Stillers 23, Browns 9...... Oct 12, 2025 …………Game # 5
Stillers-Browns Postgame Analysis and Grades
The 4-1 Stillers hosted the lowly 1-4 Browns in an AFC North battle. The 1st half was a rock fight, with the Stillers clinging to a thin 9-3 lead. A 3Q TD made life a bit easier, and then the Stillers added a 4Q TD to pretty much seal the deal en route to the “W”.
Grades:
QB: Rodgers got the start. Athletic scramble to his left, and then a last-second flip pass to Warren to move the chains, 2Q. You’ll see this one all season on the highlight reels. Horribly underthrown deep ball to a wide open Metcalf, 10:00 3Q. He atoned for it with a TD strike to Connor Hey, and then a TD pass to DK. All in all, a solid game. A-
RB:
Warren – returned to the lineup after missing the Minn game. Had a very solid game, with 11 rushes for 52, and 2 grabs for 11. Gained probably 35 of those yards after contact. B+
Kaleb J. – good 9 yard run off a line plunge, last play 1Q. Overall, looked the sharpest he has at the NFL level. Had 6 rushes for 15. B
Gainwell – A game after being compared to Marcus Allen, Big Kenny came back down to earth, with 6 rushes for 22, and 6 grabs for (hold yer snickering) 14 yards. C
FB: rarely used
WR:
Metcalf – Had another big game, with 4 grabs for 95 and 1 TD. Dude’s a baller. A
Austin – sat out due to a shoulder injury.
Wilson – stop the presses! PeePee Roman grabbed a short pass, late 3Q, for 12 yards. Although this was his only grab, it should be enough to propel him into the NFL HoF, at least according to most Steeler fans.
Skowronek – never targeted.
Scott Miller – never targeted.
TE:
Pat FryBoy – stop the presses! Fryboy finally caught a pass ! This 11-yarder was his lone grab. C
Jonnu Smith – moved chains with 3rd down grab. 1st series. Had a nice, churning run on a jet sweep. Had 3 grabs for 18. B
Darnell – big 36 yard catch and run, first play o’ game. Then pretty much took over the receiving role on the entire team, getting thrown passes on what seemed like every third play or so. Finished with 3 grabs for 62 on 5 targets. Blocked solidly. A
Con Heyward – grabbed a TD pass, 3Q, to make it 16-3 with the PAT. Stunning.
OL: Overall, the line (Jones, Seumalo, Frazier McCormick, Fautanu) had a well above average game against the vaunted Clev defense.
Jones got whipped for what was essentially a sack, 1Q, although Rodgers backward flipped the ball to Gainwell which lost 2 more yards. Spence Anderson was flagged for a hold on a toss sweep, 1st play of 2H. Fautanu allowed some leakage that caused harassment. All said, however, they gave Rodgers good time in the pocket, and the run blocking was fairly solid. Not shabby. A-
DL:
Heyward – flagged for a hands to the face penalty, late 2Q. Aside from a cheezy assist, Scam had ALL ZEROES at the half. Scam got his ONLY solo of the game, on a 3-yd run at 7:40 - 3rd Q, as Judkins ran a dive play up right guard to CLV 34 for 3 yards. Stop the presses ! Scam got a solo tackle !! Final stat sheet – 1 A, 1 solo, 0 PD, 0 QB hits, zero nothing. Did jak fuq all game long. D-
Benton – was far too quiet. I’m getting irate with this pudd puller. C-
Ekuale – chipped in with a tackle.
YaYa Black – remember all the fawning over Big YaYa in preseason, as he looked semi competent against 4th string blockers? Yeah, I do. He did nothing again today.
Harmon – had 1 solo and 3 As, including two half-sacks. Was around the QB quite often. Is already better than The Scammer, Scam Heyward. B
Leal – did not dress.
LB:
Queen – blew up a screen, 13:13 4Q. THIS was an acceptable play by an NFL ILB. Was active and played with malice. Starting to earn his fatty $41M contract. A-
Pey Wilson – pretty quiet for a fellow getting as much snapcount as he got. Piled on a load of slop stops and slop assists. C+
Watt – hit Gabriel from behind on a 3d & 2, early 4Q. Was a dominant, disruptive force throughout. A
Highsmith – was beaten wide on a wide run, 1Q, but the DB support bottled up the RB and Big Alex got a Dong assist along with Elliot, who actually stopped the play. Just before the 2MW, 1H, Gabriel began to climb the pocket, and Big Alex came over, essentially untouched, for a half-sack along with Harmon. Had 1 solo, 2 A’s in a feeble, mouse-quiet effort. C-
Herbig – good read and anticipation of a flare pass to the RB, and a near INT, mid 3Q. Nailed Gabriel for the sack on 2nd & goal, around 10:20 4Q. Was a menace in the Cleve backfield all game long. All game. A
Sawyer – got an adequate amount of PT.
DB
Joey Porter Jr. - Pretty solid game. Should round into form by the 8th game or so. B+
Slay – injured a shoulder, 3Q. Played solidly, although, facing such a weak QB, wasn’t challenged that much.
Thornhill – dropped a Dong INT, early 4Q.
DeShon Elliot – Led the team in tackles and was all over the field. Delivered a vicious blow to a Clev RAC receiver, and was correctly penalized. He’ll be donating some game salary to the NFL later this week. A
Jalen Ramsey - Got a Dong sack, 1Q, when he blitzed in untouched for the easy sack. Got another sack late in the game. Good to see him playing after being questionable leading up to this game. A
Echols – got dinged up, early 4Q. Came back, and then got flagged near the goal line for PI.
Spec teams:
Waitman – punted adequately.
Boswell – booted a few FGs, 1H. Bad turf cost Bos a routine 54-yard FG late in the game, as his plant foot slipped and he badly missed the kick.
Williams had a stellar, long punt return, 1Q, but an illegal block on Peppers nullified it.
OC: King Arthur Smith got the game off to a good tone on the very first snap, fooling Clev with a jumbo formation and then sneaking Darnell out for a wide open 36 yard gainer. Although there were a variety of niceties in the 1H, the O scored a mere 9 points on 3 FGs. Even after 3 quarters, the offense managed to add just 7 more points. I’m not going to crow too loudly over this Off production, although, as noted, there were some positives and some niceties. B
DC: Austin will be all proud after this one. Never mind, of course, that he got to face a greenhorn rookie QB like Gabriel and a butterfingered WR/TE corps who dropped at least FIVE passes on the day, if not more.
Defense was soft as baby stool, late 2Q, as the feeble Clev offense reeled off a lonngggg, 16-play, 72-yard march that netted a FG at the end of the 1H.
Fannin dropped a PERFECT pass at the PIT 15 yard line, 4:17 3Q. A catch here, which was highly routine, would have set up Clev with a 1st down at the 14 or so. Sure, Clev may not have done much with it, but this was a massive play that changed the game. B-
HC: Mike Asslin will also be all proud of this win. No one in the media ever points out the outrageous luxury Asslin has – as opposed to 90% of the rest of the league – in terms of getting to feast on the lowly, inept Brownies twice a year, every year. Yeah, the team did what it had to go, and grabbed a W. B
Synopsis: Da browns is da Browns. They didn’t give the Stillers much of a battle in the 2H. Not much of a test for the Stillers to learn and grow upon. Now, on to face the Bungals on Thur nite, which is yet another weak, flimsy foe. At some point, feasting on kreme n’ krimpet is gonna catch up to this team.
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