http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_526565.html</p><h1 class="headline">Steelers rout Browns, 34-7</h1> <span class="boldgrey"> By Scott Brown TRIBUNE-REVIEW </span> <span class="greytext">Monday, September 10, 2007</span> Najeh Davenport spun and spun. But it was Browns safety Daven Holly that felt dizzy at the end of the running back's catch-and-run Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Hines Ward knocked Holly somewhere close to the Ohio state line with a crushing block that also left the Clairton High School product with a slight concussion. </p> Ward was penalized for a personal foul, but it didn't matter, as Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger tossed a 22-yard touchdown pass to tight end Heath Miller on the next play. </p> That sequence told the story of the Steelers' 34-7 dismantling of the bumbling Browns in the regular-season opener. </p>The Steelers were that physical and made it look that easy in running their winning streak to eight games against their AFC North rivals. Roethlisberger threw a career-high four touchdown passes, and the Steelers' defense tormented Browns starting quarterback Charlie Frye and replacement Derek Anderson, registering six sacks and forcing five turnovers. </p> Defensive end Brett Keisel neatly summed up the near-perfect defensive game plan: "Shut down the run, get them in third-and-long and unleash the dogs. The first half, we were able to do that really well, and the second half, our offense came out and dominated." </p> The Steelers, who play host to the Buffalo Bills at 1 p.m. next Sunday, had plenty of motivation heading into yesterday's game. It marked Mike Tomlin's first game as an NFL head coach and defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau's 70th birthday. </p> Browns return specialist/wide receiver Joshua Cribbs provided some extra incentive Saturday, when he told the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "We're going to take this game and win it. It's not even a second thought in our heads." </p> Those words found their way to a copy machine, and papers with Cribbs' prediction found their way to every seat on the buses that the Steelers rode yesterday morning to the stadium. </p> "Nobody really talked about it, just read it," said wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who played his college ball at Ohio State. "Kept our mouths closed and came ready to play football." </p> Holmes caught a 40-yard touchdown following a lost Jamal Lewis fumble -- his grab gave the Steelers a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. Later, he creamed a Browns defender while blocking downfield for Ward. </p> It was that kind of afternoon for the Steelers. </p> And the Browns. </p> "It's just unfortunate how hard we worked this preseason and in the offseason for the first game to turn out the way it did," said linebacker Antwan Peek, who signed with the Browns as a free agent in March. "I didn't expect that, at all." </p> Yet it was more of the same when it comes to recent history in one of the NFL's storied rivalries. </p> The Browns haven't beaten the Steelers since 2003, and they did nothing yesterday to suggest any of the offseason acquisitions they made have closed the gap. </p> The Steelers pounded out 206 yards on the ground -- Willie Parker had 109 in 27 carries -- and held the Browns to 46 rushing yards. </p> Frye was sacked five times. He also threw an interception that led to a Jeff Reed field goal before getting replaced early in the second quarter by Anderson. </p> "He was rattled," Keisel said of Frye. "I don't think he likes to play us." </p> The same might be said of the rest of the Browns. </p> </p>
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburgh...s/s_526594.html</p> </p><p class="headline">Tomlin pleased to be a mere subplot</p> </p> </p> <span class="boldgrey"> By Mike Prisuta TRIBUNE-REVIEW </span> <span class="greytext">Monday, September 10, 2007</span> </p> CLEVELAND Mike Tomlin left town with a souvenir, but he did so grudgingly. </p> "They gave me a game ball in there," Tomlin admitted after exiting the visiting locker room following the Steelers' oh-so-easy, 34-7 victory Sunday afternoon at Cleveland Browns Stadium. "I tried to give it to (defensive coordinator) Dick LeBeau for his birthday, but he wouldn't take it. </p> "I guess I'm taking it home." </p>LeBeau turned 70 yesterday and left with a new Rolex watch, which was presented to him by the defensive players. There was also an acknowledgement of the occasion scribbled onto the greaseboard in the Steelers' locker room: "Happy Birthday Coach Dad, The Next 70 Will Be Even Better." </p> Tomlin, thus, found himself upstaged by a coach who's twice his age. </p> There was no Gatorade shower at the end, no carrying Tomlin off the field. </p> That's the way Tomlin had wanted it all along. </p> "This isn't my story," he said. </p> Any emotions the Steelers' first-year head coach might have been feeling relative to his leading a team for the first time in a game that counts will remain private. </p> That's how Tomlin intends to handle himself while running the Steelers. </p> He wasn't about to alter his approach after beating Cleveland. </p> "I don't play the game, I manage it," Tomlin said. "In order to do that, you have to have a little clarity of thought." </p> Lest you think he's just being coy for the media, consider the observation of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who maintained that as far as Tomlin is concerned, what you see is what you get. </p> "He doesn't really get rah-rah, spitting, throwing stuff, all that," Roethlisberger said. "He's pretty calm and cool. </p> "He's that way on the sideline, which is great. He's calm when he's talking to you. You don't have to worry about getting yelled at or spit on, or stuff thrown at you." </p> Nice to see that former head coach Bill Cowher, while gone, hasn't been forgotten. </p> As for Tomlin, he let his guard down -- briefly -- only after his postgame media session. </p> In the visiting locker room and in the presence of Steelers chairman Dan Rooney and Steelers president Art Rooney, Tomlin beamed momentarily while shaking hands and accepting congratulations. </p> "We're plus-.500 in the series," Tomlin said. </p> They are, having improved to 56-55 all-time against the Browns, including postseason meetings. </p> They're likely to be two games over .500 after this season's rematch Nov. 11, and should continue to build on their series lead. </p> The Browns are in such a state of disarray that it's apparently going to take a team more capable of offering a legitimate challenge to get Tomlin's blood boiling and his emotions flowing, at least to the point where they're detectable to the outside observer. </p> In that respect, Tomlin's debut game really was business as usual, not that the man who hired him had any doubts. </p> "Honestly, I had total confidence in him and he came through," Dan Rooney said. "He did just what I expected him to do. He handled it so well. </p> "He just handles things as they come up. He does what he has to do." </p><hr /> <span class="subhead">Coaching comparison</span> Here's how coach Mike Tomlin and his two predecessors, Bill Cowher (1992) and Chuck Noll (1969) fared in the first game of their first season with the Steelers: </p> Tomlin Record: 1-0 Result: Steelers 34, Browns 7 </p> Cowher Record: 1-0 Result: Steelers 29, Oilers 24 </p> Noll Record: 1-0 Result: Steelers 16, Lions 13 </p> </p>
<p style="text-indent: 0px"><font face="Arial">Every inch counts</font> </p> It did not quite match the fake punt Cowher ordered in his first game with his team trailing, 14-0, in Houston that began a comeback and ended in victory in his first game, but Tomlin did make at least one tough call yesterday.</p> With his team ahead, 17-0, early in the fourth quarter and the ball on the Steelers' 48, Tomlin had his offense go for it on fourth-and-inches. Roethlisberger kept it for 2 yards.</p> "We feel good about our offensive line," Tomlin said. "Shoot, it was under 6 inches. That's just being cautiously aggressive ... we're going to play to win."</p>
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07253/816155-66.stm</p><div class="story_headline">Tomlin Era gets off to a roaring start with an impressive 34-7 victory</div> <div class="story_lastupdate">Monday, September 10, 2007</div> <div class="story_byline">By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette</div> <div class="story_image"></div> <div class="story_image_byline">Peter Diana</div> <div class="story_image_caption"> Typicla of the Steelers' defensive dominance yesterday Ryan Clark, left, James Farrior, middle, and Ike Taylor swarm Cleveland tight end Kellen Winslow for little gain. The Browns managed just 221 yards of offense, including only 46 rushing.</div> </p> CLEVELAND -- Mike Tomlin knows most of the rest of his victories as Steelers coach won't come as easily as did the first one yesterday.</p> "Great starts are always great, but they can't define us," Tomlin said shortly after his players gave him the game ball from their manhandling of the Cleveland Browns, 34-7, to open the NFL season.</p> Because the Browns played so poorly, it was difficult for anyone to define the Steelers. It looked like a college opener, Steelers vs. Cupcake State. Before the first quarter ended, the Browns had lost two turnovers, botched a punt and committed what may be an NFL record of four separate penalties on one play, if they kept track of those things.</p> Their starting quarterback, Charlie Frye, was yanked before halftime after he was sacked more times (five) than he had completed passes (four).</p> The Steelers were methodical in their domination. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw four touchdown passes for the first time in his career, one each to Hines Ward (5 yards), Santonio Holmes (40), rookie tight end Matt Spaeth (5) and Heath Miller (22). Most importantly, the quarterback who led the NFL last season with 23 interceptions had none yesterday and finished with a healthy passer rating of 114.3.</p> "We talked all offseason and finally we were able to utilize the weapons we have," Roethlisberger said. "I was pleased with the way our offense performed."</p> Jeff Reed made his field-goal attempts of 26 and 31 yards. Willie Parker ran 27 times for 109 yards, and the Steelers' defense had two interceptions, three recovered fumbles and rained terror on quarterbacks Frye and Derek Anderson as the impatient crowd at Cleveland Browns Stadium often chanted "Bray-dee, Bray-deee" for rookie quarterback Brady Quinn.</p> "I think we're going to be good. I think we're going to be really good," defensive end Brett Keisel said.</p> Their domination of the Browns said they were that way yesterday. The Steelers rushed for 206 yards to go with Roethlisberger's production (12 of 23, 161 yards, one sack). They held old Ravens/new Browns running back Jamal Lewis to 35 yards on 11 carries and Cleveland to just 46 yards rushing. Cleveland's two quarterbacks were 17 of 38 for 218 yards. They were sacked six times, threw two interceptions and one touchdown pass -- from Anderson to fullback Lawrence Vickers -- of 1 yard in the third quarter.</p> Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, on his 70th birthday, unveiled some different schemes and used plenty of his depth chart, including two separate sets of three-man lines to keep them fresh.</p> "It was fun," Tomlin said.</p> So much so that when asked what adjustments the Steelers made at halftime, Tomlin answered, "We didn't."</p> It could be both the Steelers are that good and the Browns that bad.</p> "I wish I could say we're that good, but it's just one game and it's too early to start determining anything," linebacker James Farrior said. "We're still trying to find our identity and see what type of team we have here. We haven't gone through any adversity yet."</p> That's pretty much how it has been when they play the Browns, who lost their past eight to the Steelers and 14 of the past 15. The Steelers took the series lead for the first time since it began in 1950, 56-55.</p> It all started with a bad play on special teams by the Browns. Newly signed punter Paul Ernster, replacing injured Dave Zastudil, dropped the ball after the snap deep in Cleveland territory at the end of the game's first series. He did get off the punt, but it traveled only 15 yards and when the Steelers accepted one of four penalties called against the Browns on that play, they started at Cleveland's 22.</p> Roethlisberger hit Ward with a nice soft-touch pass in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard score.</p> Next series, on second down, Frye threw an interception right into the hands of cornerback Deshea Townsend, who returned it 21 yards to Cleveland's 17.</p> Reed ended that with a 26-yard field goal after Roethlisberger rolled right and threw short to open tight end Jerame Tuman on third-and-1 at the 8.</p> "You always want to make some plays for your defense," Townsend said. "We played what we wanted to play; we always want to dictate."</p> The domination continued when Farrior slammed into Lewis, who fumbled the ball and cornerback Bryant McFadden recovered at the Browns' 40 late in the opening period.</p> On the next play, Roethlisberger faked to Parker and Holmes got behind free safety Brodney Pool to catch the quarterback's throw 2 yards deep into the end zone for a 17-0 lead.</p> "I think he was looking into the backfield when the quarterback [faked] and I made a move over top and beat him over the top," Holmes explained.</p> After a scoreless pause in the second quarter, the Steelers continued to punish the Browns. They moved 71 yards on eight plays on their first series of the second half, ending that drive with the 6-foot-7 Spaeth catching his first touchdown pass in the middle of the end zone with Pool as the victim again.</p> The Browns responded on their next possession with their only score after Farrior dropped a ball thrown perfectly into his arms by Anderson on the first play of that drive.</p> "They might fine me double for that in the linebackers' meeting," Farrior said.</p> "We definitely wanted a goose egg," Keisel said.</p> It was about the only thing the Steelers wanted that they did not get. They scored twice more in response to Cleveland's lone touchdown -- one a touchdown by Miller for two scores to tight ends.</p> With 6:55 left, Tomlin sent Charlie Batch in for Roethlisberger long after the outcome was decided.</p> Farrior said his new head coach took it all in stride. There was little emotion and certainly no Gatorade baths on a day that marked only the third time in 39 years that a head coach made his debut with the Steelers.</p> "He was excited, but he really didn't want to show too much," Farrior said. "I guess he wanted to act like he's been there before."</p> Tomlin never had, not as a head coach, but if yesterday's game was any indication, he'll get a lot more practice at it.</p> </p>
