Steelers look to pressure Browns rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson into mistakes
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Facing No. 2 overall draft pick C.J. Stroud, the Pittsburgh Steelers played one of their worst games in the fourth week of the season and lost 30-6 to the Houston Texans.
Stroud surpassed 300 yards passing and threw three touchdowns as the Texans piled up the most yardage of any Steelers opponent this season — before or since.
Odds of that transpiring again Sunday weigh heavily against the Cleveland Browns (6-3), who will be forced to start a rookie quarterback in Dorian Thompson-Robinson when they take on the Steelers (6-3) on the shores of Lake Erie.
Until Stroud came along, the Steelers had won nine consecutive games when facing a rookie quarterback, a streak that dated to 2016 and featured four consecutive wins against three Browns rookie starters.
What’s more, since coach Mike Tomlin’s hiring in 2007, the Steelers are 24-5 when facing rookie passers, giving him the best winning percentage of any active coach.
“I think we do a good job in terms of trying to make it rough for a rookie quarterback,” defensive coordinator Teryl Austin said, “and not make it easy for him, not make it simple for him and really try to put pressure on him. I think that’s really the biggest thing for a lot of rookie guys. If you can get them out of their comfort zone, they just — it’s through no fault of their own — they haven’t seen enough snaps at this level to sometimes adjust accordingly.”
Stroud, who has the second-most passing yards in the NFL while leading the Texans to a 5-4 record, entered the NFL with considerable promise. Not so much for Thompson-Robinson, who was the 10th quarterback taken in his draft class and didn’t hear his name announced until the fifth round.
Thompson-Robinson, affectionately known by the acronym DTR, got the nod when the Browns announced Wednesday that Deshaun Watson is undergoing season-ending shoulder surgery. Thompson-Robinson got the nod over journeyman P.J. Walker.
And when the Cincinnati Bengals lost Joe Burrow to a season-ending wrist injury Thursday night, the Steelers learned they not only will face a rookie this week, they’ll get Jake Browning next Sunday. Browning’s two appearances this year are his only two since he entered the NFL in 2019.
“Like any young quarterback, we’re going to try to get him off his game as best we can and then let everything else work,” Austin said, referring to Thompson-Robinson.
When the Steelers began formulating a game plan Monday, they prepared to face Watson, whose interception and fumble in Week 2 were returned for touchdowns that helped the Steelers steal a 26-22 victory.
According to outside linebacker Alex Highsmith, the Steelers made few adjustments to the game plan when the Watson injury news broke.
“All the guys they have are still mobile,” he said. “From a mobility standpoint, we have to protect in that way as well. No matter who is in there, we have to be on our P’s and Q’s and play great ball. We can’t beat ourselves. We can’t let big plays, big runs happen.”
The Steelers discovered as much in that week 2 meeting. For all the mistakes Watson made, the Browns carved holes in the Steelers defense on runs and used it as a springboard to take a 22-19 lead into the fourth quarter. Even with the first-half season-ending injury to Nick Chubb, the Browns rushed for 198 yards in that game. Chubb’s replacement, Jerome Ford, had 106 yards rushing and has 532 for the season.
Kareem Hunt, re-signed after Chubb’s injury, has returned to a complementary role and has scored six rushing touchdowns.
“I think the thing that really captures your attention is their continued success running the football,” Tomlin said.
Given that Thompson-Robinson passed for just 121 yards and threw three interceptions in his only start this season, the Steelers expect the Browns to rely on the Ford-Hunt tandem.
“They are going to try to establish the run pretty well because they are one of the best in the league at doing that,” Highsmith said. “It’s going to start there first and foremost.”
In the first encounter, the Steelers were learning to deal with the absence of defensive tackle Cameron Heyward to a hamstring injury. Since Heyward’s return two weeks ago against Tennessee, the Steelers defense has allowed the second-fewest (105) and fourth-fewest (116) rushing yards per game this season.
“The teams that win and lose games in this series, really a lot of it comes down to who’s able to run the ball and who’s able to stop the run,” Austin said. “I think that’s where we start. We give ourselves a starting point there to make sure that we’re able to handle the run game, and then we just let the game unfold however it unfolds.”
Unlike what happened in Houston, the Steelers will try to rattle a rookie quarterback into making mistakes when forced to pass.
“We just have to be aggressive and continue to play ball the way we do,” Highsmith said. “Whoever is in there, we have to cause havoc and get after him and affect him.”