Behind the Steel Curtain
The 3-1 Steelers and 1-4 Browns meet this Sunday in Pittsburgh. On paper, it’s a game that looks like a great opportunity for the black and gold to continue to grow their lead over the rest of the AFC North, but it’s still a rivalry game where anything can happen.
The Browns have made some changes on offense and still field one of the league’s best defenses. What should fans expect from Cleveland as Pittsburgh opens divisional play?
Rushing YPG: 95.8 (26th)
Passing YPG: 192.4 (24th)
PPG: 14.6 (31st)
RB: You can read the stats above – the Browns offense hasn’t been that good in 2025. Through five weeks this season, the most points they’ve scored in a game has been 17. They haven’t been able to get going, even against underperforming defenses such as the Ravens and Bengals.
However, the Browns made a quarterback switch last week, swapping out the veteran Joe Flacco (now a Bengal) for third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel in the starting lineup. And rookie running back Quinshon Judkins, who missed the season opener (and the summer) following a domestic violence and battery charge that was later dropped, has slowly gained a bigger role in the offense. He had a career-high 23 carries last week in a 21-17 loss to the Vikings.
That’s to say, while the season’s results so far have the Browns offense among the worst in the league, this is a group that’s still evolving.
However, Gabriel’s play against the Vikings didn’t exactly scream “franchise savior” even if it was just one game against one of the league’s more complicated defenses. He completed 57.6% of his passes for 190 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The Browns’ plan for Gabriel was about what you’d expect for a rookie quarterback in his first game, with a heavy dose of designed rollouts to cut the field in half.
Gabriel’s mobility is another asset. He’s nowhere near the athlete of the NFL’s better running quarterbacks, but he’s an upgrade over Flacco. Gabriel had some nice throws on the run and an eight-yard scramble against Minnesota. However, there was also a read-option play where he kept the ball and didn’t have the twitch to get past an NFL edge defender.
As a passer, Gabriel didn’t push the ball deep, instead focusing on short throws near the middle of the field, largely by targeting tight ends and through screen passes.
(Pass chart via Next Gen Stats):
Gabriel had a few misses but did toss this great tight-window touchdown to David Njoku to take the lead in the third quarter:
As you can probably guess, tight ends are the heartbeat of the Cleveland passing game. David Njoku (20) and rookie Harold Fannin Jr. (21) are the team’s top two reception leaders through five games. Expect a lot of 12 personnel on Sunday.
Njoku, as Steeler fans already know, is a physical freak who will need to be a coverage priority this week....
