Browns need rush to beat Pittsburgh

By GEORGE M. THOMAS

Ben Roethlisberger and the rest of the Steelers were in midseason form Sunday.

BEREA — At times Sunday, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had enough time in the pocket to order dinner and eat it. He didn’t have to worry whether receivers would be open. He just had to wait for when they freed themselves from coverage by defensive backs.

The Browns’ defense paid for its lack of a pass rush to the tune of Romo completing 24-of-32 passes for 320 yards and a touchdown. The result: a 28-10 loss for the Browns.

“I think it was pretty good. On some of the passes, short passes, they were quick throws. We were able to apply pressure and get to him a couple times to alter a couple of throws,” linebacker Kamerion Wimbley said Monday. “At one point me and Willie [McGinest] hit him. That’s when he busted up his chin a little bit. Overall, I think it was a pretty good night.”

The numbers tell a different story.

No team can give up that kind of yardage and expect to win consistently. So where was the rush against Romo?

Given the Browns’ 3-4 defense and the expectation that the rush will come from outside linebackers, it was often down the field in coverage in Wimbley’s case.

“Early on, we were only rushing three and putting more guys in coverage. In the second half, we started rushing more guys. Now then, the question becomes, why did you only rush three?” Browns coach Romeo Crennel said. “You rush three to get more guys in coverage because they have some weapons that you have to cover, and even with that those weapons were pretty productive.”

The repair work needs to be fast for the defense: the Pittsburgh Steelers arrive in Cleveland Browns Stadium Sunday night for a prime-time game.

It’s unlikely that the Ben Roethlisberger-led Steelers will be a pushover.

In fact, the Steelers looked to be in midseason form, walloping the Houston Texans 38-17 in their opener.

Roethlisberger completed 13-of-14 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns. With Roethlisberger, however, it never has been about his ability to put up numbers.

He plays traffic cop in the Steelers’ offense, which has always been built around a rock-solid running game, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t possess the ability to beat you with his arm. At 6-foot-5 and 241 pounds, Big Ben can be a load.

Monday Crennel seemed resigned that his defense, with its reconstructed line courtesy of the arrival of Shaun Rogers and Corey Williams, will have its share of growing pains.

Not only are Rogers and Williams, who is learning a new position, new additions, the Browns have two second-year corners in the defensive backfield in Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald.

“Everybody’s been talking about our secondary and how we’re not good enough on the back end,” Crennel said.