DUE NORTH: BROWNS LOOKING FOR COSMIC PAYBACK

NFL 2019 TNF WEEK ELEVEN

GAIRZO’S TNF RECORD = 3-7

PITTSBURGH STEELERS @ CLEVELAND BROWNS -3 41.5 [U]

My TNF record compels even the casual better to avoid taking me seriously.

Seriously.

Hey, you’ve been warned.

I’ll be strapped down in a dentist’s chair for most of Thursday, so I’ll keep this short and sweet.

Cleveland has as much or more talent than Pittsburgh, but they’ve played mostly lousy football all season. Talent isn’t the only ingredient of a successful football team

Baker Mayfield has done little—except finding a boffo commercial agent—to show he has a future brighter than Pittsburgh’s Mason Rudolph.

Freddie Kitchens hasn’t done much with all the talent he has, whereas Mike Tomlin has done his best coaching since he went to his last Super Bowl.

Steelers RB, James Connor, has missed three games and the Steelers suddenly can’t run the ball. Cleveland’s Nick Chubb is averaging 5.3 YPR and is 3rd in YAC.

I don’t know how a defense with Myles Garret at defensive end, Denzel Ward and Greedy Williams at the corners doesn’t consistently dominate.

I won’t even mention Cleveland’s ODB and Jarvis Landry at wide receiver, and recently reinstated woman beater, Kareem Hunt, as the second option at running back.

No doubt, the Brownies are loaded. If I’m coaching them, I go with a two-back set all night long and run the ball down Pittsburgh’s throat, which is exactly what Tomlin is expecting.

This is one of those match-ups that could turn ugly either way. Mason Rudolph has his breakout game, or the Browns "put it all together" and rout the division rival who has been their nemesis since Modell snuck out of town—or it becomes yet another closely fought divisional battle between evenly matched teams.

The Browns need to prove themselves to themselves. I’m betting they won’t do it this week.

Pittsburgh has rediscovered defense and average 2.9 TOs per game—a sick stat they cannot possibly sustain—but they’ll get a couple fumbles from Mayfield and win their fifth in a row.

The Gangsters are begging bettors to take the Over…

Gairzo’s going’ with the Under.

Steelers 22 Browns 16