Thursday Night Football Preview: Week 12
After a pair of high-profile games with plenty of fantasy production, Week 12 reels it back in with an AFC North slugfest. The division-leading Pittsburgh Steelers come off a victory over the Ravens and travel to Cleveland to take on the last-place Browns. FullTime Fantasy‘s Thursday Night Football Preview: Week 12 covers all fantasy-relevant for the game.
Mike Tomlin is doing another masterful job in Pittsburgh. The Steelers have won five straight to take a game-and-a-half lead in the AFC North.
Meanwhile, the Browns have improved but lost six of their last seven. Changes could be coming to Cleveland. However, Kevin Stefanski’s team will be ready to pull off the upset.
The Steelers enter this game as 3.5-point favorites and the total has plummeted from 42.5 down to 36.5. That sounds like a November AFC North battle.
Matchup
| TEAM |
OFFENSE |
PASS |
RUSH |
YDS/PLAY |
POINTS |
| Pittsburgh Steelers |
19 |
28 |
9 |
22 |
18 |
| Cleveland Browns |
27 |
23 |
30 |
32 |
31 |
You can pinpoint Cleveland’s struggles down to an offense that has had little success. The Browns rank last in yards per play and next to last in scoring. However, most of that is due to having Deshaun Watson under center. Cleveland failed to score 20 points in any game started by Watson. Cleveland has also scored the second-fewest points.
Cleveland’s offense has looked far more credible with Jameis Winston as the quarterback. However, that once-vaunted Browns’ defense has fallen off. The Browns’ stop unit ranks 21st overall and 31st in sack rate.
Like the Browns, Pittsburgh’s offense has improved with a new signal-caller. However, this is a classic Steelers team that wins with defense and a top-10 rushing attack.
And unlike Cleveland, Tomlin’s stop unit remains elite. Pittsburgh boasts the NFL’s No. 2 overall defense. The Steelers are especially stingy against the rush, forcing Winston and company to air it out and risk turnovers.
Pittsburgh Offense
How will Thursday’s Steelers vs. Browns game go?
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