The Steelers Never Gave Batch A Chance

All last week Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin had one message for his team: make things easy for 37-year-old third-string quarterback Charlie Batch. Something must have gotten lost in translation because instead of taking care of Batch, the Steelers never gave him a chance. Not only did they lose the ball five times on fumbles, but without a running game Batch threw three interceptions as the Browns beat the Steelers, 20-14. Mike Wallace had just one catch against the Browns and couldn't hold onto a pass that turned into one of Batch's three interceptions. "Coach kept saying be quarterback friendly the whole week," said safety Ryan Clark. "He wanted to find ways to help him."

The Pittsburgh Steelers came to Cleveland with four running backs and all of them lost fumbles to a hard-hitting defense. It started with Rashard Mendenhall's fumble in the first quarter. After Mendenhall fumbled, Isaac Redman did the same on the Steelers' 19 in the second quarter. Jonathan Dwyer kept the ball bouncing with another fumble in the second quarter. Chris Rainey added the fourth late in the fourth quarter. Batch, however, was intercepted by Sheldon Brown midway through the third quarter. The Browns turned it into another touchdown for a 20-14 lead. In all, the Steelers turned the ball over eight times.

The Steelers still managed to keep the game close despite those turnovers and the penalties. They had 10 penalties for 90 yards. Flags routinely put the Steelers in terrible field position, wiped out long gains or forced the struggling Batch to throw the ball down the field into coverage.   Miraculously, the Browns only scored 17 points off the turnovers. The Cleveland Browns turned Mendenhall and Redman's fumbles into 10 points. Here's what happened following the Steelers' eight giveaways: four punts, two touchdowns, one field goal and one turnover that ended the game.