Tomlin wants team to care about Browns

PITTSBURGH (AP) — There’s one word Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is all but banning from the locker room before Sunday’s meaningless game against Cleveland.

It’s that very word: meaningless.

Tomlin doesn’t want to hear how the Steelers (11-4) have nothing to gain by beating the rival Browns (4-11), whose own season all but ended weeks ago. How the Steelers should rest some starters to get them healthy for their first playoff game Jan. 10 or 11. How nobody cares about this game.

Tomlin cares, as he emphasized several times Tuesday, and to him that means his players should care, too. He plans to make sure they do.

“It is Cleveland, that makes it easier,” Tomlin said. “We know the history of this rivalry and we respect that. We expect those guys to come in here and play big-time and play to win. We expect to do the same.”

Tomlin rattled off a long list of reasons why the game means something, beginning with the opportunity to regain momentum for the postseason. A year ago, the Steelers lost three of their final four games during the season, then carried that slump into a home-field loss to Jacksonville in a wild-card playoff game.

The Steelers’ five-game winning streak ended with their 31-14 loss to Tennessee on Sunday, and Tomlin doesn’t want that to become a two-game losing slide as the playoffs begin.

“It is a big week for us,” Tomlin said.

Tomlin’s reasoning: The Steelers can sweep their division by going 6-0 against Cincinnati, Cleveland and Baltimore for the first time since 2002. They can go 6-2 in the second half of the season, just as they did in the first. They can win 12 games for only the fourth time since 1979. They can match their 6-2 road record by going 6-2 at home. They can go 3-1 in each quarter of the regular season.

Still, Tomlin gave the same answer when asked about whether specific players would play: “We’re playing, we’re playing.”

Not playing are safety Ryan Clark, who reinjured a shoulder, and left tackle Marvel Smith (back), whose season ended when he was placed on the injured reserve list Tuesday.

The status of linebacker James Harrison (hip pointer) and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (sprained ankle) isn’t as clear. Roethlisberger sat out the final regular-season game a year ago when the Steelers’ playoff status was all but completed, but the Steelers knew then they would play the following weekend.

Smith’s nine-year career with Pittsburgh is apparently over because of a back problem that sidelined him for the final month of last season. He hasn’t played in nearly three months, with Max Starks taking over at left tackle, and Smith is unsigned for next season.

“He has stood up well for us and given us the kind of production we need to win games,” Tomlin said of Starks. “Of course, he has some big challenges that lie ahead.”

To replace Smith, the Steelers signed second-year tackle Jason Capizzi off the Rams’ practice squad. Capizzi was cut by Pittsburgh during training camp.