First place in the AFC North is on the line on Sunday between the 5-2 Cleveland Browns and 5-2 Pittsburgh Steelers. The Browns will also bear the weight of a 22-game regular season losing streak in Pittsburgh and a 37-year drought since their last sweep of the Steelers. All of that can end Sunday if the Browns can figure out how to get a W.
The two teams have jawed back and forth through the media a little bit this week, so both sides will have plenty of bulletin material to get fired up for what could be the most fun game of the year. There are so many different intriguing elements to this battle that it’s hard to predict what could happen on Sunday, but Skip Bayless recently took a crack at it.
During a recent episode of Gridiron, Bayless previewed this game and offered his prediction for the final score. He believes the Browns will prevail in a low-scoring affair.
“I kind of like them to win. They just win low-scoring field goal games and it just feels like it has 20-17 written all over it in favor of Cleveland,” Bayless said.
The first meeting between these two teams was a 27-24 Browns win in Week 4. Watson made a few big plays down the stretch to orchestrate one of his five game-winning drives in that game, but things could be more difficult this time around.
Cleveland’s offensive line is a little banged up with right tackle Tytus Howard nursing a concussion. As Bayless’ co-host, Aqib Talib pointed out, Watson was sacked 13 times in the two games after facing the Steelers in Week 4, and even though Howard plans to play on Sunday, he’s going to have his hands full with T.J. Watt and the rest of these unforgiving pass rushers.
A 20-17 win would be just what the doctor ordered. All of Cleveland’s wins this season have been in one-score games, so the Browns are certainly equipped to handle that type of game.
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