History not on side of Steelers coach against Cleveland Browns

[clevfan]

History not on side of Steelers coach against Cleveland Browns

History not on Tomlin's side in local debut

Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Tony Grossi
Plain Dealer Reporter

As we know, the Pittsburgh Steelers don't change head coaches often. But when they do, they always lose their first game in Cleveland.

It's true.

Every Pittsburgh coach since this turnpike series began in 1950 has lost his first game to the Browns in Cleveland.

It started with John Michelosen in 1950 and it continued right through to Bill Cowher in 1992.

There were six in between, including, of course, Hall of Famer Chuck Noll, who didn't win in Cleveland until his sixth season in 1974.

On Sunday, the AFC's oldest continuing rivalry welcomes Mike Tomlin, a surprise hire after Cowher resigned in January.

As far as Browns-Steelers is concerned, Tomlin has a tough act to follow. Cowher owned the Browns in his 15-year reign as Steelers coach.

The Steelers beat the Browns 19 of 24 meetings, including two in the playoffs, with Cowher as coach.

The only reason it wasn't worse is because the Browns were idle for three seasons.

The number grew to ridiculous proportions after the Browns were reborn as an expansion team in 1999. The Steelers have won 14 of 17 times, including 13 of the last 14 and the last seven in a row.

It wasn't always this way, of course.

When the series began as a result of the NFL absorbing the powerhouse Browns in 1950, the Steelers were among the dregs of the established league. Paul Brown pummeled them 16 of the first 18 meetings. It was 29-9 in favor of the Browns when the Steelers hired Noll, Brown's former messenger guard, in 1969.

Everything changed in 1970 when former Browns owner Art Modell hatched some brilliant ideas.

First he persuaded the Steelers to join him in jumping to the newly created American Football Conference after the NFL-AFL merger. (The Colts jumped, too.) Then he traded Paul Warfield to the Miami Dolphins for their top draft pick.

The Steelers owned the first pick in the draft and used it on Louisiana Tech quarterback Terry Bradshaw.

Modell countered by using the Miami pick, third overall, on Purdue quarterback Mike Phipps.

Since those fateful events, the Steelers hold a 46-26 edge in the series. And mostly due to Cowher's incredible run, the series stands exactly even at 55-55 as Tomlin arrives.

The Steelers have never led the series.

[Dell Dude]

When I first saw this clown, I wondered why in the hell is Wayne Brady coaching the Steelers. Also the main reason why I didn't bite on that Steelers -4.5 suker line.

[StarnetGypsy]

did you watch the Steelers play pre-season? they're gonna be hard to beat ...

[Dell Dude]

Come on Starry. You've been around long enough not to base regular season success on preseason. May happen. Who knows. Steelers are an unknown right now. But I wouldn't say their preseason success predicts anything.

[homedog]

Originally Posted by Dell Dude

Come on Starry. You've been around long enough not to base regular season success on preseason. May happen. Who knows. Steelers are an unknown right now. But I wouldn't say their preseason success predicts anything.

What the heck has gotten into you lately, Dell. You are making way too much sense.

[Pancho Sanza]

Originally Posted by homedog

What the heck has gotten into you lately, Dell. You are making way too much sense.

lol, the little misfit can be articulate at times.

And a total loon the other 99 % of the time.

[StarnetGypsy]

Originally Posted by Dell Dude

Come on Starry. You've been around long enough not to base regular season success on preseason. May happen. Who knows. Steelers are an unknown right now. But I wouldn't say their preseason success predicts anything.

lol Delly. NOBODY knows that better than me an the other Hawk fans here do. several years ago the Hawks swept their pre-season games, then went 0-5 the beginning of the season

but ... there are things to glean watching these teams during pre-season, especially if you're watching their D and the O-line, and not the playmakers (who hardly play anyways). the Steeler D was overwhelming in most their games, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd string. and the back-up guards & tackles who would go in to replace 1st string injuries also looked solid.

that's what i saw in them, whereas w/the Browns i saw a ship w/no rudder ...

[littleogre]

I have said before DD would do very well if he just bet single games instead of his 50 team super suicide parlays

[StarnetGypsy]

true dat.

he usually gets 7 of 9 ... i wish i did that well.

[clevfan]

BROWNS
Frye gets another shot at Big Ben

Thursday, September 06, 2007
Tony Grossi
Plain Dealer Reporter

Charlie Frye and Ben Roethlisberger, the starting quarterbacks in Sunday's Browns season-opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, grew up and played high school football 45 miles apart in northwest Ohio.

Frankly, that's about as close as their careers have come.

Roethlisberger's Miami (Ohio) University teams beat Frye's Akron teams three times in Mid-American Conference games. The first came on a Hail Mary pass on the last play; the other two were romps.

And Roethlisberger is 2-0 against Frye in the Browns-Steelers rivalry.

But as their careers converge for the sixth time overall on Sunday, each player is facing a crossroads.

Roethlisberger is trying to regain the form that made him one of the league's winningest young quarterbacks and the youngest to win a Super Bowl.

Frye is playing for his livelihood.

He emerged victorious in a training-camp competition with Derek Anderson, but now has to fend off the imminent howlings for rookie Brady Quinn.

"When I visualize this year, I don't see myself having a so-so year," Frye said in May.

Beating Pittsburgh - and Roethlisberger - for the first time would go a long way toward cementing Frye's career as an NFL starter. If not here, then someplace else.

"I don't know that he's got to win this game [to reach another level]," said coach Romeo Crennel. "I would like him to win this game. But when you look at the game we played last year, if we could just finish that game, then that record would not be intact.

"We were out in front far enough to win, but we didn't. I think Charlie probably gained some confidence from the fact we can get ahead of these guys. All we have to do is finish the game."

Last year's 24-20 Browns loss in Cleveland was, in a way, a more bitter defeat for Frye than the previous season's, when he was pummeled for eight sacks and fumbled four times in a 41-0 Steelers rout on Christmas Eve.

Last year, Frye outplayed Roethlisberger for three quarters. Roethlisberger was 7-of-15 for 48 yards and threw three interceptions. But then Roethlisberger led three Pittsburgh touchdown drives in the fourth quarter, completing 18 of 29 for 224 yards.

Frye had the ball for exactly five plays in the fourth quarter and saw his personal rival win again.

"I feel once he gets over that hump, he'll never look back," said Josh Cribbs, who witnessed the one-sided Frye-Roethlisberger rivalry as a rival MAC quarterback at Kent State.

"I don't think it's a psychological barrier. I think it's just more of a simple will of getting it done. And when he gets it done, it'll be uphill from there."

Frye said he has looked forward to the opener against Pittsburgh, and Roethlisberger, since he saw the 2007 schedule in April.

He said it added a sense of urgency to the entire off-season. In his case, though, there was urgency from the day Crennel announced Anderson would get a shot at the starting job. The drafting of Quinn compounded it.

The fact that Frye hurdled those obstacles impressed his teammates.

"I think he's taken the bull by the horns and shown he should be the starter and rightfully so, he deserves that opportunity," said receiver Joe Jurevicius. "I think now we rally around him and he rallies around us and we try to start winning football games."

Newcomer Jamal Lewis said: "I think it makes him much better getting those first-team reps [now that he has been named the starter]. It's his offense now. So it's up to him to go in and take it to the next level."

Frye is 6-12 as an NFL starter. Roethlisberger, who is six months younger, is 34-12 after winning seven and losing eight last year. His 23 interceptions last season were the most in the NFL and he had five fumbles.

A serious motorcycle accident and an emergency appendectomy just weeks before last season's opener set up all of the bad.

Roethlisberger enters his fourth NFL season healthy and totally comfortable with the Pittsburgh coaching change.

"Ben is at a unique point in his career because he's a young guy, but he has experience," new Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said on a conference call Wednesday. "He's been through the ups and downs of his profession. He has a world championship. He's fallen below his standards and expectations with some of the things that happened to him last year.

"He's dealt with some adversity. He's had a great deal of success. I think it's all part of the process of going through a career and developing. He's a very talented guy, football smart. I expect big things from him."

The Frye-Roethlisberger rivalry may be one-sided so far. But they are in the same league, if not on the same plane.