Browns rookie McCoy makes NFL regular season debut. Steelers two-time Super Bowl winner Roethlisberger makes season debut after serving conduct-related suspension. Plus, numerous other links.
Browns quarterback Colt McCoy will make his NFL regular season debut against the Steelers.Cleveland, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns visit the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in a game that's focused on the team's quarterbacks for the wrong reasons.
The Browns' Colt McCoy, who won more college games at Texas than any other Division I quarterback all-time, will make his first NFL regular season appearance because the two veterans ahead of him on the depth chart, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, are sidelined with badly sprained ankles.
Meanwhile, the Steelers get Ben Roethlisberger back. The two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is making his first appearance of the season after serving a four-game suspension for violating the league's conduct code.
The Steelers are 3-1 and the Browns 1-4. Despite all of the talk of a Cleveland-Puittsburgh rivalry, each team has enjoyed one lengthy era of dominating the other.
Cleveland was 32-9 against the Steelers from the Browns' 1950 entry into the NFL through the first of the two games between the teams in 1970.
Unfortunately for Cleveland, Pittsburgh is 49-24 against the Browns since then, for a 58-56 lead in the series. That doesn't include the Steelers' wins over the Browns in their only two playoff meetings: during the 1994 and 2002 seasons.
Plain Dealer and cleveland.com Browns coverage includes Mary Kay Cabot's story on Colt McCoy; Cabot's "In the spotlight," about Ben Roethlisberger; Cabot's Browns notes, highlighting Josh Cribbs' subpar season returning kicks; Cabot's report that running backs Peyton Hillis and Mike Bell expect to be ready for the Steelers game; Tony Grossi's NFL Insider.
Don Delco writes for the Orange and Brown Report on Scout.com about the offense McCoy ran at Texas, and about McCoy's 13-of-13 passing performance in the Browns' final preseason game:
Colt's strengths
Under McCoy, Texas ran the shotgun spread offense. According to Kevin Flaherty, publisher of Scout.com’s Longhorn Digest, “Texas thrived with a quick game that included an extensive two-man game to make one defender ‘pick his poison’ so to speak. The Longhorns used concepts like stick plays (one receiver sprints to the flat, the other runs about eight yards and options either in or out, depending on the defense) to that end. They used double slants (witness McCoy's Ohio State game winner for an example) to attack man coverage. And they used plays like smash routes (outside receiver runs a curl and the inside receiver runs a corner route over the top) and four verticals (just like it sounds) to stretch the field deep.”
After three preseason games in which McCoy struggled, the Browns offense against Chicago resembled his days in Austin.
McCoy started and played a little more than two quarters before finishing 13-for-13 passing for 131 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. Granted, he was playing against the Bears scrubs, but the plays fit McCoy’s strengths.
Tough to run
It would certainly help McCoy if the Browns can establish their running game. That will be difficult, since the Steelers lead the NFL in rushing defense, allowing just 62.3 yards per game.
Steve Doerschuk of the Canton Repository analyzes every aspect of the Steelers game, including:
Run defense
Nose tackle Casey Hampton, in his 10th year with the Steelers, has been to five Pro Bowls, and signed a three-year contract extension this year. He can’t be a welcome sight for Mack, who has been nursing a shoulder injury and struggled against Atlanta. The league doesn’t calculate tackles the same as teams do, but either way, 2007 Round 1 pick Lawrence Timmons is a machine. The Steelers say the 24-year-old inside linebacker has 53 tackles, including 15 apiece at Tennessee and at Baltimore. The NFL lists him with 48. The other inside linebacker is James Farrior, 35, who was a No. 8 overall pick by the Jets in 1997. His best days have been in nine years with the Steelers. One thing the Browns love about Hillis is that he won’t back down. Because of injuries, though, he’s not the same Hillis who bulled through Baltimore for 144 yards. Running back Mike Bell, who arrived in the Jerome Harrison trade, is in a tough spot, needing to play with alarmingly little prep time.
Post patterns
The Browns' need to finally get a win in Pittsburgh, by Brian Dulik for the Medina County Gazette.
A game preview by Ryan Kelsey on the Dawgs By Nature blog.
A mention of Browns vs. Steelers on John B. Lopez's "Inside the NFL" for Sports Illustrated's SI.com.
Browns notes, leading off with an update on Peyton Hillis and other Browns dealing with injuries, by Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal.
The challenge facing Colt McCoy, by Michael Martinez on the Orange and Brown Report for Scout.com.
The need for Josh Cribbs and the return teams to excel, by Mike McLain for the Warren Tribune Chronicle.
Some Browns and Steelers discussion, on James Walker's AFC North Blog for ESPN.com.
Browns notes, leading off with Josh Cribbs' return game, by Jeff Schudel of the News-Herald.