Grant Delpit ended the first Steelers game with an interception in the final 10 seconds. This week he graded the same game and found the problem: DK Metcalf.

"I don't think we did a great job of that in the first game. He had a couple, not a lot of targets, but I think the targets he did have were completions, so definitely got to do better in that aspect."

Delpit gave that answer for the team's Week 8 preview, and the numbers back him up. Metcalf caught five passes for 115 yards in Week 4, the longest a 43-yarder, in a game Cleveland won.

Five catches, a third of his season

Metcalf leads Pittsburgh with 32 catches and 374 yards. Take out the Browns game and he has 27 catches for 259 yards, or 9.6 a catch. Against Cleveland he averaged 23.

So nearly a third of Metcalf's season came on one Thursday night, on just five catches. That's the danger Delpit is talking about. The Browns held him out of the end zone and still gave up the big plays.

Two defenders wait near orange cones on a practice field while a receiver lines up in the distance.

Five sacks didn't fix it

The pass rush can't settle this one alone. Cleveland sacked Aaron Rodgers five times in that game and intercepted him twice, and he still threw for 299 yards. Rodgers gets the ball out fast, so the coverage has to hold up on the snaps when the rush doesn't get home.

And Metcalf isn't the only problem. Jaylen Warren is Pittsburgh's second-leading receiver with 24 catches for 294 yards, and Jared Verse has his own plans for the run game. Carson Schwesinger's warning on Warren applies to the whole back seven: "You just always have to be aware of him."

First place, and a long history

The secondary may be thin, too. Cornerback Myles Harden (hamstring) and safety Daniel Thomas (ankle) were both questionable on Friday.

Both teams are 5-2 with first place in the AFC North on the line, in a building where the Browns have lost 22 straight regular-season games. Delpit closed out the first meeting. His plan for the second fits in one sentence.

"We know that's their best receiver and we got to take him out of the game," he said.

Related reading: Browns Plan for Sanders Without Rewriting the Offense; Todd Monken on Browns' Pittsburgh History: 'Not Much.' Then 'No.'; Cam Heyward to Jared Verse: "We Don't Whine About It, Baby"

Images: AI-generated images.