In today's return-from-hiatus edition of Around the AFC North, we take a look at the Steelers suffering another tough loss on offense against the Cleveland Browns, how Joe Flacco compares to other quarterbacks at this stage in his career, and how the Bengals backed into the playoffs.
Steelers running back Rashard Mendenhall tore his ACL against the Browns this past Sunday in a game that ultimately ended up being "meaningless" for the Steelers.
Rashard Mendenhall will not only miss the entirety of the playoffs, it could be awhile before he returns to the field. ESPN is reporting (via Pro Football Talk) that the Pittsburgh Steelers running back has torn his ACL, which could mean that he misses a significant portion of the 2012 season.
This hurts the Steelers when it comes to depth, but I have personally felt that the team has run the ball better this season with Isaac Redman as the primary back. With Mewelde Moore battling an injury too, Pittsburgh's backup after Redman will be the big John Clay. Steelers fans and Ben Roethlisberger have given Browns fans heat for "cheering" the running back's injury. I don't cheer serious injuries like that for any players, but I'm not shedding a tear over it.
[Flacco's] QB rating is right in the middle of this pack (with Marino, Big Ben and Rodgers being the outliers). Notice that Joe's QB rating is very close to Brady's, and better than Peyton's, Favre's and Brees' -who also had Cam as his coach the early part of his career. Hmm...
Any study that tries to compare Flacco as a quarterback to some of the elite quarterbacks in NFL history is just downright overly optimistic. Flacco is obviously an acceptable quarterback to lead the Ravens, but it's tiring that fans try to sometimes make him out to be way more than he actually is.
I never thought the Bengals had a chance to make the postseason. Even though they "backed in," the AFC North is still sending three teams to the playoffs:
The Cincinnati Bengals have truly come full-circle, largely believed to be the worst team in the NFL during the preseason to being one of 12 teams that made the playoffs this year. Though the moment is bittersweet due to Cincinnati’s most recent loss to the Baltimore Ravens, remember this moment as the second time in three seasons that the Bengals made the playoffs. No matter what they’ve done in the regular season, none of that matters now. Everyone in the post season is winless, yet undefeated. And the Cincinnati Bengals will play one more week than anyone else expected.
2 recs | 124 comments
And the Bengals get to play the Texans in the first round who don’t have a QB. I know they beat Cinci TJ Yates once, but they got a lot of help from the zebras with a bad PI call.
HenryDawg - January 2, 2012
Rashard Mendenhall is a piece of sh*t.
jonnyphoenix - January 2, 2012
Lest we forget:
On Osama Bin Laden:
“It’s amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We’ve only heard one side.”
jonnyphoenix - January 2, 2012
HAHA! YOU BLEW OUT YOUR KNEE!
SpecialBrownie - January 2, 2012
jonnyphoenix did? is he ok?!?
pwndabear - January 2, 2012
Keep drinking the koolaid jonny....
steeler fever - January 5, 2012
HenryDawg - January 2, 2012
This.
ahowie - January 2, 2012
Yep, the same hypocrites who don’t think Harrison, the dirtiest player in the NFL, deserved a penalty, let alone a suspension for his cheap shot Colt McCoy. They in fact booed the referee for calling a penalty.
BrownsFanRegina - January 2, 2012
you are mistaken
Hines Ward is the dirtiest player in the game and also the best dancer. Get your facts straight! Harrison is the meanest player in the league.
steeler fever - January 3, 2012
Harrison is clearly dirty too. Thanks for confirming that the Steelers have the dirtiest players on both sides of the lines.
HenryDawg - January 3, 2012
At least our coaches don't put players' lives at risk...
…for just a game, and our medical staff doesn’t need a league mandated “spotter” upstairs to tell them when a player whose health they are responsible for has been hurt. Cleveland’s medical “staph” should be fired for putting a game ahead of a player’s health.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
i beg to differ. allowing harrison to play in any game is like throwing an mp4 into a prison camp riot and saying that “it was unfortunate and its from a series of bad calls.”
pwndabear - January 4, 2012
also, good one on the “staph.”
pwndabear - January 4, 2012
Putting Harrison’s dirty ass out there is putting other players’ lives at risk. By your logic the Steelers entire coaching staff needs fired for allowing him on the field. Go troll elsewhere.
North Coast Flea - January 4, 2012
So, by your sophistry...
…Richard Seymour should be arrested for assault and battery, since he has punched two players. Funny how you immediately revert to the “troll” comment when an honest question is asked about your Browns, yet you have no compunction in making wild assertions about other teams.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
If the outcome affects someones lively hood, then yes. See Todd Bertuzzi.
Brownie's Year - January 4, 2012
and how many players has Harrison punched? At least a couple that I have seen. One in the SB in fact.
bross09 - January 4, 2012
Mike Webster?
People in glass houses…
Bernie19Kosar - January 4, 2012
Juicing in the 70's was league wide...
…and started with the Chargers. You telling me that NONE of the Browns players of that era ever used steroids? Yea, thought so.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
I’m not the one throwing stones here.
Quit the act of the Steelers being innocent. Who’s team doctor was caught with enough HGH for 100 people?
Bernie19Kosar - January 4, 2012
I never heard about that but doesn’t surprise me one bit. I’m sure they use roids all over the place too.
HenryDawg - January 4, 2012
Drink it up.
Dirtest franchise in the league that everyone ignores. Best part?
Yeah, nothing to see here.
Bernie19Kosar - January 4, 2012
Well, since you used this logic to defend the Browns organization on the concussion issue...
…NFL found nothing wrong with the situation.
NFL Players Union found nothing wrong with the situation.
Find something else to whine about.
by Bernie19Kosar on Jan 4, 2012 2:58 PM EST up reply actions
.
I guess, your steroid accusation is equally moot as well, since, in the same
article you quote above, is this little snippet you conveniently forgot to mention:
Yea, nothing to see here either.
PaVaSteeler - January 5, 2012
So the Steelers having to fire their team doctor is on par with being cleared of any wrong doing by the league and players union?
Classic Steeler fan rationale.
Bernie19Kosar - January 5, 2012
So, were there any sanctions imposed on the Steelers by the NFL...
…No. Any rules changes as a result of what the League found – No. The NFL left it to the Steelers to handle. Unlike the McCoy incident, where the leage had to impose a rule teams had to have a spotter in the press booth to tell the coaches and medical staff on the field when a player got whacked, because the Browns claimed no one knew McCoy was hurt (other than his finger).
I’m done with this. Obviously, the Steelers are the evil empire, who do everything wrong, while the Browns live in paradise, fart rainbows, cure world hunger, and defend all that is good.
Good bye
PaVaSteeler - January 5, 2012
Don’t let the door hit ya.
Bernie19Kosar - January 5, 2012
Lol no one cares that Roethlisberger hates us for cheering. We hate him for being a rapist too. Sure he doesn’t like us for that.
SpecialBrownie - January 2, 2012
Use the reply button
champion64 - January 2, 2012
I think he is responding the the article…
bross09 - January 2, 2012
He still can’t figure it out. I pity him really.
SpecialBrownie - January 2, 2012
Karma’s a bitch, that’s what they get for knocking Colt out for the rest of the season…
Jayson732 - January 2, 2012
I would rather have seen Harrison go down on a carrer ending injury. I wouldn’t have cheered or laughed, but I would have said, “Damn you got the F@@k knocked out” in my best Chris Tucker impersonation.
J. W. - January 3, 2012
So, what price will Karma make the Browns pay...
…for putting Colt back into the game when he clearly wasn’t in any condition to play? How can you possibly accept the BS that Holmgren tried to pass off as an “explanation” for what happened? McCoy, while he may not be a top 10 QB, clearly has plenty of heart and gives 100% effort. To sweep what was done to him under the rug like the League (and more offensively, your own FO) did, is pathetic.
You have a top 10 defense, are just a couple of offensive players away from respectibility on that side of the ball; you’ve got a tremendous player in Josh Cribbs, but all you want to do on this site is spew hatred towards the Steelers. Its a pity really, given the closeness of the original owners of these two teams, and how they worked together in the League to make the NFL possible, not to mention successful.
PaVaSteeler - January 3, 2012
Beat it. Nobody asked you. Especially if you live in NE Ohio and are a Steeler fan.
Les Fleurs Du Mal - January 3, 2012
So geography is the only legitimate criteria for who you can "properly" root for???
So you would give no credence to a Browns fan who grew up in Pittsburgh? Pretty exclusive world you live in.
PaVaSteeler - January 3, 2012
yes, because we totally are the attractive choice for bandwagon jumpers.
bross09 - January 4, 2012
Yes. Geography trumps all. Why would anyone in Cleveland root for the Browns using your logic?
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012 via mobile
Colt showed no sign of a concussion during the game. He said so himself. All he said that hurt was his hand, the concussion part came later.
Heavysoviet - January 3, 2012 via mobile
That's like relying on a the accused to prosecute himself...
…or an insane person to testify to his/her own mental competence. And it doesn’t jive with his later comments that he couldn’t remember anything. Last I checked, concussions aren’t slow to show up; either you have one, or you don’t.
Of course McCoy would deny it (if he really did); he’s a competitor who wanted to give his team the best chance to win. Not that he seems to get much love from DBN, but I’ve admired his heart, even if he may not be the best skilled starting QB in the league.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
Stop talking out of your ass and leave.
Brownie's Year - January 4, 2012
Or maybe your attitude is such...
…because it was such an egregious error in judgement from your medical staff, or gross incompetence, that you DBN’ers don’t want to admit.
Who would have been at fault had Colt been sacked again, and suffered permanent physical or mental damage as a result of not being fully capable of protecting himself?
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
SHHHH don’t go any further down this path, you don’t want to see where it leads. Needless to say it involves Templars, the Black Panthers and even George Lucas.
bross09 - January 4, 2012
NFL found nothing wrong with the situation.
NFL Players Union found nothing wrong with the situation.
Find something else to whine about.
Bernie19Kosar - January 4, 2012
And in fact, the NFL rule on the proper procedure for concussions...
…is to test, and to remove the player from the game even if “only” concussion-like symptoms are detected – NOTE, this means it doesn’t even have to be a concussion, but the NFL’s supposed concern over player safety mandates erring on the side of caution.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
You can in fact have a concussion and not show signs immediately, appear to be functioning normally, and later not remember anything that happened for several minutes (or more) after the hit. Would you care to stand in for a demonstration? But we can say that the Browns were wrong not to check Colt for a concussion knowing that he had just taken a hit from the biggest POS cheap shot artist in the league. If you care to make THAT argument, you may actually find some support here.
JustBob - January 4, 2012 via iPhone app
This is the crux of the issue...
and the BS the coaching staff gave trying to excuse their lack of competence, not to mention the NFL"s supposed concern over player safety and its BS solution – an observer in the press booth to notify the medical staff on the field when a player took a hit.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
HAHHHAHAA YOUR RUNNING BACK IS INJURED
pwndabear - January 4, 2012
The real cause of this whole issue.
North Coast Flea - January 4, 2012
They would not put Colt back in there if they felt he had concussion symptoms. Wallace was about to complete the drive.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012
You don’t know what you are talking about.
Brownie's Year - January 3, 2012
That’s not true — we also like to spew hatred towards the Ravens.
TheDriveStillHurts - January 3, 2012
LOL
Heavysoviet - January 3, 2012 via mobile
How was this not instantly green?
Bernie19Kosar - January 3, 2012
Yeah MORON they put him back in because our season was riding on that game! They assessed he was ok, it was a mistake.
The Steelers bring the Hatred on themselves. For year the Browns dominated the season series and then the tide changed and Pittsburgh dominated the season series but the Steelers gloated and forgot the past so there is a dislike in Cleveland for the Steelers.
Plus the fact your Steelers team has been light years ahead of us for 20 years. We get pissy. Natural to all die hard fans.
We do not like the following players, HINES WARD, BEN ROTHEISBERGER, R. MENDENHALL and James Harrison. Just the facts. We are sorry we dont have any players at this time other teams hate.
Now go back and be excited on your Steelers post
champion64 - January 3, 2012
I thought that was the purple browns?
Cleveland was awarded a new franchise after your owner moved his team to Baltimore. How do you as a city still claim what was won by a totally different franchise than what you have now?
steeler fever - January 3, 2012
Same franchise. Look it up, the records are in cleveland. The only relation the Baltimore Ravens have to the old Cleveland Browns is that Ozzie Newsome is in the front office.
I’m fine with you bashing Cleveland, but get your facts straight.
bross09 - January 3, 2012
Being knowledgeable isn’t your forte, it seems. Should probably stick to simple things like NASCAR and Dr. Seuss.
Heavysoviet - January 3, 2012 via mobile
Both of those things are well past his comprehension. He probably should stick to even simpler things like eating with utensils and toilet training.
HenryDawg - January 3, 2012
Too much multi-tasking, don’t think he can handle that.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012
good one.
pwndabear - January 4, 2012
We have 8 rings and you have 6
North Coast Flea - January 4, 2012
I can understand your years of frustration, I've had to deal with the Pirates since the early 90's, but...
…
A 4-12 season riding on that game??? Who’s the moron?
We’re not allowing Ryan Clark to play at Denver because of the potential risk to his health, and its a playoff game. Winning either of the two Steelers/Browns games would have gained your team nothing; in fact, it would have hurt your draft standings for next year.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
You should bring your sarcasmotron in to the nearest authorized dealer ASAP; it appears to be very, very broken.
Adrock2099 - January 4, 2012
Hey PaVa
I beleive its because the sterotype of a Browns fan is the reality of the Browns fans. As a person who lives nowhere near Cleveland or Pittsburgh, I had heard rumors about how Brownies acted, but until I came to this site, I figured it was hyperbole. I was wrong!
steeler fever - January 3, 2012
Who gives a rat’s ass what you say, you bandwagon fan. You aren’t even considered to be human.
Heavysoviet - January 3, 2012 via mobile
I just don't get DBN's obsession with this concept of "bandwagon" fan...
…its like you guys are so miserable with your Browns 2.0 that you resent anyone who might be a Browns fan who doesn’t live in close proximity to Cleveland, or anyone who is a fan of a team other than the one closest to where they live.
A small minded attitude, in my opinion. I enjoyed the rivalry during the 70’s, often traveling to Cleveland to watch the Steelers and Browns battle in the cold and snow. While I enjoyed the games, the “live” experience in your old stadium wasn’t the most pleasant; it was the only time I had to take an umbrella even though there was no rain in the forecast. Only beer being poured on us from the upper decks.
The NFL began its transformation into a soul-less corporate entity the day they allowed that rivalry to be broken up.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
Only cowards betray their home team to root for a team in a town they know nothing about. I have zero respect for traitors, of any team, of any place.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012
rec. Fer Sure…
Les Fleurs Du Mal - January 4, 2012
Bandwagon, bandwagon, bandwagon...
…is the only solace you guys have the feeling of superiority because you still root for the Browns?
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
Why are you even here? Our season is over and you guys come over here to talk trash. Take a hike.
Brownie's Year - January 4, 2012
I'm not talking trash...
…I’m trying to have a dialogue. What trash would I talk now? The issue I’m talking about has NOTHING to do with a win or a loss.
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
You’re pursuing a dialogue on a subject you know nothing about. Concussion symptoms CAN show up tardy. It’s a FACT. You obviously don’t know anything about the situation. But yet you keep accusing our staff of dishonorable actions. You lack the knowledge to hold any discrimination of the matter.
Brownie's Year - January 4, 2012
honestly, I don’t see how a Steelers fan can get any productive usage of his time once the season’s over on a wednesday, coming over to a Browns board. Either he is just reveling in the defeat of the browns and being an ass, or trolling. They look similar so its kind of hard to tell the difference.
bross09 - January 4, 2012
you guys can spell dialogOH wait thats right spell check.
pwndabear - January 4, 2012
As a person who’s clearly a front running fan, we’ll look forward to you trying to act like you’ve been a lifelong Browns fan when we’re kicking Steeler ass every year again.
Please be on the lookout for user “brown fever” in the next few years.
HenryDawg - January 3, 2012
Do not confuse this with attraction to Bollywood, Sophia Veraga or J-Lo’s sweet butt.
HenryDawg - January 3, 2012
For the Rooneys to sweep what Harrison, Ward and for the love god what Roethlisberger did under the rug is crazier!
Quality organization? They are not so squeaky themselves.
SBP - January 3, 2012
A week before Harrison went Kung-Fu in his old ladies’ house. You have no leg to stand on here Steeler fans.
Bernie19Kosar - January 3, 2012
Apparently, neither do you...
PaVaSteeler - January 4, 2012
Man, I thought you were pretending not to get the sarcasm before on purpose to be difficult. There is NO WAY you can actually think that champion64 was being serious.
Adrock2099 - January 4, 2012
Where did I say that? Go ahead and check, I didn’t.
And I will ask you again…NFL found nothing wrong with the situation.
NFL Players Union found nothing wrong with the situation.
What’s your beef?
Bernie19Kosar - January 4, 2012
I’m a Browns fan living in Pittsburgh. I was born in Cleveland. I have two daughters who will be Browns fans born in Pittsburgh. There’s a difference between lineage and Bandwagon jumping assholes cheering against their home team.
North Coast Flea - January 4, 2012
Being born and relocating and raising your children to like your teams in a third world country is one thing, but to pick up a Dallas or Pittsburgh fanship when someone’s family has always lived, in let’s say Washington State, should not even be considered people.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012
“But my cousin’s neighbor’s dad in Akron is a Steeler fan so I really had no choice BUT TO BE A SPINELESS, FRONT RUNING JERK.”
Les Fleurs Du Mal - January 4, 2012
Couldn’t have said it any better.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012 via mobile
Perhaps you should read more, try to obtain a bigger vocabulary
worldtrip - January 4, 2012
Perhaps you should crawl back to the wretched hole you spawned from. Go ask your mom to make you some more Hot Pockets.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012 via mobile
There, you have words like wretched and spawned in your vocabulary. I bet you could have said it better. You shouldn’t let the fact that you cheer for such a horrible football team affect your self esteem
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
damn they ARE dumb
pwndabear - January 5, 2012
I root for my hometown team. I’m not a coward like you, apparently.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012
A coward? Explain please.
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
I was raised in northeast Ohio, therefore my de facto team is the Browns. Nothing is wrong with my self esteem for liking the Browns. I will never change my fan loyalties, I will so much as stop watching football altogether before I abandon the Browns. You and your Steeler trolls have no place here. Run along now, before your daddy beats you again for hogging the computer.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012
But how does who you cheer for make me a coward?
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
You think you’re better than me because I like the Browns. We’ll see how you handle your team sucking for extended periods of time.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012 via mobile
I assure you that I don’t think I am better than you, and if I did it sure wouldn’t be because of any sports teams that either of us cheer for.
On the contrary, your comment
would indicate that you think you are better than me.So, again, I ask, what exactly makes me a coward?
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
You give off the impression of a coward. Coming in here, trying to insult my intelligence and my team. I’d say that makes you a coward.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012 via mobile
You have a strange definition of coward
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
You should leave, nobody wants you here.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012 via mobile
You guys have so much misplaced anger and resentment. It’s just a game.
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
You came in here and used insults on the first thing you said. Go stick a knife in a toaster.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012 via mobile
I’m not talking about your interaction with me specifically. Just how much anger and resentment so many of you on here seem to have towards the Steelers and their fans. It’s misplaced, and it’s just a game. That’s all I’m saying.
worldtrip - January 5, 2012
Most of us have anger towards people like you who stir the pot and have no business being here.
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012 via mobile
I feel for you, man. It must suck over there.
Heavysoviet - January 4, 2012
why is this article not recc’d more?
pwndabear - January 2, 2012
Did mendenhall take an arrow to the knee?
bross09 - January 2, 2012
Win!
brownsboy14 - January 3, 2012 via mobile
Did he use to be an adventurer like you?
North Coast Flea - January 4, 2012
Doubt it. Being an adventurer would require SOME skill or talent.
Doc's Kid - January 4, 2012
Its nice to send the Steelers to Denver with a gimpy QB and without their starting RB. Makes 4-12 feel a tiny bit better.
Les Fleurs Du Mal - January 3, 2012
definitely an asteroid game with tebow and the steelers present.
jonnyphoenix - January 3, 2012
They lucked out playing Denver. I don’t see the Broncos winning, unfortunately.
Heavysoviet - January 3, 2012 via mobile
Meteor.
TheDriveStillHurts - January 3, 2012
Tebow will just call up the four horsemen.
Adrock2099 - January 3, 2012 via mobile
Quinn knows how to beat the Steelers though.
North Coast Flea - January 4, 2012
No one should feel bad for some Bin Laden sympathizer. Steeler fans who support him are even bigger scum bags.
Would love to see Tebow send this team home.
LocalMan - January 3, 2012
lol
Are all Cleveland fans as goofy as what is represented on this blog. Sure go ahead and call me some names. You guys seem really good at that.
It just seems really strange…..
steeler fever - January 5, 2012
im sure underneath that fake exterior of yours, you’re a fairly mediocre person who may or may not have murdered someone.
pwndabear - January 5, 2012
Someone ban the Steeler trolls.
Brownie's Year - January 4, 2012
OMG NO its so easy to get them going and so much fun. they’re like monkeys stuck in cages. dangle a piece of fruit in front of them and refuse to give any to them so they start flipping out and then give them a little piece but as you go to hand it to them you have to smack them. they get so pissed off!
pwndabear - January 4, 2012
we flip out?
From my experience here, you guys are the ones who seem flipped out. Somebody should check the water in Cleveland. Seriously!
I would welcome being banned since I don’t know how to cancel my membership to this blog. What fan of a competing team would want to be a member of a site where all that happens when he visits is to be called every stupid name in the book of idiotic names.
steeler fever - January 5, 2012
LOL GOT ONE
also, im not from cleveland which shows that not only clevelanders hate you.
pwndabear - January 5, 2012
aha
you must be a bandwagon fan by your own definition. I am starting to get the feeling that being hated by a clevelander is a huge compliment. TY
steeler fever - January 6, 2012
He’s forming complete sentences now?
Heavysoviet - January 5, 2012
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