Steelers dominate Browns 27-14....

The Pittsburgh Steelers(4-2) picked up their first divisional win of the season by dominating the Cleveland Browns(1-5) 27-14 at Heinz Field.

The first quarter was pretty uneventful for both teams due to drop passes and miscues. The Browns continued to struggle with Derek Anderson at quarterback although some of the struggles are with wide receivers dropping easy wide open passes. Josh Cribbs played a lot of the game out of the wildcat formation but his only miscue came when he forced a pass that was intercepted by the returning Troy Polamalu.

In the second quarter the Steelers got rolling with a 7-play 85-yard drive that was capped off when Ben Roethlisberger found Heath Miller open near the sideline of the end zone and like he so often does Ben put the ball only where Miller(5 catches 80 yards) could catch it and the Steelers had a 7-0 lead. With the touchdown catch Heath moved into second place all-time in Steelers history for touchdowns by a tight end passing Eric Green with 25 TDs for his career. The Steelers defense would continue to dominate and they got the ball back for the offense who capitalized on the opportunities that they were given. Big Ben threaded the ball between to defenders and found an open Hines Ward(8 receptions 154 yards) who scampered 52-yards into the end zone to give the Steelers a 14-0 lead.

The Browns would respond instantly mostly because the Steelers would make the ultimate mistake, they kicked the ball to Josh Cribbs. Cribbs returned the kickoff 98-yards out racing everyone on the field and scoring to bring the Browns within a score at 14-7. The Steelers would march down the field into field goal range but then something strange happened, the officials blew a call(who would've thought that?). The Steelers went for it on a fourth and inch from the Cleveland 14-yard line and Ben snuck the ball and picked up the first down, the controversy was whether he really picked up the first down. When the officials measured to see if Pittsburgh got the first or not it appear the Steelers were a few inches short but the officials gave it to them anyways. Then a few plays later Ben found an open Ward in the the corner of the end zone for a touchdown but upon further review it was determined that the ball came out at the last possible second(more on this in a moment). The Steelers would have to settle for a field goal and go into the half up 17-7.

In the third quarter the Browns came out on fire and DA found Mohamed Massaquoi(5 catches for 85 yards) for a huge 41-yard gain setting the Browns up in scoring territory. DA would complete a 1-yard pass to fullback Lawrence Vickers for the touchdown and inching Cleveland closer 17-14.

Steelers would respond like Champions do with a 6-play 79-yard drive to take a 24-14 lead. Rashard Mendenhall(16 carries for 62 yards) ran the ball in from 2 yards out to pick up his fourth touchdown in three games. The rest of the game was ugly and marred by turnovers. On third down the Browns got pressure on Big Ben and forced him to throw an errant pass that was intercepted. On the Browns ensuing drive Lawrence Timmons sacked DA and forced a fumble that was recovered by James Harrison. But on the Steelers drive Willie Parker coughed up the ball and gave it right back to the Browns. Luckily for Pittsburgh Timmons got in on Anderson again forcing another sack fumble. But the Steelers were feeling pretty gracious themselves and Mendenhall handed the ball right back to them fumbling after picking up a nice gain. The Steelers would eventually get the ball back and kick a field goal to make the final score 27-14. Ben Roethlisberger had his second career 400 yard passing game completing 23 of 35 passes for 417 yards and 2TDs.

Now on to the Ward incomplete touchdown catch, the letter of the rule was interpreted correctly and they make the right call. BUT how many times does a guy have to roll on the ground with possession of the ball before it is considered a catch. Ward caught the ball inbounds fell to the ground with possession, rolled once still had possession, rolled twice out of bounds still possessing the ball and on his final roll out of bounds the ball slipped out and touched the ground and the officials initially ruled it a catch before ultimately over turning the call. It was ridiculous he had possession when he hit the ground in bounds and he had possession when he was out of bounds so how was it not a catch. The NFL needs to change the rule because they are ruining a lot of good football games and taking away the integrity of the game.

With the Steelers win, Ravens loss at Minnesota and the Bungals losing at home to the Texans the Steelers are now tied with Cincy although the Bungals do hold the advantage right now since they won the only head-to-head matchup right now.

GO STEELERS!