Steelers’ Mike Tomlin notes unfamiliar aspects of familiar Browns ahead of Thursday matchup

The Pittsburgh Steelers haven’t faced any team more often than the Cleveland Browns. Mike Tomlin has met Cleveland 35 times in his tenure as Steelers coach, with nine of those (including playoffs) involving current Browns coach Kevin Stefanski.

But while much of the Steelers’ next opponent is highly familiar, Tomlin recognizes there remains plenty of unknowns during a quick turnaround before the Steelers face the Browns on Thursday night.

Cleveland’s offense has undergone a makeover over the past month with a new quarterback and play-caller in addition to a revamped wide receivers corps.

“We have a lot on that side of the ball to get ready for and be urgent about,” Tomlin said during his weekly news conference Monday.

“Particularly because of the lack of familiarity at some positions, particularly quarterback and play-caller, and some of the receivers are new.”

Whereas the Browns began the season with Deshaun Watson as quarterback and Stefanski calling the plays, over the past three games it has been Jameis Winston at quarterback and offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey handling play-calling duties. The moves coincided with an injury to Watson, but Cleveland’s offense had struggled all season. Stefanski had called plays over his entire head coaching tenure before this past month.

Additionally, the Browns traded who would be considered their No. 1 wide receiver, Amari Cooper, to the Buffalo Bills on Oct. 15. And one piece utilized to pick up the slack at wide receiver — former first-round pick Kadarius Toney — made his Cleveland debut during Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints.

Tomlin noted that the Steelers are familiar with Dorsey after his time calling plays for the Buffalo Bills but that the film study from the past three games with Cleveland is far more relevant as the Steelers prepare for Thursday.

“I am really just trying to get a sense of what does Ken Dorsey as the primary play-caller mean. How is it different?” Tomlin said. “What are the challenges for us relative to what we are used to regarding Cleveland?”

A former No. 1 overall draft pick, Winston is in his first season with the Browns. In his first start for them Oct. 17, he engineered an upset of the Baltimore Ravens.

The Steelers have never faced Winston, a veteran of 10 years and 101 games.

“We have to familiarize ourselves with that (Winston-Dorsey) tandem,” Tomlin said, “and how they work and what does that mean to their schematics and personality on offense.”

No matter who or what the Steelers embark on preparing for, they must do it over about a 72-hour period. Tomlin said the schedule is so compressed that even some 20 hours after Sunday’s big division win against the Ravens that he “had not watched a snap of it.”

“On a short week, my attention needs to turn to Cleveland,” he said.

Not that two games in five days is all that unusual in the NFL these days. Like every NFL team over the past decade or so, the Steelers have played on a Thursday after playing on a Sunday at least once per season. They did so twice during the second half of last season and will play two games in a five — day span twice over a six-week span this season.

“Obviously, we’ve got to make really good decisions this week about strategy,” Tomlin said. “What to run, what not to run? What can we perform on a limited amount of physical repetitions? What do we need to take a calculated risk in terms of running on a limited amount of physical repetitions?

“I just think that that’s always the case on Thursday. We don’t default to base menus and things of that nature, particularly when you plan someone that is familiar with you, as Cleveland is with us.”