The Pittsburgh Steelers fell 24-19 to the Cleveland Browns in a veritable snow globe Thursday night, snapping a five-game win streak. After the loss, Steelers receiver George Pickens blamed the weather rather than crediting the opponent.
"Conditions played a huge, huge part in today's game," Pickens said, via Brooke Pryor of ESPN. "I don't really think the Cleveland Browns are a good team at all. I think the conditions kind of saved them today."
A blinding, heavy snow fell throughout the game and was particularly disruptive during the second half. At one point, Pickens appeared to have a potential touchdown but couldn't connect with Russell Wilson. The wideout blamed the snow for the miscue.
"The snow, the conditions were so bad," he said. "I don't even think the QB could see sometimes. And when you got conditions like that, at the opponent's home field, it kind of plays in their favor."
Pickens finished with four catches for 48 yards, his lowest output since the Week 5 loss to Dallas. In Wilson's previous four starts, Pickens had averaged 91.25 yards per game.
Less flamboyantly, Wilson agreed that the Steelers' misfires cost the club more than the Browns' playmaking.
"We should've won that game," Wilson said. "We felt like we battled. We fought our butts off. It was a tough environment, obviously. We wanted to win this one. Unfortunately, we came up short."
The offense was unable to puncture the end zone until the fourth quarter, with drives perpetually stalling. Mike Tomlin's club didn't punt until 3:22 left in the game, but a missed field goal, two turnovers on downs and a fumble cost them a shot to put up more points.
Pittsburgh also bungled the ending script. The offense couldn't stay on the field after getting the ball back with a lead. The Steelers called a deep pass from backup Justin Fields on third-and-4 that missed badly. Then, the defense couldn't get off the field on the Browns' final drive. Tomlin elected to accept an illegal touching penalty to push Cleveland to a third-and-7 instead of a fourth-and-2. The Browns converted and marched into the end zone with 57 seconds remaining.
On the final Hail Mary attempt, Pickens and Browns corner Greg Newsome II got tangled up. The CB claimed Pickens was trying to "do some WrestleMania" on the play.
"Yeah, he's a fake tough guy," Newsome said, via Cleveland.com. "He does a lot of that. The antics and stuff. Yeah, he didn't even go up for the ball."
Newsome likely isn't surprised to hear that Pickens blames the weather.
The Steelers' loss dropped them to 8-3, another game back of the Kansas City Chiefs (9-1) and Buffalo Bills (9-2) in the race for the AFC's top seed. It also moved the Baltimore Ravens (7-4) into striking distance in the AFC North race. Cleveland improved to 3-8, with a chance to play spoilers, particularly in the division down the stretch.
The Steelers and Browns face off again in 16 days in Pittsburgh.