Browns, Fan Get Flattened

The Pittsburgh Steelers were the worst possible kind of out-of-town guests: unruly, unkind and unrelenting.

Dominating from the moment they took the field, the Steelers overwhelmed the Cleveland Browns, 41-0, on Saturday, improving their AFC playoff chances while embarrassing a team that is a rival in name only.

Ben Roethlisberger threw a touchdown pass, Willie Parker had an 80-yard touchdown run and the Steelers (10-5) thrashed rookie quarterback Charlie Frye -- and a foolish Cleveland fan -- in their lopsided win.

“We made a statement,” said linebacker James Harrison, who blocked a punt and body-slammed a Brown fan who ventured on to the field. “We won, that was the statement we wanted. Margin of victory, stuff like that, is nice. But winning and going to the playoffs is our goal. That’s what we want.”

And that’s what they’ll get if the Steelers continue to play like they did Saturday.

With thousands of their fans waving “Terrible Towels” from every corner of Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Steelers dominated the Browns as thoroughly as in almost any meeting in the rivalry’s 55-year history.

Pittsburgh outgained Cleveland, 457 to 178, and sacked Frye eight times. The Steelers handed the Browns (5-10) a loss every bit as demoralizing as their 43-0 shutout in the 1999 season opener when Cleveland made its return to the NFL as an expansion team.

“It’s definitely the most embarrassing loss of my career,” Browns cornerback Daylon McCutcheon said. “This is way worse than ’99. In ‘99, we didn’t have a good team, now we got talent. But from the opening kickoff, we played bad football. Today we stunk.”

Then there was the fan who jumped the railing and sprinted onto the field in the fourth quarter. He made a move toward Pittsburgh’s bench before he was pancaked by Harrison before police took him away.

“I didn’t know what he was going to do,” Harrison said. “So I waited until he turned his back to me. Then I thought I could safely take him down and hold him until the authorities got there.”