Browns vs Steelers Game Preview: Biggest Storylines, Myles Garrett vs T.J. Watt | NFL Week 6

Browns vs Steelers Game Preview: Biggest Storylines, Myles Garrett vs T.J. Watt | NFL Week 6

Back here on HQ Spotlight, as we enter week six of the NFL, NFL on CBS has got you covered. In that 4:25 p.m. Eastern window, we get to see Joe Flacco as a member of the Bengals. Feel about that? I don’t know, man. I wonder how Joe Flacco feels about that O line. That’s what I really want to know. There in Cincinnati as he’s taking on the Packers. And then, hey, speaking of the Bengals, the AFC North, we have an all AFC North match up with the Browns and the Steelers on CBS. It’s a young quarterback in Dylan Gabriel against a future Hall of Famer, very veteran quarterback in Aaron Rodgers. That’s the top of the division against the bottom of the division. It is all going down on Sunday, 1 p.m. Eastern on CBS. And our very own Evan Washburn is going to be on the sidelines for that game. Evan, this is Dylan Gabriel’s second NFL start, but his first in the AFC North. We know the football there is a little bit different. We just had Pete Prrisco on this program saying he thinks the training wheels are going to come off. He’s gonna play fast and lose and throw it down the field. But what are your expectations for Dylan Gabriel here in playing some AFC North football? Wow, that’s quite an environment to take the training wheels off. That’s like taking your little kid and taking the training wheels off and then putting him at the top of a hill that just continues to wind because uh it is a challenging place to play whether you’re in year one or year 20. And that’s the case for Dylan Gabriel. Look, I thought he did a really nice job in London managing that game against a really challenging defense in Minnesota. He did everything necessary for them to walk out of there with a win, but they clearly kept things in check. They didn’t stretch the field to Pete Prrisco’s point. I don’t expect them to do that against Pittsburgh. Why would they? Because that means you’re putting him in a vulnerable position against TJ Watt, Nick Herbig, Alex Heismith if he’s back. And they’ve got a great running back in Quinn Sean Judkins that he can hand the ball off to. They want to manufacture victory in this game by limiting mistakes, whether it be from Gabriel or anyone else to try and get out of there with a critical win to get this season going in a positive direction after five weeks. I don’t know that any quarterback, rookie or not, wants to be in a vulnerable position against TJ Watt. Let’s be real here. We’re going to talk more about that a little bit later on. But back to the Browns, you know, Dylan Gabriel is the starting quarterback because of how the Browns have been active here in the trade market, right? So, you know, they bent show, then they send him off to Cincinnati, and then more recently, they said Greg Newsome in a 2026 six round pick to Jacksonville for Tyson Campbell um in some picks as well. So, what do you make of all these different moves that we’re seeing here for Cleveland? It’s surprising in some factors. I mean, the Flaco deal more so maybe than the Newsome one where they’re trading away a player in the final year of his deal as a firstrounder for a guy who’s already under contract. So, there’s some financial aspects to that. Clearly, they’re eyeing next year’s draft. So, they want to get as much equity as they can going into that draft. The Flacco deal though obviously points to their faith in Dylan Gabriel and also not wanting to have Flaco on the sideline there as a guy who wants to play at this point in his career and he got that opportunity. So, I commend them for allowing Flaco to have this opportunity, but it is a bit of a head scratcher in division and it’s a team they’ve never traded with in their history as organizations. So, there’s that aspect to it as well. And then it creates, as we know, and it came up yesterday at the press conference for Kevin Sansky. He’s now having to answer questions. Okay, who’s the back of it? Is it Chadur Sanders? Is it Bailey Zappy? We’ll figure all this out by the end of the week. But it does add to that, if you want to call it drama, distraction, whatever it may be, as a conversation point now about who’s backing up Gabriel, because as we know, Jacqueline, it all it takes is is one play. And all of a sudden, that guy is now thrust into a prime spot in Pittsburgh. I don’t know if we’ve ever talked about a fifth round pick as much as we have about Shador Sanders, but that’s what comes to the territory, right, when your dad is Dion. If we go to the Steelers and their side of things, they’re coming off a buy, but the last time we saw them in action in Dublin, the run game seemed to kind of start clicking and it was getting going. So, Evan, are you expecting that to continue against this Browns defense? I am. And Jacqueline, they were able to do that without their lead back in Jaylen Warren, who appears to be ready to make his return into the lineup. Everybody was thinking or it appeared that when Aaron Rodgers joined the Pittsburgh Steelers, it was so that they could be a more explosive offense. Obviously, the signing of DK Metaf adds to that discussion and that belief, but I think this is the best version of what they can be as an offense where they run the ball first and they commit to the run game and then that allows for more opportunities for DK downfield or to break through like he did against the Vikings and they allow Aaron Rogers to not have to drop back and put in that spot to take as many hits as he did in the first couple weeks of this season. and then he just needs to make a few wow plays over the course of a game and help lead them and lean on their defense that seems to have rounded into form as well. So that running game to do what it did against Minnesota and then do it without Jaylen Moore. Kenneth Gainwell looked awesome I think is exactly what Arthur Smith offensive coordinator and even Aaron Rogers wants moving forward. Evan, we had a conversation at the be beginning of the season, excuse me, about the Steelers and their defense and how it wasn’t the typical Steelers defense, the standard, if you will, that we’re used to seeing in the past. Here we are going into week six and the conversation as it pertains to the Steelers defense is very different. Second and takeaway is what, top five in sacks. So, do you think they can just keep this rolling and kind of continue on this upward trajectory? I mean, I think that’s the hope obviously and it it would match the talent base on that roster. They’re getting healthy again after being banged up pretty bad to start the season. Joey Porter Jr. will make his return. He’s one of their top corners. Deshawn Elliott, the safety, proved to be be a really big piece when he came back two weeks ago now after the by-week. I think Derek Harmon, the first round pick out of Oregon, a big part of stopping the run because that was the issue, Jacqueline. If you remember a couple weeks ago, they were making plays. They were taking the ball away. That’s why they had those takeaway numbers, but they couldn’t stop the run. And then that was leading to big plays allowed. They seemed to, at least in the immediate, clean that up with some additions via health and Derek Harmon. And then just a commitment to kind of getting back to what they do. Cole Hulcom now playing rundowns for Pton Wilson. I mean, we’re getting into the minutiae of the 2D, but this is what is really what’s required when you have a a a roster that they do defensively to try and figure out and search for answers. So, it’s a credit to Mike Tomlin, Terrell Austin, who calls that defense in figuring that out. And look, it’s a prideful group that’s littered with all pros and a couple future Hall of Famers. So, I think there’s always been a belief that they would figure it out. But health is going to be to me the determining factor as to whether or not this is really the moment for them or it’s a trend that they’re going to be able to continue throughout the year. And with that, your players to watch, not only the guy on the Steelers defense, but the guy on the Cleveland’s defense as well. Look, you got TJ Watt and Miles Garrett. They’re not playing against one another. We know that. But this is a rivalry in my mind that is worth building up and it’s going to be fun for JJ to dance around this one up in the booth as he’s analyzing what he’s seeing. I think his appreciation for just pass rushers in general will win the day. But these are two guys that are the best to have done it in recent years and they happen to be in the same division. They have to be rivals at least geographically when you talk about Cleveland and Pittsburgh. and they’re both going to want to come into this game and make their presence felt. And they’re both going against, I would call it, vulnerable O lines when it comes to pass protection. It’s clear Pittsburgh’s going to do everything they can, whether it’s Darnell Washington, the big body tight end to try and slow down Miles Garrett. And for TJ Watt, Cleveland’s going to throw everything they can at him. So seeing those two series in, series out, try and make their presence felt on this game. So we all walk away from it, JJ and I and included going, “Man, Miles had a day or man TJ had a day.” It’s going to be fun. Yeah. So, um, Evan, just to have some fun here, I know you kind of touched on it, but who gets home more? Like I I don’t want to put you on the spot, but like it’s an impossible question, but who who do you think does it? I like TJ Watt, and not just because I got to see JJ a number of times over the course of the weekend, and I I don’t want to anger the Watt family. I think it’s more even personnel based because I mentioned it and it’s something maybe we’ll get into over the course of the broadcast, but what’s going on with Darnell Washington right now? If people don’t know, he’s a tight end, but he’s got the body and makeup of a tackle in the NFL and he’s extremely athletic. So now the Steelers have this jumbo package where they throw him out there to help pass protection and he’s north of 300 lb unofficially. And I think they can use him to help mitigate the problem with Miles Garrett. And Cleveland also doesn’t have anyone on the opposite side that really scares you as much as Miles does. Where for Pittsburgh, TJ’s going to do his thing, but Cleveland can’t just stack up against him because they got to deal with Highmith if he’s back healthy. But Nick Herbig’s proven to be everything that Highmith is too on that opposite side. So I just like Pittsburgh’s situation here against the left tackle or right tackle for Cleveland that have proven to be vulnerable at least through the first portion of the season. And JJ had nothing to do with Evan’s answer. We just want to double down. Yeah. He didn’t just text me and say say all those things. So you’re in trouble. Okay. We believe you. We’re going to take your word for it, Evan. We appreciate it. Have fun on the sidelines. A great match up with the Browns and the Steelers. 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday on CBS. It is part of a loaded slate that we have for you at the NFL on CBS. We have the 49ers and the Bucks as well at 4:25 Eastern time. And of course, you can stream all the action on Paramount Plus as Well,

Evan Washburn joins CBS Sports HQ to preview the Week 6 game between the Browns and Steelers.

(00:00) Intro
(00:56) Dillon Gabriel
(02:10) Browns Trades
(04:00) Steelers run game
(05:14) Steelers defense
(07:02) Players to watch

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