Dylan Sampson put up 77 yards on nine touches in his first game off injured reserve, and Todd Monken says that wasn't the real Sampson.
"Dylan was even just a shell of himself, you know, the first game back," Monken said Wednesday. "I expect him to be even a better version of himself this week and next week."
There's the hopeful half. The other half is that Sampson's knee had him limited at Wednesday's practice, four days before Pittsburgh. If he gets anywhere near what Monken expects, he's the back this matchup calls for.
183 and 18 on the same Sunday
On Oct. 25 the Browns ran for a season-high 183 yards in Nashville, their most since 198 at Pittsburgh in 2023. The same day in Paris, the Steelers held New Orleans to 18 rushing yards, the second-fewest in an NFL game this season. Pittsburgh allows 91 rushing yards a game, seventh fewest in the league.
Tennessee also showed Cleveland a look it knew. The day after the game, Monken said of the Titans' four-man front, "we'd gone against four down basically since I've been here, so we have a lot more familiarity with that style." That's part of how the Browns found their balance in Nashville.
Pittsburgh brings a different problem, and Mike McCarthy has been loud about winning the line of scrimmage. Monken praised Patrick Graham's defense Wednesday for "mixing up their pressures, whether internally or externally," with edge rushers who are "explosive off the edge."
Sampson's hands are the way in
Pittsburgh hasn't seen him this season. Sampson went on injured reserve on Sept. 15 and missed the Browns' 27-24 win over Pittsburgh on Oct. 1.
His career numbers say where he hurts a defense. Before Tennessee, Sampson had 65 carries for 175 yards, or 2.7 a pop, and 33 catches for 271, or 8.2 a catch. So his return ran hot on the ground at six carries for 45, with a 19-yard burst in the fourth quarter setting up Deshaun Watson's touchdown. His three catches for 32, including a 22-yarder, are the part that travels to Pittsburgh.
Monken's description of Sampson and KC Concepcion Jr., in the same answer as the shell line: "Explosive players that you can utilize in space."
That splits the backfield neatly. Quinshon Judkins, first on the depth chart, ran 17 times for 96 yards and two touchdowns at Tennessee, and he gets the hard yards. Sampson gets the ball where the Steelers aren't. Watson's scouting report after the Tennessee game was shorter: "You don't know what we're going to do, pass it or run it."
Seventy-seven yards from a shell. If the knee cooperates, Pittsburgh finds out what the full version looks like.
Images: AI-generated images.
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