Steelers transitioning – Browns’ rivals not a team in transition

By STEVE KING

I heard something on ESPN Radio over the weekend that I had not heard in 20 years.

One of the network’s NFL analysts said the Browns’ longtime rivals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, “are clearly a team in transition.”

Hmmm.

The comment was, of course, spurred from the fact the Steelers have traded wide receiver Antonio Brown to the Oakland Raiders for third- and fifth-round choices in the NFL Draft, and also that they are almost certainly going to rid themselves of running back Le’Veon Bell.

Their two best players – not just on offense but overall, and perhaps the two best in the league at their respective positions – gone, just like that, in the veritable blink of an eye.

Any team – any team at all – would suffer by losing two players like them so quickly. And the Steelers surely will. How much so remains to be seen.

I hope that doesn’t happen.

Whoa! Wait a cotton-pickin’ minute! A Browns guy hoping that the Steelers avoid disaster?!

Really? Yes.

What’s next, dogs and coat sleeping on the same pillow, executives from Coke and Pepsi getting chummy, Democrats and Republicans actually agreeing on things?

Is the Apocalypse just around the corner?

Before we all get too crazy over this, let me explain.

I want the Browns to overtake the Steelers, but I want it to happen “fairly” – the traditional way – with the Browns elevating themselves to Pittsburgh’s level instead of the Steelers sinking back to Cleveland’s level.

I want the Browns to draft better, sign better free agents, develop their players better, coach better, game-plan better and perform better. I want the Browns to beat the Steelers in their head-to-head meetings.

No tricks. No hocus-pocus. No injuries. None of that. It would cheapen things.

And, by the way, I don’t think that, in any way, shape or form, the Steelers are a team in transition. They will still be the favorite to win the AFC North next season. They would have captured it last year if they had not had to battle all the distractions caused by the knucklehead behavior of Brown and Bell.

So the Browns are still looking up at the Steelers. I hope they catch them, and sooner rather than later.