The Cleveland Browns had a clear strategy to protect rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson from the ferocious pass rush of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
They wanted him to get the ball out of his hands as quickly as possible.
That’s part of why such a high percentage of his throws landed within five yards of the offensive line.
This limits the risk of damaging plays like interceptions or sacks and fumbles. But from Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s perspective, it’s a double-edged sword.
“Even if they do that, they won’t score many points,” he said yesterday in his pre-match press conference on the team’s website, when asked which teams used a quick passing game to stifle their rush.
“We have no control over how people speak to us schematically. We really don’t care. If they don’t expand the field vertically, we won’t be challenged vertically.
I agree.” Sure, the Browns only managed to score 13 points over the course of the game, and the Steelers even had an interception, even if it was a deflection.
In the second half, Pittsburgh dominated the Browns on most plays, confident that they would keep things safe. And it worked, until the last race.
They should expect more of the same from the Cincinnati Bengals’ emergence starting with QB Jake Browning.
“Yeah, I’m not going to fondle the baby there,” Browning told Geoff Hobson on the team website this week.
“But part of it is that you’re confused when you take your photos. You don’t want to just sit there and rush through the game.
You don’t want to just let the databases play downhill. You want to challenge them.
“Any time you face a good pass, whether it’s Pittsburgh, Cleveland or this entire division, you want to pick your spots,” he continued.
“We still have to challenge people on the ground.”
Unlike Thompson-Robinson, Browning is not a rookie, even though he never played in a regular season game before this year.
He was originally a college free agent from Washington and has played with the Bengals since 2021, previously with the Minnesota Vikings.
He beat out veteran Trevor Simian for the backup job behind Joe Burrow in training camp this year, and now the Bengals have to find out just how good that decision was.
He will make his first career start against T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith and the Steelers this Sunday.
