Either Sheldon Richardson just ate a VERY good Thanksgiving dinner, or he's cooking up a Cleveland revenge 16 years in the making.
The Browns haven't won a game in Pittsburgh since 2003. That's a year before Ben Roethlisberger was drafted. Yet, according to the Browns DL, it's time for a changing of the guard, and that's all aided by how Cleveland performed in the teams' first matchup just two weeks ago.
“You can say it. We beat the stuffing out of them last game,’’ Richardson said. “But you know, like I said, this last game, it’s a new week up and I’m pretty sure they’re going to come in revved up and ready to play and beat us the way we beat them. So we’ve got to make sure we don’t allow that.’’
Richardson's been incredibly talkative this week, stating that he hopes Mason Rudolph gets some playing time after the Steelers QB and Myles Garrett brawled in the first edition of the Pittsburgh-Cleveland rivalry in 2019, before Rudolph was benched midway through the disastrous game that followed.
The Browns haven't swept the season series with the Steelers since 1988. That's a fact, and a major hurdle to overcome for a team that considers itself the "team of the future" in the AFC North. Considering Cleveland fans have heard this premonition of greatness about once a season for the past decade and a half, we'll believe it when we see it.
If this truly is the beginning of something great in Cleveland sports, Richardson and Co. must come forth with a valiant performance on the road in Pittsburgh.