So the Steelers made it 12 in a row against the Browns on Sunday, a number that seemed in jeopardy for only a few minutes early in the fourth – especially during a bogus first down call on a fourth down QB sneak by Ben Roethlisberger. It’s becoming readily apparent that the Browns are still adjusting to Coach Mangini’s system and finding it hard to kick bad habits, but there is a desire to play hard and fight for a win that certainly was not present a year ago. They scored an offensive touchdown today for the first time in 12 games, they put the ball in Joshua Cribbs’ hands as often as possible – which is always a good thing – and the defense did a gret job keeping the Steelers out of the end zone at the end of the game. Now, if they can only work on …

1. … catching the damn ball!

After dropping eight passes a week ago against the Bills, Browns receivers let six more balls drop to the turf today. I can only remember one dropped ball that could be excused for a poor throw on Sunday – every other drop was completely inexcusable. Now that Braylon Edwards is in New York and Mohamed Massaquoi has stepped into the No. 1 receiver role, he has got to pull in the 10-yard outs that have consistently slipped thorugh his hands the past two weeks. Derek Anderson is throwing a stellar football right now and if the Browns want any chance at winning these division games, receivers have to come away with these catches, especially on third down. Speaking of which …

2. … We need to convert!

Before the Browns’ first touchdown, three drives ended with wide open drops on third downs and another on a poorly designed interception by Cribbs. The team only converted five of 13 third downs and by the second half the Steelers brought heavy blitzes every time, daring one of the Browns receivers to make a catch for the first. The AFC North has traditionally been a power running division in which the teams that could sustain long drives would ultimately succeed. The recent unexpected prosperity of the Steelers’ and Ravens’ passing games aside, those tough yards are still necessary, and come November and December will be crucial in order to compete. Brian Robiskie, Robert Royal and Chansi Stuckey have to learn to find the soft spots in the zone blitzes to that Anderson has quick and easy targets to offset the power rushers throughout the division. But going back to that Steelers passing game …

3. Where’s the coverage?

Let’s face it, the Browns secondary got torched today. For the second time in his career, Roethlisberger passed for more than 400 yards, most of which came on receptions to Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and tight end Heath Miller. The holes in the Browns’ secondary were disconcerting enough, but the yards after the catch that Ward and Holmes earned were especially problematic. The Browns left the middle of the field wide open all afternoon for Steelers receivers to roam on crossing routes and Miller to exploit on fly routes. Safeties Brodney Poole and Abram Elam struggled bringing any of them down after the catch as well, leading to huge gains, especially in the first half.

---SUMNER WIDDOES