They can't make the playoffs, but if nothing else, they can stop the Steelers from winning yet another AFC North championship. The Steelers need to win, or Baltimore needs to lose at home to Cincinnati (snicker) to wrap up the division championship for the third time in the last four years.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin put it beautifully earlier this week: "Any time in the National Football League you're getting on a bus to go play a game, I mean, that's a pretty heated rivalry."
The last time the Steelers got on a bus to go play the Browns, it didn't end well. And they have more incentive to win this game - knocking the big bad Steelers off the division throne - than they did last year.
The Browns also know what it's like to lose this kind of a game. Some may remember a Week 16 clash between Cincinnati and Cleveland in 2007, the last time the Browns were relevant. Somehow, Cincinnati got a winning performance out of its lowly Bengals, eliminating them from the post-season.
PZB would think that's gotta stick with a franchise that only won 14 out of its next 47 games.
While the Bengals helped the Steelers out in 2007, odds aren't good they'll do it again. Cincinnati hasn't won two in a row all year, and would have to face a strong Ravens team that's playing for a home game and free passage through the first round of the playoffs.
There's plenty on the line in Week 17, and PZB's got plenty to talk about after a nine-day publication embargo, including PZB seeing a certain Pro Bowl rookie, the league's latest PR failure and a must-see tradition for Browns Week.
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