The Cleveland Browns dropped to 1-5 on the season after a 23-9 beatdown by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cleveland's defense did their best, but the offense posed zero threat all game long. Here are five things we learned from the loss.
1. The Offensive Line May Be a Lost Cause
Through six weeks, the Browns own the NFL's worst team pass-blocking grade and are coming off a horrible performance against Pittsburgh, allowing 23 pressures and six sacks. Despite having the second-fastest time-to-throw in the league 2.51 seconds, Dillon Gabriel was pressured on an astronomical 43.1% of his dropbacks, getting hit 10 times. The Steelers boast one of, if not the best defensive line in football, so this was always going to be a tough matchup for the Browns, but the hope was that the new starting tackle tandem of Cam Robinson and Jack Conklin would provide some much-needed stability.
That was unfortunately not the case. Robinson and Conklin both earned pass-block grades below 28, with Conklin registering his worst performance since Week 8 of the 2021 season, which also came against the Steelers. He then left the game with a concussion, and is likely to miss even more time now. His loss thrust KT Leveston back into the lineup, who is PFF's lowest-graded pass-blocking tackle among all qualifying players. He allowed five pressures on 36 reps, and the fact that the Browns turned to him instead of Cornelius Lucas does not bode well for how the team views their biggest offseason addition on the offensive line.
Robinson also allowed five pressures before going down with a knee injury that at first glance looked like at least a hyperextension. He was able to walk off the field under his own power, and there is still no update on what the injury was, so his status moving forward is also up in the air.
There is a very real possibility that the Browns will be trotting out Lucas and Leveston on Sunday against the Miami Dolphins, which is far from an encouraging thought. Injuries or not, it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of hope that things get much better this season, which is bad news for Dillon Gabriel, not to mention Quinshon Judkins, as the line wasn't able to generate any push in the run game on Sunday.