NFL Box Score Breakdown: Steelers-Browns Recap & Usage Stats (TNF)

The Cleveland Browns are officially 3-1, thanks in no small part to Deshaun Watson's not-so-heartwarming redemption arc.

The Steelers jumped out to a 7-0 lead Thursday night when WR Roman Wilson took a pop pass for a 12-yard TD to close out a 17-play, 78-yard drive. The Browns then scored three TDs in the second quarter, with RB Jaleel McLaughlin, RB Quinshon Judkins and TE Harold Fannin all finding the painted area.

After entering the break with a 21-10 advantage, Watson committed turnovers on two of Cleveland's first three drives in the second half, helping Pittsburgh back into the game behind fourth-quarter TDs from TEs Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth. The Browns kicked a field goal in between the two touchdowns, making it a 24-24 game with a little less than two minutes remaining.

The Browns quickly drove into range for a go-ahead field goal, but after a sack and an incompletion, they ended up settling for a 56-yard attempt, which Andre Szmyt converted. The Steelers still had 10 seconds left and a timeout in hand, and they then caught a break when Szmyt foolishly sent his kickoff into the end zone, not using up any of the remaining time.

The Steelers had a shot, but they oddly went for what looked like a halfway measure between a hail mary and trying to get into field goal range. Rodgers lobbed a pass up into coverage, well into field-goal range but also well shy of the end zone. It was intercepted, the Browns won, and none of the Steelers' beat writers pressed McCarthy or Rodgers on the decision post-game. Who needs fans when you have journalists like these?

Stats come from NFL Next Gen unless otherwise specified. The first six columns of each box score show stats for Week 3 only. The final five columns (in italics) show full-season rates for snap share (Sn%), route share (Rt%), target share (Tg%), air-yard share (AY%) and targets per route run (TPRR). An asterisk next to the player's name means that he has missed at least one game and all shares have been adjusted to only count the games he has played in.

For weekly stats, bold and blue lettering denote strong/high numbers relative to the prior week, while red and italics denote low/poor numbers relative to the prior week (minor weekly variations and garbage-time-based changes will be ignored). For season-long stats, bold lettering shows numbers that are especially strong relative to positional averages.

QUICK LINKS

Sync a League

Your path to victory starts here

Rankings

See the top players in your league

NFL Lineups

See the weekly starting lineups

Steelers (24) at Browns (27)

Steelers Personnel: 11p - 55% | 12p - 42%

64 Plays / 45 Dropbacks (70%) / -2.2% PROE

9.8 aDOT — 22-of-40 for 299 yards — 3 TDs, 2 INT, 5 sacks, 0 scrambles

• This was Pittsburgh's third straight week with a PROE in the range of -0.5 to -2.3% (slightly above league average), after posting a massive +9.0% in Week 1 against Atlanta.
  • BTW, Atlanta's defense has an opponent PROE of +12.9%, while second place (Washington) is at just +5.6%. Early matchups are part of that, but the other part is that Atlanta plays a lot of single-high and gives QBs pre-snap looks that encourage them to chuck it around.
  • The Steelers should still have strong pass volume, especially if their defense proves overrated, but it'll probably be closer to 35 attempts per game than 40 (Rodgers is averaging 38.2 so far).
• The Steelers used 12 personnel (two TEs) on a season-high 42% of snaps, giving TE Darnell Washington more playing time at the expense of Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson (with Germie Bernard also getting a bunch of WR snaps.
  • Pittsburgh used 12 personnel on 63% of snaps over the first four drives, before shifting to more 11 personnel for a two-minute drill before halftime. They then used 12 personnel on four of six plays over their first two second-half drives (both 3-and-outs) before shifting to 83% usage of 11 personnel over the final four drives while playing from behind.

Backfield

• RB Jaylen Warren played 97% of snaps and gained 126 yards on 20 touches.
  • Warren tied for second on the team with six targets. Reminder: There's no guarantee of Rico Dowdle returning to the same role he had pre-injury. The massive snap shares are gone once Dowdle gets healthy, but that doesn't mean it'll be a 50/50 split again. Warren has always been better than Dowdle as both a runner and pass catcher, and now the Steelers have had a better chance to see it.
  • RB Travis Homer played just two snaps off the bench, taking two carries for a loss of one yard. RB Lew Nichols was called up from the practice squad again, but he only played special teams. Eli Heidenreich was a healthy scratch.
    • Shoutout to my one league-mate who didn't have time to respond to trade offers but did have time to add Eli Heidenreich in a 12-team redraft league last week.

Pass Catchers

• WR DK Metcalf played 97% of snaps, and he finally connected with Rodgers on some downfield stuff, picking up gains of 43, 22 and 28 yards in the fourth quarter.
  • Prior to those three big plays, Metcalf didn't have a gain of more than 15 yards all season and had gone just 3-for-15 on targets of 10+ air yards. 
  • It probably won't be efficient, but Thursday's game left no doubt that the volume will be there for Metcalf. He entered the night ranked ninth in the league with 319 air yards, and he added another 136 in the loss.
• WRs Michael Pittman and Roman Wilson each played just 54% of snaps in 11 personnel, while Metcalf took 94% and rookie Germie Bernard got 74%. (Ben Skowronek played 22% in 11 personnel).
  • Wilson scored a TD for the second straight week and has strong per-route numbers despite a few miscues. Pittman, on the other hand, did nothing again, and can be dropped in shallow leagues and some 12-teamers.
  • In 12 personnel, Pittman took 100% of snaps. And the Steelers seem ready to use more 12 personnel than they did over the first couple of weeks. Still, Pittman won't have strong enough per-route numbers to matter in fantasy if he's only a part-time player in 11 personnel. His TPRR for the season is a measly 13%.
  • Bernard caught two passes for 11 yards, FWIW, with just two targets on 19 routes.
• TE Darnell Washington caught a TD pass, but he only played in 12 personnel.
  • TE Pat Freiermuth also caught a TD, but he took just 54% of snaps in 11 personnel, splitting that work with Washington for a second straight week. 
  • Freiermuth's 71% route share stills falls in fantasy-starter range, though perhaps at the low end, with a mediocre target rate. He's still streamable in a pinch but doesn't have any real upside case.

Stock ⬆: RB Jaylen Warren, WR DK Metcalf

Stock ⬇: WR Michael Pittman, TE Darnell Washington

Injuries 🚑: CB Jamel Dean (ankle), DE Derrick Harmon (foot)

Browns Personnel: 11p - 63% | 12p - 21% | 21p - 11%

62 Plays / 37 Dropbacks (60%) / +6.6% PROE

6.9 aDOT — 24-of-33 for 268 yards — 1 TD, 1 INT, 2 sacks, 2 scrambles

• The Browns were right around their season averages for usage of personnel groupings. For the year, they've used 11 personnel on 64% of snaps and 12 personnel on 18%.
• The Browns had a season-high +6.6% PROE. They're now up to 14th in the league in PROE at -1.0%, despite posting a -16.1% mark Week 1 at Jacksonville. Todd Monken might be the only guy on the planet who actually (kind of) trusts Deshaun Watson.

Backfield

• RB Quinshon Judkins took 65% of snaps and 24 of 29 RB opportunities en route to a season-high 21.6 PPR points, benefitting from unusual receiving volume with seven targets on just 14 routes.
  • The 38% route share is a strong sign that we shouldn't expect a repeat receiving performance from Judkins anytime soon. He's still struggling to earn yards on the ground, and Raheim Sanders is still taking passing downs.
  • I've said before that Judkins has potential to develop into a three-down back; he's not some lost cause as far as the passing game goes. However, he's still subbing out for Sanders more often than not in clear passing situations; Sanders took seven of eight snaps on 3rd-and-3+ on Thursday. The combination of poor rushing efficiency and limited routes doesn't bode well for Judkins, but improvement with other areas of the Cleveland offense does create an opening for him to find more open space when he gets the ball.
• RB Jaleel McLaughin scored a 28-yard TD on his lone snap. Thank you sir, may I have another?

Pass Catchers

• WR KC Concepcion led the team in route share (100%) and targets (eight) while putting up a 5-64-0-0 receiving line.
  • Only five of Concepcion's 28 targets this season have travelled 10+ yards beyond the LOS, but two of those came Thursday night, including a 21-yard gain where he made a diving catch on a deep out.
  • Concepcion played all 13 snaps in 12 personnel, after taking five out of six the week before. He's a full-time player, and actually a candidate to rank near the top of the league in snap/route shares moving forward. Production may not come quite as easily, in part because the Browns have some other young pass catchers thriving...
• WR Denzel Boston handled a 92% route share and accounted for 65% of the team's air yards, with his night highlighted by a 60-yard TD catch, thus rebounding from a 2-41-0 receiving line against Carolina in Week 3.
  • Boston has a 19% target share but 52% air-yards share. A couple of the deep looks have been low-probability stuff / pseudo throwaways, but mostly he and Watson are finding good spots to take their shots. Those won't stop anytime soon, and Watson's deep-ball accuracy remains decent despite poor arm strength.
  • Boston has a 17.8 aDOT, compared to 6.2 for Concepcion.
• TE Harold Fannin scored his third TD in two weeks while handling an 89% snap share and 89% route share. He's playing well, and the Browns are better than anyone expected, but a 21% TPRR is low compared to preseason expectations. That's mostly because Concepcion is getting a lot of the quick/schemed targets that might otherwise provide Fannin with easy PPR points. Keep that in mind if Concepcion eventually gets banged up.
• WR Jerry Jeudy caught each of his three targets, but he was merely the third receiver in 11 personnel, and even then he shared some of those snaps with Malachi Corley and Isaiah Bond. Jeudy ultimately got just 59% of snaps in 11 personnel, without any additional playing time in other groupings.

Stock ⬆: QB Deshaun Watson, RB Quinshon Judkins (w/ caution), WR KC Concepcion

Stock ⬇: QB Shedeur Sanders, QB Taylen Green (less chance of PT this year)

Injuries 🚑: DT Mason Graham (knee)