When the football is placed on the tee at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday afternoon for opening kickoff in Cleveland, the possibility exists the Pittsburgh Steelers will have nothing on the line.
That’s because a loss by the Baltimore Ravens at Green Bay on Saturday night would nudge the Steelers onto the throne as AFC North division champion.
Pittsburgh (9-6) clinches the division and a playoff spot with any combination of wins and a Ravens’ loss the final two weeks. The rivals play each other next week in Pittsburgh.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin encouraged his players to lock into the idea of a must-win and shrug off the expectation that the Packers will eliminate the Ravens with quarterback Lamar Jackson fighting a back injury.
A huge boost might be on the way in the form of pass rusher T.J. Watt, who practiced Wednesday for the first time in two weeks. Watt has been sidelined since a procedure required to recover from a punctured lung.
“It’s awesome to have him out there,” linebacker Alex Highsmith said of his sidekick being at Christmas Eve practice. “Seeing him back out in the field with us, he’s getting better every single day, so I think just to have him back out there.”
Watt’s status won’t be determined until Friday or Saturday. Pittsburgh carries a three-game winning streak into the Week 17 trip to Cleveland.
But the Steelers are without their only consistently productive wide receiver. DK Metcalf will serve a two-game suspension for grabbing a fan in the stands at Detroit during last weekend’s win. Calvin Austin III is second among Steelers receivers but with just 28 catches and two touchdowns. But he sat out Wednesday’s practice because of a hamstring injury. Metcalf has 59 receptions and six touchdowns.
“Obviously DK has drawn a lot of attention all season long,” Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said of shifting his focus from the pocket without Metcalf. “There’ve been a lot of doubles on him, so it’s given other guys opportunities. When there’ve been one-on-ones with DK, we’ve made a lot of plays, so we’ll have to have a few other people stepping up.”
Running back Kenneth Gainwell, who leads the Steelers with 62 receptions, and tight end Pat Freiermuth and running back Jaylen Warren — who’ve combined for 70 receptions and six touchdowns — are the leading candidates to step up.
Tomlin sounds more interested in seeing his defense deliver as it did last week against the Lions, stuffing Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery consistently in a 29-24 victory. The Steelers held the Browns to three field goals in a 23-9 victory in their first meeting this season but haven’t won in Cleveland since 2021.
“I think that they’re physical,” Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders said. “I like their physicality. I like how they fly around and get to the ball.”
Sanders makes his first start against an AFC North opponent and fifth in a row as Cleveland crawls to the finish line with an outside shot at a top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Fellow rookie Quinshon Judkins landed on injured reserve with a broken leg suffered last week, ending his season after rushing 34 times for 69 yards the past three games.
Sanders is 1-4 as a starter but had the Browns in position to take down the Buffalo Bills last week before succumbing in a 23-20 defeat.
“Obviously feel good about him in those moments,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “He’ll come through. We came up short yesterday as a football team, but I have all the faith in the world in Shedeur. I have all the faith in the world in our players in those moments.”
Rodgers will be trying to avoid becoming the record-breaking pelt on the wall of Myles Garrett, who has 22 sacks and needs only a shared sack to tie the single-season record shared by Watt and Michael Strahan (22.5). The last time Garrett played a full four quarters and didn’t record a sack was Oct. 12 — against Rodgers and the Steelers.
If Pittsburgh shuts Garrett out again on Sunday, his final chance would be next week against the Ravens. With Jackson’s status up in the air, Garrett could even break the record against the same quarterback Watt took down for No. 22.5. Watt tied Strahan’s record in 2021 at Baltimore when he sacked backup Tyler Huntley.
–Field Level Media
