Edwards not shy after loss

PITTSBURGH -- Judging from his postgame comments after his Browns were thumped 34-21 by the Steelers on Sunday, rookie wide receiver Braylon Edwards is not afraid of a challenge.
He certainly has given the Steelers bulletin board material for their rematch on Dec. 24 at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Asked if the first-place Steelers (7-2) are that much better than the struggling Browns (3-6), Edwards replied, "No, no. I cannot give them that much credit.
"They did some good things out there but I think it was mostly us stopping ourselves," Edwards said. "If you look at the game, how it was played, we stopped ourselves and that's the bottom line."
The Browns marched 66 yards on the first 10 offensive plays of the game and took a 7-0 lead on Reuben Droughns' 5-yard touchdown run, his first of the season.
Then the Browns offense pretty much disappeared until the fourth quarter as the Steelers scored 27 straight points. Edwards caught two second-half passes for 64 total yards.
Steelers good,but not invincible
"They are a good team -- they are well-coached," Edwards said "They are the Steelers, but they are not invincible.
"And that's the problem -- people approach this Steelers organization as if they are invincible. They aren't invincible. They definitely can be beat.
"If you look at our first drive, we came out and had a great drive and scored," Edwards said. "And our defense stopped them, and we got the ball back again.
"So they definitely can be beaten and we can definitely beat them," Edwards said. "We have to come out here and execute and we can't shoot ourselves in the foot."
For those keeping score, the Steelers' win was their 10th in the past 11 games against the Browns. Since they were reborn in 1999 as an expansion franchise, the Browns have won three of the 14 games they've played against the Steelers.
"No matter who you play, you have a chance," said the rookie from Michigan who was the NFL's third draft pick last April. "On any given Sunday, anybody can be beat.
"We came out here and had the first drive that we did against the so-called invincible Steelers.
"The Pittsburgh Curtain, the Steel Curtain is dead -- that was '79. That's old. We just have to come out here and do what we did in the first quarter [for] the whole game.
"Once they got the momentum, they never gave it back," Edwards eventually conceded. "They made play after play after big play. They were hitting on all cylinders, so when you have that going against you, you don't have a shot."
Edwards' outburst came on the night that Hines Ward broke John Stallworth's Steelers record (537) for receptions.
"He goes [on the list of] some of the great Pittsburgh Steelers that have played on the offensive side of the ball and he deserves to be there," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said.
Running gameslacked off
The Browns' biggest problem after their first series was running the ball. Droughns gained 31 yards in the first quarter and only 25 more the rest of the game.
"He came out running hard on us at the beginning of the game," Steelers linebacker Joey Porter. "I missed a tackle on him, a couple of other guys missed a tackle on him. We felt down because we take pride in stopping the run."
Their pride was restored in the second quarter when Droughns carried three times for six yards.
"We made big plays," Cowher said. "We knew they were going to run the football. Droughns is a very good runner. He ran very hard early.
"You look at the Cleveland Brown offense, they've hit a lot of big plays and they've got some big-play players. Droughns hit the third-and-17 screen. He broke a run a couple times and we had to make a last-man saving tackle. [Dennis] Northcutt, Edwards and Antonio Bryant: they've got some big play players.
"The biggest thing for us coming in was making sure we didn't give up the big play," Cowher said. "For the most part we did."
But the Browns didn't.
Game turned on interception
The game turned in the Steelers' favor after safety Troy Polamalu collided with quarterback Trent Dilfer as he was throwing and Porter intercepted.
Batch scored on a keeper with six seconds remaining in the first half, turning a close game into a 10-point halftime margin.
In the first two minutes of the third quarter, the Steelers led 24-7 when Antwaan Randle El ran a reverse then hit Ward with a 51-yard touchdown pass and a lead that looked, well, invincible.
As for Edwards, all is well with him and Steelers linebacker Larry Foote who were teammates at Michigan.
After Porter's pickoff, Foote walloped Edwards with a blindside hit and was penalized 15 yards.
"He cheapshotted me," Edwards said. "Him being from the university ... we knew each other growing up -- same little league team, same college," Edwards explained.
"And he cheapshotted me and I was a little upset and a little disheartened by it, but it's football. It's the Steelers and the Browns -- the rivalry and the hype.
"I got [frustrated] but got over it. After the game we talked about it. We're going out to dinner the next time I see him. So it's not a big thing. On the field, anything goes. "
Maybe their dinner date will be on Christmas Eve right after the rivalry resumes. Talk about your holiday spirit.
XTom Williams is a sportswriter for The Vindicator. Write him at williams@vindy.com.