AFC NORTH Browns' Holcomb gets chance to again show Steelers his stuff

The Cleveland quarterback lost to Pittsburgh 36-33 in playoff loss last January.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Holcomb or Couch. Couch or Holcomb.
It hardly mattered to the Steelers which Browns quarterback faced them Sunday in Cleveland, since either Kelly Holcomb or Tim Couch would be coming off a career-best performance against them.
Holcomb, hurt when the teams met seven weeks ago, will oppose them for the first time since throwing for 429 yards in a 36-33 playoff loss in January, the most yards passing by any NFL quarterback in a non-overtime postseason game.
The Steelers' secondary has been reminded about that constantly the last couple of days -- except, of course, when it wasn't being asked about Couch's 20-of-25 performance in the Browns' 33-13 victory in Pittsburgh on Oct. 5. In those two games combined, Holcomb and Couch were 46-of-68 for 637 yards, five touchdowns and two interceptions.
"Their game plan is to get the ball to their receivers and that's what they do," cornerback Deshea Townsend said. "Both of them do things well. Kelly, he throws on time, while Couch, he kind of trusts his arm a little more. Holcomb, he knows your defense and throws to spots where he thinks you're not going to be."
Cardinals torched
Holcomb also did a lot of that last week, taking advantage of Arizona's man-to-man coverage to go 29-of-35 for 392 yards and three touchdowns in a 44-6 victory. It was his best game in the NFL -- except, of course, for the day he did everything to the Steelers but beat them.
For all the Steelers' troubles -- and they are many, with six losses in seven games and repeated breakdowns on defense -- Holcomb doesn't expect to have nearly as much time to throw as he did against Arizona.
The Steelers won't be suckered into going man-to-man against Cleveland's deep receivers, but will rely on the same two-deep zones that New England and Oakland used to effectively neutralize the Browns.
Must-win mode
With the Steelers (3-7) and Browns (4-6) both only one more loss away from all-but-certain playoff elimination, Holcomb expects to see a more desperate team than Couch saw in October.
"I don't know if they brought as much pressure the last time as they did in the playoff game," Holcomb said. "I would see them going back to that. But you don't know what they are going to do or what they are thinking, so you have to be prepared for whatever."
The Browns are hoping to catch the Steelers at the right time, as they did last month when Pittsburgh was coming off a confidence-deflating 17-point loss at home to Tennessee.
This time, the Steelers admittedly are fatigued by a short week of preparation that followed a 30-14 loss Monday in San Francisco in which they showed barely a glimmer of desperation.
"It's a little hard right now to come in here," Pittsburgh safety Mike Logan said. "But everybody's focused and we have a job at hand. We know what type of game it's going to be."
Namely, one in which Holcomb will be looking to throw to Dennis Northcutt (11 catches for 150 yards and two touchdowns in his last two against Pittsburgh), Quincy Morgan (six catches for 81 yards) and Andre Davis (five catches for 97 yards and two touchdowns).