The Cleveland Browns play their biggest game in nearly two years on Sunday afternoon, Nov. 1, taking a 5-2 record into Pittsburgh for a 1 p.m. kickoff against the 5-2 Steelers, with sole possession of first place in the AFC North on the line, according to the Akron Beacon Journal’s game-day coverage.
Cleveland won the season’s first meeting 27-24 in Cleveland on Oct. 1, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. A second win would give the Browns their first season sweep of the Steelers since 1988 — and their first regular-season win in Pittsburgh in 22 straight tries, a drought stretching back 23 years, according to Dawgs By Nature’s Nov. 1 preview.
Both teams have built their records the hard way. The Browns own an NFL-best five one-score wins in a league-high-tying six one-score games, and the Steelers are right behind them with four one-score wins in five such games, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
Cleveland arrives unusually healthy. Offensive tackle Tytus Howard cleared concussion protocol on Saturday and carries no injury designation despite missing every practice this week, according to TheOBR.com’s reporting via Yardbarker, and defensive lineman Mike Hall Jr. is back after three games out with an ankle injury. Nobody on the Browns’ roster was ruled out, and the team elevated rookie tight end Carsen Ryan from the practice squad as a third tight end.
The one lineup question the Browns answered early was at the bottom of the quarterback depth chart. Dillon Gabriel, returning to the active roster, was named the No. 3 emergency quarterback for Sunday, and rookie Taylen Green was inactive and ineligible to play, the Akron Beacon Journal reported. Head coach Todd Monken said Oct. 30 that Shedeur Sanders would remain the backup.
Pittsburgh’s biggest threat in the first meeting was receiver DK Metcalf, who caught five passes for 115 yards against Cleveland on Oct. 1, according to clevelandbrowns.com’s preview material cited by Dawgs By Nature. Containing Metcalf again is central to any Browns path to a sweep.
The stakes explain the buildup. A Browns win keeps Cleveland alone in first place in the division, runs its division record to 3-0, and would be, as Dawgs By Nature put it, arguably the most important game the franchise has played since the January 2024 wild-card playoff game at Houston.
A loss, by contrast, hands first place to Pittsburgh and extends one of the NFL’s most stubborn road droughts for at least another year. The Browns’ habit of winning one-score games — five of them already this season — will be tested in the building where those games have historically gone the other way.
The Akron Beacon Journal’s own experts were split, leaning slightly toward Pittsburgh: predictions collected by the paper ranged from Steelers 20-17 and 22-21 to a Browns 17-14 win.
Cleveland also elevated its depth at tight end for the game, bringing up rookie Carsen Ryan from the practice squad to serve as the third tight end behind Harold Fannin Jr. and Blake Whiteheart, according to TheOBR.com’s reporting — one more sign of a roster the Browns believe is finally whole at the season’s midpoint.
Tickets for the game in Pittsburgh were listed from $250 including fees on StubHub, the Akron Beacon Journal reported, and the Cleveland Browns Radio Network carries the call with Andrew Siciliano, Nathan Zegura and Je’Rod Cherry.
For Northeast Ohio listeners, the Cleveland Browns Radio Network call is available across the Akron-Canton area on affiliates including WAKR-AM 1590, WONE-FM 97.5, WHBC-AM 1480, WQKT-FM 104.5, WKRK-FM 92.3 and WKNR-AM, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.
The Browns also know exactly how thin the margin is in this rivalry’s recent history. Their Oct. 1 win in Cleveland was by three points, and both teams have lived in one-score games all season — a profile that suggests Sunday’s game, like the first meeting, may not be decided until the final possession, whenever and however it comes.
Related coverage: Toledo’s New Police Chief Starts Nov. 1 as Council Weighs Flock Camera Limits and Wyandot County Enters Final Early-Voting Day in Upper Sandusky Before Nov. 3 Election.
What happens next: kickoff is 1 p.m. Sunday on CBS. By late afternoon, either the Browns will own first place and a piece of history — a sweep 38 years in the making — or Pittsburgh will hold the division lead and the streak will live another year.
Photo: Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons