Jan 1, 2017 5 min read

There wasn’t a lot to like about Sunday’s 27-24 overtime win by the Steelers over Cleveland other than the fact they found a way to secure the victory.

The offense was playing with a skeleton crew, with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, running back Le’Veon Bell, receiver Antonio Brown and center Maurkice Pouncey sitting out as healthy scratches and tight end Ladarius Green still recovering from a concussion.

That it would struggle at times in this game was a given. That’s a lot of offensive talent standing and watching.

Defensively, however, the Steelers were largely who they will be in the postseason as only linebacker James Harrison and defensive end Stephon Tuitt sat out. And that is somewhat troubling.

The Steelers allowed Cleveland to score 24 points, a total the Browns had topped just twice this season. And the Browns had 231 yards rushing.

Certainly, not having Harrison and Tuitt in the lineup didn’t help. And defensive end Ricardo Mathews left this game in the first quarter after aggravating an ankle injury.

So the Steelers largely played this game with L.T. Walton, Javon Hargrave, Johnny Maxey and Daniel McCullers on their defensive line.

And Hargrave left for a period in the second half while being checked out for a concussion – he later returned.

The Steelers got lucky with Hargrave checking out OK after taking a shot to the head. But don’t think they’re off the hook there just yet. Remember, Vontaze Burfict checked out OK for the Bengals during the game a couple of weeks ago before showing symptoms later in the week.

Miami’s Jay Ajayi hit the Steelers for 204 yards and two touchdowns in a 30-15 win over Pittsburgh in Miami back in October. And that was against a defensive line that included Tuitt.

Shoring up that defensive front will be a priority this week. Not having Hargrave would be a blow.

@ No matter what Landry Jones did Sunday, some people weren’t going to be happy.

He went out, put 27 points on the board, threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns, including a game-winner in overtime to Cobi Hamilton, and there were people trashing him on social media because he did it against the Browns.

If the Steelers had lost this game, it certainly would not have been because of Jones. It would have been on the defense. But that wouldn’t have stopped the Jones haters from blaming him.

Take a look around the NFL. How many teams have backup quarterbacks better than Jones. Ten?

And remember, he was working Sunday without Bell, Brown, Pouncey and Green. His passer rating was 103.1.

Did he make some bad throws? Sure. But he’s not nearly as bad as the haters out there would suggest.

In fact, they had better get used to him. The bet here is that he’s re-signed as the backup in the offseason.

Charlie Batch is one of the most beloved Steelers backups of all-time. And he did a lot of good in his spot starts for Ben Roethlisberger in his eight seasons with the Steelers.

But he had exactly two games in his 33 appearances – nine starts – with the Steelers in which he threw as many TD passes as Jones did Sunday playing without Brown, Bell and Pouncey.

@ The AFC playoff field looks like this: 1. New England. 2. Kansas City. 3. Pittsburgh. 4. Houston. 5. Oakland. 6. Miami.

I could see any of the top three teams winning the AFC with New England being the favorite to be sure.

New England probably got the biggest break Sunday with Oakland losing and Kansas City winning to give the Chiefs the No. 2 seed.

Kansas City would have beaten Houston to be sure in the first round and would have gone to Foxborough in the second round. And the Chiefs certainly could have given the Patriots a tough game if not upset them.

Now, New England will get the winner of Houston and Oakland – two teams without a QB – assuming the Steelers take care of business at home against Miami.

That will then send the Steelers to Kansas City for a tossup game, with the winner having to travel to New England.

Again, I’d give the Steelers and Chiefs a decent chance to upset the Rob Gronkowski-less Patriots. But the Patriots are probably glad they won’t possibly have to wade through the Chiefs and the Steelers to go to the Super Bowl.

@ Pittsburgh’s young receiving corps looks pretty set. Eli Rogers has become a solid playmaker out of the slot. Cobi Hamilton has some size and seems to come up with a big third-down catch every game. Rookie Demarcus Ayers is a Rogers clone and shifty in the open field, while veteran Darrius Heyward-Bey provides deep speed and an attitude off of which the other seem to feed.

Add that to Antonio Brown and you’ve got a pretty decent group.

It’s not what it could have been with Martavis Bryant, but it’s still dangerous.

In fact, it’s been so good a healthy Sammie Coates might not have a role in the postseason.

@ I feel as good about this Steelers team heading into the postseason as I have in some time given who they will have available.

Having Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown healthy makes them as dangerous as any team in the league and gives them a chance to win no matter who they play.