Expectations for Week 1?

I'm curious to see what my fellow Steelers fans are expecting this week?

Are we expecting the Steelers to roll over the Browns in clear domination?

Are we expecting a hard fought game?

Personally, I'm expecting a comfortable victory, but far from a blowout. I think this team has too many new pieces on defense to be at peak efficiency. The offense has hardly played together this preseason, so I'm expecting some troubles there too. I think its going to take two or three weeks before they start firing on all cylinders.

My prediction for Sunday: Steelers 32 - Browns 24

 

I concur with your assessments. Although I see the score more like 24-20

 

After reading a few articles I expect to see Ju Ju as the kick returner and Hunter used in the red zone

 

I expect us to score at least 35. So 35-13 Steelers

 

"PAIN"

 

34-17 Steelers

 

It's a divisional game, the secondary is starting a CB thats been on the team a week, Robert Golden might be the starting safety. This all adds up to a close game. On paper the Steelers should roll the Browns over, but that rarely happens. The offense should have their way, they can't match up with the Killer B's. Add in what McDonald hopefully brings to the offense and they should put up 30+ points. Last season the Browns ran the ball well, now they have a rookie QB who can throw a pretty good deep ball, they just picked up a deep threat in Coates, Kenny Britt and Coleman are not slouches on the outside either. This game will be closer than it should be. I think Tech is close with his guess of 24-20.

 

If our defense gives up 20+ to the Browns (OFFENSE ONLY), then we have serious concerns for this coming season. This will be a rookie QB, making his first start in the NFL. And he'll be doing it with 1......maybe 2 of his offensive line missing. I expect our offense to struggle early, but run away with it in 2nd half. Browns might be without several starters on defense.

We SHOULD win this comfortably, 34-13 - with a score or close to it from our defense or special teams.

 

Mano, I tend to agree with what you said..... but I expect a ton of field goals. I'm looking for a score of 18 - 9, maybe 22 - 13.

 

I agree with blackngoldbad. Offense will start off the way it did in the 4th preseason game. But the 2nd half will be different. They will pull away and win comfortably. They may give up a TD when the game is almost done and make it look closer.

 

easy Clubber

 

I'll toss in a guess:

31-17. Steelers, duh.

 

40-10 with 3 defensive tds.

 

I expect that the defibrillator to be able to remain in it's case. The Rolaids to not be opened, not to have to hit the bottle too hard and to not have 911 on my speed dial this week.

 

Is Todd Haley still guaranteeing 30+ points a tilt with HIS offense firmly in place?
30-20

 

This is something I had ready all offseason. Steelers win either 30-15 or 31-14.

If 30-15, it'll be because the Steelers got out to an early lead and stayed there. The defense flies all over the field and forces several splash plays at the expense of some yards to cut Browns' drives short and give our offense a regular short field. The final score will occur when the Browns trail 30-7 late in the fourth quarter. DeShone Kizer throws his first career TD pass to David Njoku, who catches his first career TD pass, and the Browns capitalize on their chance for two for the final score.

If 31-14, it'll be because the Browns got out to an early lead. The Browns go up 14-3 early in the second quarter and the young hosts start to lose focus. The Steelers dominate the rest of the game by figuring out the young Browns' tendencies and clamping down on them, and our high-powered offense puts together four TD drives and 28 unanswered points. The Browns end up losing the turnover battle even after forcing one which lead to their early lead. In this scenario, T.J. Watt gets his first career INT on a drop-back zone play which baits Kizer into throwing the pick.

 

Would be nice to see a repeat.

 

The score or the not-so funny guy with the poop stains on his jersey? Almost 20 years ago, unbelievable. I'm so fuggin' old. Not Lyman old, but old still.

 

1999 - Browns return to the NFL, so much hype and excitement surrounding them. No way they'd lose their first home opener in four years. 43-0 Steelers
2007 - Mike Tomlin's first game as a Steelers' head coach to be played in Cleveland. Steelers coming off a disappointing 2006 season and a lot of questions surrounding how they'd fare without Bill Cowher. 34-7 Steelers.
2017 - Optimism abounds in Cleveland as they start a beast of an athlete at DE and a promising rookie QB. However, they face the best offense the Steelers have ever had in their history. Outcome TBA.

 

What's hilarious to me is that Hines Ward makes an appearance as an unassuming second-year player still fresh out of Georgia, playing with a bunch of receivers we all forgot about. This is also technically Joey Porter's and Aaron Smith's first game ever. I'm sure if you look for it, #55 can be seen on the Steelers' kickoff coverage units in this video. And yeesh, Kordell Stewart really had a terrible season in '98, didn't he?