Nov 13, 2015 3 min read

I really like it when fans talk about the Steelers overlooking a team – as if they’re in the locker room and see how the players are treating a game.

Fans overlook certain opponents. The Steelers do not.

I don’t care about games the Steelers lost to so-so or bad teams in previous years. Every season is different.

So the narrative, “The Steelers have a tendency to lose to bad teams,” just doesn’t fit.

This season, the Steelers have lost to two sub-.500 teams, Baltimore and Kansas City. But, I don’t think Kansas City is a bad team. It had some bad luck. I feel the like Chiefs, but season’s end, will be right around .500 despite a five-game losing streak.

The Ravens? Yeah, they’re bad. But if the Steelers make a kick in the final minutes – and they had two shots – they win the game.

But in each of those games, the Steelers played without Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback. That will be the case again this week as Landry Jones, who started the game at Kansas City, will make his second career start.

On the other sideline will be Johnny Manziel.

Yes, I know both teams are listing their starting quarterbacks as questionable. But both were limited, at best, this week in practice. I highly doubt either will play.

And so we get a rematch of 2013 Cotton Bowl, a game won by Maziel’s Texas A&M team, 41-13.

Manziel was 22 of 34 in that game for 287 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Jones went 35 of 48 for 278 1 and 1.

If either quarterback throws the ball that much in this game, it’s a recipe for disaster for their team.

But the Browns are the more likely team to have to do so.

They can’t run the ball. Cleveland ranks 31st in the 32-team NFL running the ball. In fact, in that game against Jones and Oklahoma, Manziel had 17 carries for 229 yards and two scores.

That was the difference in that game. Oklahoma’s leading rusher had 44 yards.

The Steelers will get their fifth-ranked rushing attack going against Cleveland’s rush defense, ranked dead last in the NFL, and not force Jones to carry the team.

Cleveland won’t have any such option.

And the Browns also will be without two starters in the defensive backfield as Joe Haden and Donte Whitner are both still going through concussion protocol.

So while these Steelers -again, I don’t care what happened in 2009 – have lost to a couple of sub.-500 teams, I don’t expect this one to do so on Sunday.

Then there’s this. The Steelers barely held off the Browns – whom they have beaten in every home game since 2003 – 30-27 at home last season before getting smoked in Cleveland last year, 31-10.

The memory of that beating is still strong. The Steelers won’t take these Browns lightly, especially with Roethlisberger out.

Pittsburgh is a 5-point favorite in this game.

I like them to win it and cover, 24-13