PITTSBURGH: Browns rookie offensive lineman Cameron Erving experienced some welcome-to-the-NFL moments Sunday in a 30-9 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field.
Starting for the first time since the Browns drafted him 19th overall, Erving took a few noticeable lumps while filling in for left guard Joel Bitonio, who missed the first game of his career with an ankle injury suffered Nov. 5 in a loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Until Sunday, Bitonio had started all 25 games since the Browns drafted him in the second round last year.
“It’s his first start, and he’s going to make mistakes,” Browns coach Mike Pettine said of Erving after the game. “I know there were a handful that are glaring. I prefer to grade the tape and see what it was overall. I’m sure he did some good things, but there were a couple obvious negative ones that jumped out.”
On first-and-goal from the Steelers’ 1-yard line, Erving had his most costly miscue when he held linebacker Arthur Moats. The penalty wiped out a touchdown run by running back Isaiah Crowell with 1:23 left in the third quarter, and the series eventually ended with quarterback Johnny Manziel throwing an interception.
“I obviously saw the holding, but there’s other people that had penalties,” right guard John Greco said. “So we can’t just kind of blame him for everything.”
“When you get a penalty like that, what you say to him in a game is, ‘Hey, we’ve got to move on to the next play,’ ” eight-time Pro Bowl left tackle Joe Thomas said. “We’ll obviously watch and see what happened and see if it was deserving and see how he can fix it, so it doesn’t happen again.”
It was Erving’s second holding penalty of the game. He also received one in the second quarter.
“It’s definitely a different game,” said Erving, who played center and left tackle for Florida State University. “Did some things well, did some things not quite so well. It’s a learning experience.”
Perhaps the toughest lesson unfolded when Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward steamrolled Erving, knocking him onto his back and tackling Crowell for a 5-yard loss during the final play of the first half. It didn’t take long for a video of the play to go viral online. The NFL’s official Twitter account passed it along, accompanied by the text “Cam Heyward vs. Cam Erving: Advantage Heyward.”
ProFootballFocus.com ranked Heyward as the fourth-best 3-4 defensive end in the league entering the weekend.
“He’s a great player,” Erving said. “He’s playing at a really high level this year.”
Erving also surrendered a sack to Steelers defensive end Stephon Tuitt early in the third quarter.
Hawkins hospitalized
Browns receiver Andrew Hawkins was hospitalized at a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for overnight observation after suffering his second concussion in three weeks.
Hawkins left the game with 14:02 remaining after taking a shot to the head from linebacker Jarvis Jones on free safety Mike Mitchell’s interception return of a pass intended for Hawkins.
Hawkins also suffered a concussion Oct. 25 in St. Louis against the Rams and was sidelined for the next two games. Hawkins’ brother Artrell, a former NFL defensive back who spent six of his nine seasons with the Bengals, posted the news on Facebook and asked for fans’ prayers.
Andrew Hawkins tied his season-high with seven catches for 69 yards.
In Pettine’s corner
Fans were calling for Pettine’s firing on Twitter after the Browns’ fifth consecutive loss. But Pettine received vocal support afterward from Thomas and Greco.
“I’m behind him. I can only speak for myself,” Greco said. “I like to consider myself a leader on this team. There’s a lot of guys in here, young guys and guys that have been around for a long time, that aren’t going to quit no matter what. This is my job, I can’t just throw it in the tank and say, ‘We’ll worry about next year.’ I know everyone in this locker room has the same mindset.
“We have six games left. We can correct this. We can rest our bodies over the bye. We have another divisional game coming up Monday night (Nov. 30) against the Ravens. What better time to get a win in the division and start to finish the season the right way?”
Asked if Pettine still had command of the team, Thomas said, “I think so. You look at the effort the players are giving and from what I saw, it seemed like guys are playing extremely hard, all the way until the end, even when you’re down a few scores. So I don’t really see any loss of command or anything like that. I see guys are still playing really hard for him. We’re just not executing the way we need to.”
P.I. issues
The Browns were flagged for 12 penalties for 188 yards, second-most in Browns history, and four of those were pass interference calls for 141 yards. Three came trying to cover receiver Antonio Brown, who caught 10 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns, the other when defending receiver Martavis Bryant, who pulled in six passes for 178 yards and a TD.
Browns rookie cornerback Charles Gaines was called for a 43-yarder on Bryant and safety Johnson Bademosi for a 39-yarder on Brown. Cornerback Tramon Williams had two, a 38-yarder on the next play after Bademosi’s and a 29-yarder with 1:16 remaining.
“The thing that’s easy to accept at times is when they make a play and out-execute you,” Pettine said. “When some of their yardage comes as a result of us being undisciplined and making simple mistakes and mental errors, we have to get that tightened up across the board.
“Defensively, the secondary play was not anywhere near our standards. There were too many long balls.”
Williams hates the way the Browns are self-destructing.
“It’s crazy — you look at this league and the small things are what turn into big things. At the worst moments, whether it’s penalties, different scenarios, we’re getting the bad end of the stick,” Williams said. “It’s our fault we’re losing these games, but we’re helping the other team out, too. We’ve got to find a better way. If we’re going to lose, we’ve got to lose being more disciplined, just doing it our way. We’re not doing it our way. We’re losing and we’re giving away games at the same time.”
Costly flag
The Steelers led 6-3 late in the second quarter and a drive stalled at the Browns’ 9, forcing a 26-yard field goal attempt by Chris Boswell. But Browns’ linebacker Armonty Bryant was called for using “leverage” as he attempted to block the kick.
That set up the Steelers with a first and goal at the Browns 4 and they as they needed only one play to score as Ben Roethlisberger found Brown for the touchdown. The Steelers tacked on a two-point conversion, Roethlisberger to Brown again, to take a 14-3 lead with 3:27 remaining in the second quarter.
“That’s frustrating because it’s very out of character for him,” Pettine said. “Our guys are well aware of the rule. I’m not sure why he got it in his head to try to do that. That’s an example of somebody wanting to try to make a play, but kind of losing his mind a little bit there. He knows what he did was wrong, but it’s unfortunate that it came at that point in time. It ended up costing us (five) points.”
Helmet yank
Manziel survived a vicious yank of his face mask by Moats with 9:27 remaining in the second quarter. Moats was flagged for a personal foul. After the game he tweeted an apology to Manziel.
“@JManziel2 My bad on the facemask bro. No hard feelings,” Moats said via his Twitter, @dabody52.
Manziel downplayed how he felt after the play, even though Moats wrenched his neck.
“Those guys are big, those guys are physical, it’s tough to find another bunch of edge rushers, pass rushers like they have, and they were even missing one today,” Manziel said. “I’m always thankful to come out of a game healthy, but for the most part, just take some of those shots, it’s just part of the game.”
Manziel headed to the sideline and Austin Davis trotted out, but Manziel was back before the ball was snapped.
“My chinstrap kind of came up and knocked my contact up into the back of my eye,” Manziel explained. “I thought it was good for a minute and then when I went to close one eye and blink, everything was pretty blurry. So I needed to try and get that one out and get another one in.”
Injury report
Defensive end Randy Starks suffered a knee injury in the second quarter and did not return. Pettine said he will have an MRI Monday.
Receiver Taylor Gabriel was helped off with 6:03 remaining, suffering a concussion on a hit from Steelers’ strong safety Will Allen on a 6-yard catch.
Rough debut
Gaines was activated from the short-term injured reserve list on Tuesday and received his first playing time with cornerbacks Joe Haden (concussion) and Justin Gilbert inactive.
It was a rocky debut for the sixth-round pick from Louisville and one play illustrated Gaines’ travails. Bryant beat Gaines down the sideline for a 64-yard catch with 12:20 left in the second quarter, but Gaines came back to force Bryant’s fumble and K’wan Williams recovered at the Browns’ 14. The turnover survived a replay review to check whether Bryant stepped out of bounds before the fumble.
Gaines finished with five tackles.
Muff on muff
Jacoby Jones muffed a punt to start the second quarter and Bademosi thought the Browns’ Jordan Poyer or Barkevious Mingo recovered the ball in the scrum. But Bademosi got confused and pointed the wrong way, although he eventually figured it out. His first instincts were correct, as Jones recovered.
Inactives
Browns wide receiver Dwayne Bowe was inactive for the sixth time in 10 games and Gilbert for the third time. Both were healthy scratches.
Bowe joined the Browns in March by signing a two-year, $12.5 million contract, which includes $9 million guaranteed. Gilbert was the eighth overall pick in last year’s draft, but he has only played defense twice this season.
Pettine’s decision to sit Bowe and Gilbert looks like an affront to general manager Ray Farmer, but Pettine said that’s not the case.
“I have very positive discussions with Ray. There’s not a player that’s been brought into the Cleveland Browns since I’ve been here that the coaching staff and the GM weren’t on the same page with,” Pettine said.
Also inactive for the Browns were quarterback Josh McCown (ribs), strong safety Donte Whitner (concussion), left guard Joel Bitonio (ankle) and tight end E.J. Bibbs.
Poyer started at safety in place of Whitner, who missed his second consecutive game, and cornerback Pierre Desir made his second consecutive start for Haden.
Quarterback Mike Vick, safety Shamarko Thomas (knee), running back Isaiah Pead (knee), linebacker Terence Garvin (knee), offensive tackle Byron Stingily, tight end Matt Spaeth (knee) and linebacker James Harrison (knee) were inactive for the Steelers.
Extra points
• Tight end Gary Barnidge caught a 7-yard TD pass, giving him seven this season, tied for the Browns’ second-most in a single season. He trails only Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome, who had nine in 1979.
• Manziel’s 372 passing yards were the fourth-most by a Brown on the road and the 10th-most by a Brown in a single game.
• Travis Benjamin’s 61-yard catch in the first quarter was the longest play of the season. The “Rabbit” notched his third career 100-yard game, catching seven passes for 113 yards.
• Travis Coons improved to 16 for 16 on field goals with a 23-yarder, but missed his second extra point in 16 tries.
• Brian Hartline caught a season-high seven passes for 69 yards.
• Rookie running back Duke Johnson Jr. and special teamer Marlon Moore took over for Gilbert as kickoff returners. Johnson averaged 26 yards on two returns, Moore 24 yards on two.
• Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue attended the game.
• Fullback Roosevelt Nix, a former Kent State defensive tackle, caught his first career pass, a 10-yarder, on the Steelers’ first play of the game.