John Steigerwald: Browns' Baker Mayfield no match for Steelers defense

Baker Mayfield had no chance.

The Steelers defense obviously smelled his bruised ribs and gave him no time in the pocket and, even more importantly, gave him no chance on his rollouts, something he has had a lot of success with this season.

In Browns Country, you can be sure Sunday’s 38-7 loss to Pittsburgh will be all about Mayfield, and little credit will be given to the Steelers defense.

And the Steelers defense might have been nice enough to give Cleveland sports talk radio a nice, juicy quarterback controversy.

But Sunday’s game was all about the Steelers defense. The few times Mayfield even had a little time to throw, his receivers were covered. He was sacked four times.

He also took a lot of shots to those sore ribs. Mayfield missed a lot of practice time last week, and there was doubt he would be able to play.

And the Steelers are one of the last teams a quarterback with bruised ribs should face.

The Browns offense has looked very good at times this season, but they’ve looked good when they can run the ball. And no team is going to run the ball well after it falls behind 17-0.

Browns fans and most of the Cleveland media probably will be calling for backup Case Keenum to take over the starting quarterback job, but it’s doubtful he would have done any better.

Ben Roethlisberger might not have done any better if he had been facing the Steelers defense.

Mayfield and the Browns ran into old-time Steelers football Sunday. Without the crowd noise.

Roethlisberger only threw the ball 22 times for 162 yards and one touchdown. James Conner had 101 yards on 20 carries.

Throw a little, run a lot and torture the opposing quarterback. It doesn’t get any more old-time Steelers than that.

Those are the fewest yards Roethlisberger has thrown for in a win since he was 15 for 23 for 134 yards in a 24-10 win over the Browns in 2012.

Remember when the Steelers’ season was going to be all about Roethlisberger making his return with a healthy arm and piling up the passing yards like old times?

The Steelers scored 38 points with 22 passes Sunday. They’re 5-0, and Roethlisberger has thrown for 300 yards once. And, when he had 311 yards against Denver in Week 2, that was his only game with more than 250.

The Steelers are winning the old-fashioned way. Mayfield won’t be the last quarterback who wishes he had sat out against them when he had the chance.

• Speaking of no crowd noise, did you see that “crowd” at Heinz Field on Sunday? Do they really need that much space to be safe?

The upper-level seats were empty. Would mass death have resulted in putting a few thousand people up there?

• And what about high school football “crowds?” The visiting teams aren’t allowed to bring spectators at some sites. Some parents can’t watch their kids play in an away game.

Has anybody noticed the fans, who are allowed at the games, are sitting together on the home side of the stadium, and the visitors’ side is all but empty at some stadiums?

Why not give tickets to the visiting team’s parents and let them socially distance themselves on the visitors’ side?

It’s ridiculous to not allow every parent to see their child play.

It would be nice if the players went to the coaches and said, “If our parents can’t watch, we’re not playing.” And that would include away games.

I’m pretty sure the schools and the WPIAL would figure out a way to allow all parents to watch “safely.”

Somebody needs to stand up to the adults’ stupidity.