Hats off to the defense tonight. Sure, they didn't play a perfect football game. They did the following though:
- Stripped Hines Ward and Heath Miller on back-to-back drives.
- Took out Ben Roethlisberger, forcing him to leave the game and then be hobbled in the second half.
- Come up with an unbelievable goal line stand by Chris Gocong on four straight plays.
- Have Mike Adams intercept a pass to bring the ball near mid field.
While all of this was happening, the offense only managed to put three points on the board. The Steelers had seven. The final big defensive play by Adams came half-way through the fourth quarter. The Browns quickly drove down the field and had a 1st-and-goal from the four yard line. The end result was an interception on third-and-long, set up by a series of negative plays that have you scratching your head about out goal line offense again.
On the next series, the defense finally let up. Wide receiver Antonio Brown had about a 80-yard touchdown catch-and-run after a slip by Joe Haden and after Mike Adams got turned around. That was it. The Steelers won 14-3, but it everything was set up for it to be a stunning 10-7 victory for Cleveland. It wasn't meant to be.
I'm proud of the physical game a bunch of players on defense tried to play, but it's so frustrating to see the offense come up empty after that unit of players gave it their all.