{"id":316513,"date":"2026-10-29T01:14:31","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:14:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316513\/"},"modified":"2026-10-29T01:14:31","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:14:31","slug":"browns-chase-afc-north-lead-in-pittsburgh-skip-steelers-rivalry-lessons-news-herald","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/316513\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns chase AFC North lead in Pittsburgh, skip Steelers rivalry lessons \u2013 News-Herald"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JOE REEDY<\/p>\n

Todd Monken is well-versed in AFC North rivalries after being an offensive coordinator with both the Browns and Ravens.<\/p>\n

The Browns head coach won\u2019t be giving his team any history lessons, though, as it prepares for a Nov. 1 trip to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers with first place in the AFC North on the line.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it has nothing to do with our team. I mean, this year, whether it\u2019s where we\u2019re at record-wise, comparing the past or the history against the Steelers, it\u2019s a divisional game,\u201d Monken added, upon saying he didn\u2019t see any value in devoting time to discussing the rivalry. \u201cIt\u2019s bigger because it\u2019s obviously a divisional opponent. The fastest way to get in the playoffs is win your division.<\/p>\n

\u201cRivalries are made up of good teams playing each other, and we\u2019re fighting like hell to be a really good team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh\u2019s 22-game regular-season home winning streak over Cleveland is the second-longest in NFL history, behind Green Bay\u2019s 23 straight over Detroit from 1992 through 2013.<\/p>\n

The Steelers have a 47-6 home record against the Browns since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger. The .887 win percentage is surpassed only by Pittsburgh\u2019s .938 win rate and 15-1 mark against Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Nine players on the Browns\u2019 current roster were not even born the last time Cleveland won in Pittsburgh. That was on Oct. 5, 2003, when Tim Couch threw for two touchdowns and William Green rushed for 115 yards in the Browns\u2019 33-13 victory.<\/p>\n

Two players do know what a win in Pittsburgh is like while in a Browns uniform, however. Cornerback Denzel Ward and safety Grant Delpit were on the 2020 team that posted a 48-37 victory in an AFC Wild Card round game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t look at the history or look at what happened. This is two different teams, those different people, and we just got to go in, and it\u2019s the same thing, try to go 1-0 this week and get this win,\u201d Ward said.<\/p>\n

A win on Nov. 1 would give the Browns their first season sweep of the Steelers since 1988. Cleveland rallied for a 27-24 victory on Oct. 1,<\/a> when Deshaun Watson threw for 268 yards.<\/p>\n

Watson had his first 300-yard passing game since being acquired by the Browns in last week\u2019s 27-24 win at Tennessee<\/a>. He is just the third quarterback since the merger to have a game-winning drive in each of his team\u2019s first five wins of a season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t try to make one game bigger than the other. I think all the young guys understand,\u201d Watson said. \u201cThey got a little taste of it on Thursday night (in the first Pittsburgh game). So, I think everyone will be prepared and just want to go play and play hard and try to get a W.\u201d<\/p>\n

A win would not only give the Browns sole possession of the division, it would make them 3-0 in the AFC North for the first time. The NFL realigned to its current eight-division format in 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou talk about the history and everything, but I think it\u2019d be well for us just to get a win and keep stacking,\u201d Ward said.<\/p>\n

Browns at Steelers<\/p>\n

When: 1 p.m., Nov. 1<\/p>\n

Where: Acrisure Stadium, Pittsburgh<\/p>\n

Records: Browns 5-2, Steelers 5-2<\/p>\n

TV: WOIO<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JOE REEDY Todd Monken is well-versed in AFC North rivalries after being an offensive coordinator with both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":316514,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4914,1418,73,75,74,726],"class_list":["post-316513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/316514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}