And reading the tea leaves from reporters from journalists whom I respect, it seemed like the echos about Tomlin losing the team might have some substance.

But the team played well.

I’m not as sure I agree with you about McCuller’s penalty. I agree with Rich Gannon that it looked like he was trying to bat down a pass and end up slapping the helmet.

And I am not one to complain about the officiating, but the truth is there were a couple of non-calls, particularly on the AB call.

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I agree with Homer on AB’s fair catches. If he’s not sure the ball will come straight to him so he can make a clean catch, get out of the way. I’d rather see them lose some yards than lose the ball on a muffed catch. I don’t know what the wind was like in Pittsburgh yesterday, but up here by Lake Erie it was brutal. Granted I’m in PA, not Ohio, but I’ll swear that at times it looked like the bottoms of my trees were blowing one way and the tops another, with gusts that would make my house shake.

I disagree with Rich Gannon (and probably all of the Browns fan base), if Hayden hadn’t held AB for so long in the end zone that would have been a TD. Brown would have caught it. It was actually a good play by Hayden. Yes it gave the Steelers another shot at it, but if he hadn’t interfered with AB, they wouldn’t have need another chance.

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I had absolutely the same concerns about this game – going in – as you did. And that 2009 debacle was constantly on my mind because of the losing streak and the wind conditions. Ben and Haley adjusted beautifully to the wind, scrapping plays that wouldn’t work because of the gust and gale.

The Steelers had three penalties for 15 yards in the first quarter, but they hurt terribly.Two of them occurred in the red zone on those two textbook drives, putting them in longer yardage situations and forcing them to settle for field goals. The third – a five yarder against Artie Burns – came on a huge defensive play which would have forced Cleveland to punt from deep in their own territory, IIRC. Instead, they got a first down. So while 3 flags for 15 yards doesn’t look so bad in the stat books, those three really hurt.

But there were a number of penalties that could have been called against the Browns that were not. Most egregious was a third down call where Joe Haden held AB, and clearly grabbed his jersey when Brown broke away from him and the ball was in the air. That non-called resulted in a three-and-out with the game still undecided.

I don’t blame AB for not fair catching a punt that’s caught up in a 30mph wind and is floating all over the place. The last thing you want is a fumble or muff, and if Brown thinks it’s best to let it hit the ground, I won’t second guess him.

Javon Hargarve really stepped up, and so did Shade Tree. Ricardo Matthews looked good as well. It was very fortunate that the first game after losing Heyward was against a team like Cleveland, with a porous offensive line. The game was a confidence builder for the D. Unfortunately, Sean Davis was late to the party again on a couple of blitzes. Artie Burns, however, was more the life of the party. Artie is stepping up, big time. My hope is the game will slow down a little for Sean this week. He has all the tools, he’s smart, he’s working his tail off, and he has high character. One splash play could turn it around for him. Here’s hoping.

Anyway, they won and – here’s the best part – they came away without any apparent injuries. It’s a short week, and with the late game on Turkey Day, you can’t really ask for more than that.

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