not), those third and manageables become run-pass options. If you’re able to throw the ball quicker, you can throw it over the middle. When they do that, it lets you know you’re not stopping the run enough and when you pass, it’s dealer’s choice.

“We have to make sure we clean that up a lot more.”