Steelers Stock Report: Whose stock is rising Zach Gentry Pittsburgh Steelers Jersey , or falling, after the tie with the Browns The Steelers and Browns played to a 21-21 tie on Sunday which, without question, is the most cursed sentence I’ve ever written. The abridged version of the Stock Report is that everyone sucks and should be traded immediately. The longer version can be found below:Stock down: You, the viewerMy least favorite thing about ties is that they don’t fully legitimize a fanbase’s vitriol. In the NFL, ties never occur because both teams played particularly awesomely, so when teams do find themselves deadlocked at the end of the overtime period, it’s usually because both sides have made a series of catastrophic errors. So if your favorite team commits, say, six turnovers and fails to protect the quarterback — as the Steelers did against Cleveland — it’s understandable that you’d be frustrated with a tie. BUT! If your favorite team ties its opponent, at least it isn’t, you know, a loss. Screw that. I want my blistering hot takes to be completely devoid of any “yeah, but at least...” qualifiers, dagnabbit! Also, I realize it was the very first game of the NFL season and that a great deluge struck much of the Rust Belt over the weekend, rendering FirstEnergy Stadium’s field surface a veritable quagmire, but, my God, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more abysmally-played football game. Aside from the six turnovers committed by Pittsburgh, the Steelers had 12 penalties levied against them (note this staggering figure doesn’t even take penalties that were declined into consideration). They also surrendered four sacks and a handful of quarterback hits and dropping a number of passes. Cleveland, meanwhile, surrendered seven sacks, committed 11 penalties, had a game-winning FG blocked Zach Gentry Pittsburgh Steelers Jersey , had a potential game-winning drive in the fourth quarter cut short by a horrifying interception, and was 5-for-18 on third-down attempts. Ben Roethlisberger and Tyrod Taylor both had dreadful performances, the former committing five turnovers alone (though, in his defense, you could argue that only one or two of them were truly his fault) and the latter woefully inefficient, completing 15 of 40 passes for 150 net passing yards to go along with a touchdown and the aforementioned interception. So, yeah, between the penalties, turnovers, and bad offense, watching the Steelers/Browns game was a pretty lame waste of a Sunday. Stock up: The Steelers defense!I’ll lead this off by giving outside linebacker T.J. Watt a special shout-out, because it was his blocked field goal that prevented Cleveland from winning its first game since 2016. He also had four sacks — I could see this maybe getting reduced to three, as the fourth one resulted from him shoving Taylor out of bounds during a late-game quarterback scramble, but we’ll see about that — so it isn’t much of a stretch to say that, without T.J. Watt, the Steelers probably would’ve lost to the Browns. With the exception of Cleveland’s first offensive drive after the halftime break, one that led to the Browns’ first touchdown of the afternoon, the Steelers totally shut down Cleveland’s offense, holding the Browns to just 3.8 yards per play, amassing seven team sacks, as well as a whole bunch of hits and hurries, plus keeping Taylor et al. scoreless on 16 offensive drives, including three overtime drives. If you subscribe to the longstanding notion that the Browns are the Browns, you’re probably somewhat dubious about the defense’s showing, or at the very least Zach Gentry Jersey 2019 , you’re taking it with a grain of salt. But if you really take a look at some of the performances by individual Steelers (Watt; Mike Hilton, who did pretty well covering Jarvis Landry; Artie Burns and Joe Haden, who essentially rendered Cleveland’s outside receivers—including Josh Gordon—mostly useless; Cam Heyward and Stephon Tuitt, who anchored the run defense; Sean Davis, who actually looked the part of a functional NFL safety; Jon Bostic, who made a handful of good plays; Bud Dupree, who at times looked unblockable) there’s reason to be optimistic about this group. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t feel an overwhelming sense of dread every time a promising offensive drive stalled; I actually felt confident in the defense.Stock up: James ConnerI’m not gonna waste too much space singing his praises because the significance of his performance — nearly 200 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns — is self-evident. I’ll withhold any Le’Veon Bell is the product of a system takes for now, but we’ll see what happens in the weeks ahead. Stock up: Ryan SwitzerRyan Switzer is a good return specialist! Thank God. Stock down: The offensive lineThe line committed a million penalties — somewhat understandable given that Myles Garrett makes Von Miller look like Aaron Curry — and allowed Cleveland’s pass-rushers to consistently affect Roethlisberger, which ultimately wound up being the difference in Sunday’s game. With that said, my level of concern at the moment is maybe like a 3 because it’s still so early in the year and I’m fairly confident in stating that this group will eventually mesh into the top-tier group it’s been in each of the past two seasons.Stock down: BenBen’s final stat line isn’t entirely reflective of his performance. One of his interceptions resulted from Antonio Brown running the incorrect route; another occurred when a pass caromed off of Jesse James’ fingertips into Denzel Ward’s waiting arms. But if you’re responsible for five giveaways, your arrow goes down. I don’t make the rules. Stock down: Mike TomlinTo be clear, the inclusion of Mike Tomlin on this list is not an indictment of Mike Tomlin’s coaching. But, man, I think this game is really gonna wind up being a black mark on his career resume. After the Browns turned the ball over on downs in Pittsburgh territory late in the fourth quarter with Pittsburgh leading 21-7, the Steelers had a 98.5% chance to win the game, according to ESPN’s proprietary win probability formula. The fact that the Steelers went on to commit turnovers on each of their next two drives and allow Cleveland to tie that game at 21 is not Mike Tomlin’s fault, but this tie game will now and forever mark his record. If this ends up being the only tie on Mike Tomlin’s resume (as it currently is), we’ll certainly remember it. FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — If there’s been a blueprint to having success against the Patriots defense this season, it’s started with running the football.Seven times in 2018 New England has allowed an opponent to rush for 100 or more yards. On four of those occasions it’s ended in a Patriots loss. In includes last week’s 34-33 loss at Miami in which New England gave up a season-high 189 yards to the Dolphins prior to their miraculous final play.“The run game’s been something that we need to do a much better job of coaching, do a better job of playing,” Patriots linebacker coach Brian Flores said. “Teams are going to keep running the ball or attempting to run the ball until we do something to stop it. Obviously, that’s at the top of my priority list and our priority list as a defensive staff.”While it is an issue that will need to be corrected if the Patriots hope to go deep in the playoffs, they get a reprieve of sorts this week as they prepare for a trip to Pittsburgh .This will be just the second time in five meetings since 2013 (regular season and playoffs) that New England won’t be facing running back Le’Veon Bell Black Zach Gentry Jersey , who last month refused to sign a one-year, $14.4 million franchise tender making him ineligible to play this season.Bell also missed the 2015 regular-season meeting with the Patriots while serving a two-game suspension for violating the league’s substance abuse policy (The Steelers lost 28-21).Pittsburgh hasn’t beaten New England with Bell on the roster. But it came closest last season, when Bell rushed 24 times for 117 yards and a touchdown in the Patriots’ 27-24 comeback win.Asked if his team is missing Bell’s presence on offense this season, coach Mike Tomlin initially responded simply “No” on Wednesday.On the specific topic of whether Bell’s decision to sit out has affected Pittsburgh’s locker room at all, Tomlin also downplayed the impact.“It’s not something that this group of men have missed,” he said. “It’s a part of business, unfortunately, at this level. We all know and understand it. We’ve been focused on the people that have been here and working.”Pittsburgh started the season 1-2-1 before going on a six-game win streak that included four straight 100-yard rushing games by Bell’s replacement James Conner.That production has tailed off during the Steelers’ current three-game losing streak, which has included losses to the Broncos, Chargers and Raiders.Conner suffered an ankle injury against Los Angeles and sat out last week’s loss to Oakland. His status is to be determined this week, though Tomlin hasn’t ruled him out.Pittsburgh is averaging 89 rushing yards per game, ranking 29th in the NFL. If Conner can’t go, the primary rushing duties will fall to rookie Jaylen Samuels and former Patriot Stevan Ridley. But both are averaging just 2.6 yards per carry and have only one rushing touchdown between them.New England’s defense is ranked 15th in the NFL, allowing 113 rushing yards. It also hasn’t allowed a 100-yard rusher in 10 straight games.Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Samuels, listed as a tight end coming out of college, presents a unique challenge whenever he’s on the field.“He’s a guy they try to get the ball to and they put him in a lot of different spots,” Belichick said.Numbers aside, Tomlin said he likes what he’s seen from Samuels lately.“He’s just working in all areas to be the type of player that we need him to be, obviously, which is a complete one,” Tomlin said. “He’s got that type of focus and he’s a sharp, young man so it’s not unreasonable to expect improvement in all areas.”Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy said this week is big for them no matter who is available for Pittsburgh.“We’re ready for the Steelers,” he said. “It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere there. It’s going to be a playoff atmosphere. They need a win. We need a win. So it’s going to be a highly competitive game.”