BEREA, Ohio -- Entering Sunday's game in Cleveland, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown has an NFL record streak of 21 straight games with at least 50 receiving yards on at least 5 receptions.
The Cleveland Browns defense comes in on a streak, too. Of not stopping Brown. Or, through four games in 2014, not much of anyone else.
Five weeks after Brown caught 5 passes for 116 yards and a touchdown in a wild season opener between the Browns and Steelers, the Browns limp into the rematch with top cornerback Joe Haden injured and slumping. He's expected to be a game-time decision due to a hip injury.
Brown comes in streaking, and both teams not only need the game but see Brown's production as a key to it.
"Obviously, the matchup is an important one for both sides," Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. "It has a little intrigue to it."
The Steelers led the first game, 27-3, at halftime. The Browns tied the game in the second half before Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger did what he's almost always done against the Browns and led a drive to set up the winning field goal. The last two passes went to Markus Wheaton against Browns rookie cornerback Justin Gilbert.
The Steelers haven't been the only team to target Gilbert, who saw his snaps taken away last week coming off the bye. But with Haden's injury and undrafted rookie K'Waun Williams being a slot corner, Gilbert and his teammates have to be ready and have to be better if the 2-2 Browns are going to score what would be a huge win.
"I'm not down on that (cornerback) group because they want to get it right," Browns coach Mike Pettine said. "It's a matter of going out there and putting the work in. There's nothing magical about it. It's going out there, putting in the work. We've shown that we can do it. If it was a situation where we just couldn't get it right and can't make a play, it would be different.
"That's not the case. There are times we get it done, times we don't. Just the consistency thing that I've talked about -- take a lot of those minuses and push them into the plus category."
The Browns rank 31st in the NFL in total defense. The Steelers rank 4th in total offense, and Brown is unquestionably the top target of Roethlisberger, who's 18-1 in his career against the Browns.
Brown leads the NFL with 8 catches of 25-plus yards this season, ranks third in catches and yards and has almost always been good against the Browns.
"We know how we played (the Steelers) the first game," Pettine said. "The improvement that we can make, the things that we can continue to do well and the matchups...that's all this game comes down to. I don't think you can get tied up in it because I think it can only be a negative.
"I think it's critical for our guys to (where) we're more competing against our standards than we are anybody else in particular."
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