Steelers 4 Downs: Plenty of streaks on line in Steelers-Browns Monday night matchup

1. Made to be broken

It’s been one of the surest bets in sports over the past two decades — the Pittsburgh Steelers beating the Cleveland Browns during the regular season at home. For more than 30 years, so has the Steelers beating anybody at home on “Monday Night Football.”

So, lay the savings on the Steelers to beat Cleveland at Acrisure Stadium this Monday, right? Not so fast. What about the eye-catching (if peculiar) stat making the rounds this week that the past 16 teams that faced the San Francisco 49ers lost their next game if they played the following week. That includes every such opponent of the 49ers in 2022. That’s relevant to the Steelers, of course, after their 30-7 beatdown at the hands of the 49ers last week.

And while the merits of the 49ers opponents’ streak can be debated, it’s probably more relevant to this Steelers-Browns meeting than, say, the 1992 Steelers or the 2004 Steelers-Browns game at Heinz Field. Still, it is remarkable and notable the Steelers have beaten Cleveland 19 times in a row at home and have won 20 consecutive home games on “Monday Night Football.” The Steelers’ last regular-season defeat at then-Heinz Field to the Browns was a Sunday night 33-12 loss to a Tim Couch-led Cleveland team. The starting quarterback when the Steelers most recently lost at home on a Monday that kicked off after sunset was when Jeff Hostetler led the New York Giants to a 23-20 win Oct. 14, 1991, at Three Rivers Stadium.

Then again, both the Steelers’ superlative streaks come with asterisks. In 2020, the Steelers lost at home on a Monday … evening. The oddity of a 5 p.m. Monday kickoff (thanks, covid-19 pandemic) was less jarring than the then 4-7 Washington Football Team beating the then-undefeated (11-0) Steelers on Dec. 7, 2020, in Pittsburgh.

One month and three days later, the Browns beat the Steelers at Heinz Field — but it was in the playoffs, so for stat-keeping purposes, the (regular-season) streak endures.

2. Bounce-back Mike

Six times over their past 26 regular-season or playoff games, the Steelers have lost by 20 points or more. But what might comfort fans is after the first five such losses, the Steelers have rebounded to win their next meaningful game.

The Steelers can make it six consecutive “bounce-back” victories by beating the Browns — eight days after a humbling loss to the 49ers. And that is part of a larger trend under coach Mike Tomlin, who over 17 seasons has guided the Steelers to a 10-2 regular-season record in games after a loss of 20 or more points.

Related:

• Browns talented CB duo present next challenge for Steelers minus Diontae Johnson
• Steelers tackle Dan Moore primed for another matchup against Browns star Myles Garrett
• Steelers WR George Pickens limited in practice; RB Anthony McFarland out vs. Browns
• Mark Madden's Hot Take: If the Steelers start 0-2, expect a familiar timeline

3. Good or bad?

Clouded, perhaps, by a bias in that the final score (a 23-point loss) and the offensive production (seven points), the general perception of the Steelers offensive line for Week 1 was that it was poor. The data from PFF supports that notion.

But the data from other places does not.

An aggregation of analytics sources by Open Source Football displayed this disparity. PFF graded the Steelers offensive line as the worst in the NFL on opening weekend, giving it the worst pass-block grade and ninth-worst run-block grade.

But ESPN’s metric rated the Steelers as (slightly) above average. And the respected Sports Info Solutions data considered the line to be one of the best in the league (only six were better) in Week 1.

ESPN’s numbers credited right tackle Chuks Okorafor with a 94% “pass block win rate” in Week 1, a number topped by only 16 offensive tackles across the league. But PFF gave Okorafor the 43rd-best grade among 65 qualifying tackles. Incidentally, PFF graded Steelers left tackle Dan Moore as the worst in the league.

4. Old steel

According to league data based on Week 1 active rosters, the Steelers are the fifth-most experienced team (on average) in the NFL. The average Steelers player has spent 4.73 seasons in the league, trailing only the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens.

In regards to age, the Steelers are the 10th-oldest team on average in the NFL. But these age and experience lists should be taken with a grain of salt, especially for teams that maybe have a long-tenured (read: old), say, punter or long snapper. Also, the Steelers’ oldest player (34-year-old Cameron Heyward) is on injured reserve, which might fudge the numbers even more.