Cleveland offense vs. Pittsburgh defense

	BROWNS OFFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	Run	28
	Pass	30
	Tot. Yds.	31
	Scoring	31
	Int's allowed	8
	Sacks allowed	31
	STEELERS DEFENSE
	Ranking in the NFL:
	vs. Run	15
	vs. Pass	1
	Total yds. allowed	4
	# of Ints.	10
	# of Sacks	21
	Turnover differential	+2

The Browns biggest problem on offense is their inability to run the football. Cleveland is forced to abort the run game after the first few drives, giving opposing defenses an opportunity to tee off on QB Tim Couch. The problems are not going to get any better this week when the Browns travel to Pittsburgh to take on the fourth-best overall defense in the league.

Generally, teams are more likely to establish a running game against defenses that run a "34" set, because it forces the linebacking corps to stack up at the line of scrimmage to against bigger and more physical offensive lineman. This is not the case in Pittsburgh with ILB's like Levon Kirkland and Earl Holmes, who are bigger and stronger than a lot of offensive guards in the league.

The matchup difficulties for the Browns offensive line are going to force Cleveland to get away from running the ball early in the first quarter. NT Joel Steed will handle OC Dave Wahlabaugh against the run and will force OG's Scott Rehberg and Jim Pyne to pick up the inside linebackers on the blitz and get out and chip Kirkland and Holmes in the run game. Pyne should be able to hold his own against Holmes, but the real trouble for the Browns is when Rehberg is in one-on-one situations against Kirkland. Kirkland has the ability to dominate this matchup and completely disrupt the timing of the Brown's offense when he is in one-on-one situations with Rehberg. If Rehberg gets completely manhandled by Kirkland, the Browns are going to have to use a running back to give help, which will limit what they can do offensively.

Because the Browns will get little production out of the running game, the pressure will once again be on Cleveland's rookies, QB Tim Couch and WR Kevin Johnson, to move the ball down the field. Johnson is by far the teams top priority in the passing game, collecting almost half of Cleveland's 1,137 total yards in the air. Pittsburgh is going to gamble on defense to generate a disruptive pass rush, but they will do so with man/zone coverage to Johnson's side. CB DeWayne Washington will play press coverage on Johnson to take him out of his routes off the line of scrimmage. Washington will jump a lot of the underneath routes, knowing that he has help from free safety Travis Davis, who will cheat over to Johnson's side.

With Johnson double-teamed and Couch under extreme pressure from the Steeler's "34" blitz package, the Browns are going to have nowhere to turn to in the passing game. The Browns running backs have offered little help as receivers out of the backfield, and Couch has struggled to pick up the blitz when Johnson is taken away off the line of scrimmage.

This is the type of matchup that the Steelers should thrive in. The Browns are undersized up front and have little depth when they wear down late in games. Cleveland is allowing 172.9 yards per game on the ground, while the Steelers are 8th in the league in rushing offense, averaging 122.2 yards per contest.

Pittsburgh has the opportunity to build on last week's offensive success against the Browns, because they should be able to run the ball to set up the passing game. Kordell Stewart will have the time to sit in the pocket and make his reads downfield, and also should be able to break contain against Cleveland's overaggressive DEs, Derrick Alexander and Roy Barker.

The Steelers will be successful running the ball between the tackles with Jerome Bettis, which means that Stewart will have the opportunity to roll out off of the play fake and get to the outside. Stewart has been keeping contain on himself the last couple of weeks, which takes away from his overall effectiveness as a player. If Stewart can use the play fake to get him outside of the pocket, it will give him better field vision and will limit his reads to a simple high/low look. Stewart is more effective when he is only focused on one-half of the field where his read is limited between two receivers.

Also, by getting outside of the pocket off the fake, Stewart will again become the double threat for defenses to defend against the run/pass option. Stewart, against the Browns on Sunday, should be able to return to his effectiveness of two-seasons ago, where he was able to create on the move and was asked to do very little reading of defensive coverages.

Kris Brown, the rookie field goal kicker, has been more than impressive, connecting on 13 of his first 14 NFL FGA's. Brown has shown great poise as a rookie and also an impressive leg as he has already hit from 51 yards out. The punting situation has been as good as the Steelers could have ever expected. Josh Miller is averaging 44.8 yards per punt, fourth in the league, but he is still erratic and allowing too many returns. Troy Edwards, as much as he has is adding to the Steelers offense, has been a disappointment as a punt return man, averaging just 7.8 yards per return.