It’s Week 8, the halfway point of the 2018 NFL season, but for the Cleveland Browns, it’s Steelers Week. For the second (and perhaps final) time this year, the Browns take on the Steelers, this time in the not-so-friendly confines of Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field. The matchup highlights the Week 8 AFC North Roundup. However, the Baltimore Ravens and Cincinnati Bengals are well in the race to win the divisional crown and both have difficult matchups against NFC South opponents on Sunday. The Bengals host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers while the Baltimore Ravens head to Carolina to face the Panthers. With a close division, in which no one team can yet be ruled out, this is a crucial week for all four squads. Here’s the latest around the division for this final full week of October. Pittsburgh Steelers: Behind the Steel Curtain has a plethora of intel for Browns fans looking to scout this week’s enemy. Simon Chester breaks down how linebacker T.J. Watt has become “the Browns’ worst nightmare on defense.” And Jeff Hartman’s findings belie a warning to Cleveland defensive coordinator Gregg Williams: Blitzing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is not going to work. On the injury front, the bye week has been helpful for the return of two Steelers defenders. Chester reports that safety Morgan Burnett and linebacker L.J. Fort were both full participants in Wednesday’s practice session. However, right tackle Marcus Gilbert sat out with a knee injury, which calls into question his availability for Sunday. Cincinnati Bengals: The Bengals have made three roster moves thus far this week, reports Rebecca Toback. They have placed tight end Mason Schreck on injured reserve and promoted tight end Jordan Franks from the practice squad, and they signed linebacker Brandon Bell to take Franks’ spot on the practice squad. Tight end has been a snakebitten position for the Bengals this year. Tyler Eifert and Cethan Carter are both on injured reserve, while Tyler Kroft is working his way back from a broken foot. Nick Manchester looks back to Week 7 and breaks down the three things learned from the Bengals’ big loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday night. One takeaway? That quarterback Andy Dalton needs the help of his entire cast of skill players in order to perform at a high level. Meanwhile, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis has another thought on why Cincy faltered against the Chiefs: Tackling. Patrick Judis and Matt Minich report that the Bengals missed 18 tackles on Sunday night, with 12 different players missing at least one. Linebacker Vontaze Burfict led the team in misses, with four. Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens have spent years trying to find at least one go-to wide receiver who quarterback Joe Flacco can trust. Baltimore Beatdown’s Jacob Loque says John Brown has taken on that role this year, writing, “It’s fair to say the Ravens haven’t seen this type of consistent effort and explosiveness from a receiver since Steve Smith Sr. had a renaissance of his own in purple and black.” This season has proven that the Oakland Raiders have been more than willing to trade even their most talented players. And that’s where Logan Levy turns when examining potential trade targets for the Ravens as the October 30 deadline approaches. He identifies two Raiders the Ravens could use, as well as the ideal compensation to send in return.<doc-sep>PITTSBURGH -- The spin move to get loose. The stiff-arm in the end zone. The "Con-ner! Con-ner!" chants from the Heinz Field crowd. James Conner is no longer a fill-in, but is a major catalyst for the Pittsburgh Steelers' 2018 season. NFL scores, standings and more Everything you need this week: • 2018 playoffs coverage » • Full schedule » | Full standings » • 2019 draft order: Every first-round pick » More NFL coverage » He can play. He has left little doubt. Conner's monstrous second half helped seal the Steelers' 33-18 win over the Cleveland Browns and strengthen their position in the AFC North. Over the span of two drives in the third and fourth quarters, Conner gashed the Browns for 95 total yards and a score. The Steelers were reeling after several mental mistakes before Conner spun his way to a 30-yard gain to start a third-quarter scoring drive. “I’m just running hard,” Conner said when asked if he’s getting stronger by the week after compiling 525 yards over a three-game stretch. Conner started the game with 36 yards on 12 carries but finished with an explosive 146 yards on 24 carries along with five receptions for 66 yards. That gives Conner a startling 404 total yards in two games against the Browns. That will do. Steelers players kept pumping up Conner publicly over the last two months, and it was not an empty proposition. They feel strongly about their running back, with or without Le'Veon Bell. He's ready for AFC North football, and so is an offensive line that has been stellar the last three weeks. “He wants to be that guy,” guard Ramon Foster said of Conner. “He plays with a passion that’s out of this world.” But the cheers for Conner and the offense sounded more like boos early on after the Steelers failed to record a first down in the first 17 minutes. Completions to the sideline to Antonio Brown and Justin Hunter loosened things up. James Conner rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns and punished the Browns in the second half. Jeffrey Becker/USA TODAY Sports The avalanche of big plays followed. The Ben Roethlisberger-Brown improv show commenced, with the quarterback escaping the rush and throwing on the run to a sprinting Brown for the 43-yard score. Minutes later, cornerback Joe Haden went high for the interception on a Baker Mayfield deep ball. The Steelers have been brilliant all year in the two-minute offense to end the first half. A 16-play, 87-yard scoring drive spanning seven-plus minutes marked the Steelers' fourth touchdown of the season in the final two minutes before halftime. Roethlisberger capped the game with a 1-yard score to Brown on a screen pass with 8 seconds left. The Steelers gave the Browns too much life in the third quarter with four mental mistakes in a span of minutes. Pittsburgh had a 10-point lead and the ball with eight minutes left in the third, but the Browns recovered a free kick that the Steelers let drop. Returner Ryan Switzer admitted he and Brown thought the play was dead when the ball hit the ground. Fullback Roosevelt Nix appeared to call for the ball but didn’t secure it. “Just a miscommunication,” said Switzer, who stressed he has to know the rules. The Browns recovered, then marched downfield with the help of three Steelers penalties for roughing the passer, holding and pass interference. Mayfield's touchdown pass to Antonio Callaway cut the Steelers' lead to 12. On the Steelers' next offensive play, though, Conner spun off a Browns lineman, broke a tackle and pointed to the Heinz Field turf after his 30-yard game, calling it "my house." Turns out he was just getting started. He sealed the game with a 22-yard score and multiple "Let's go!" yells from the sideline. That was Conner’s seventh rush of 20-plus yards, four more than Bell recorded all of last season. “We knew the splash plays were on the way,” Conner said. Conner has 922 scrimmage yards, the second-most in franchise history through the first seven games of a season, trailing Bell’s 938 in 2014. That number pairs well with an improving defense that hasn’t allowed more than 21 points in the last three weeks. The Steelers had two sacks but should have had many more. They were hitting Mayfield early and often. The Browns had 85 second-half yards, most of which came on a last-minute drive in garbage time. The defense looks more organized after several miscommunications and missed tackles in the first month. “We decided to put all the BS aside,” said linebacker Bud Dupree, who got held in the end zone to draw a safety.<doc-sep>
The Cleveland Browns relish their "tremendous opportunity" to close ground in the AFC North Division in Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. CLEVELAND -- The race for the top spot in the AFC North Division is a tight one, and the Cleveland Browns are hoping to make it a little tighter come Sunday. After fighting to a 21-21 tie in the 2018 regular-season opener at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland, the Browns get a return match against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, a place they have not won since 2003. “I think they are ready to play,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said of his players. “I think they understand what is at stake. We have not won on the road. We have not won in Pittsburgh. They hear it all. It is no question. “We understand that we are in this race. You go win this game, you are way in this race. It is a huge game. It is a tremendous opportunity for us, and it is a huge stage, so let’s go conquer this. Let’s go to Pittsburgh and play the best football game we have played all year and go win the game.” Down by a 21-7 count midway through the fourth quarter, the Browns scored 14 unanswered points to draw even with the Steelers in the waning moments of the season-opening tie. However, neither team was able to mount a drive that resulted in points in the overtime session. After forcing their sixth turnover of the game when rookie linebacker Genard Avery stripped Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of the football on a sack, which fellow linebacker Joe Schobert recovered, the Browns had a first-and-10 at Pittsburgh’s 24-yard line. Three plays later, kicker Zane Gonzalez had a 43-yard game-winning field goal attempt blocked by Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt. “Just to see that we tied with them the first time, we definitely want to get this win,” linebacker Christian Kirksey said. “We still have not had a division loss. For us to have the opportunity to play another division opponent and with this rivalry that we have with them, it would be good to get a win and keep our momentum going. “Things in the last game could have gone different ways. I am pretty sure that they are thinking the same things. If a play or two could have gone a different way, then it could have been a different outcome of the game. This game will definitely be intense. It is a road game for us. We have to win on the road, and I think we will.” All but one of the Browns’ four losses this season have come because of a field goal in the last minute of regulation or overtime. Despite being close in three of those four losses, the Browns still find themselves two games behind the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens in the win column and two in the loss column in back of the Steelers in the AFC North Division standings. “It is a big game,” wide receiver Jarvis Landry said. “We understand that. We understand that. It is no secret. We have to win the game. We want to win the game. “That is our mindset going into the game and going against any team, but obviously, more importantly, in the division. If you can win in the division, you have a pretty good chance of making it to the playoffs. That is part of our goals and one of our goals. This is a big one for us.”