Browns, Steelers: 3 fined, including 2 PIT defenders, from Week 11

The AFC North battle left a few players banged up and a few with less Christmas money

The Cleveland Browns ran a two-game AFC North gauntlet versus the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers in Weeks 10 and 11. Despite losing QB Deshaun Watson after the Ravens game, the Browns won both games and are in position to battle for the top of the AFC at 7-3.

The battle with the Steelers wasn’t a pretty one with Cleveland leaving with the victory but also losing safety Rodney McLeod in the process.

While Pittsburgh continues with AFC North matchups, this time the Joe Burrow-less Cincinnati Bengals are on the schedule, the Browns travel to take on the Denver Broncos in Week 12 of the 2023 NFL season. Both games pit teams with playoff aspirations.

As the NFL does every week, fines from the previous week’s action came down the following Saturday. Two Steelers defenders were hit with fines for plays against the Browns:

While some Pittsburgh fans wondered if this hit even warranted a flag, the NFL rules deem any roughing the passer penalty worth a fine as well:

To make matters worse for McLeod, he was also fined “$7,319 for unnecessary roughness for an unspecified action during a second-quarter punt that was not penalized during the game.”

Getting fined while laid up with an injury for the rest of the season is tough.

Cleveland has just one more AFC North matchup in front of them, the Bengals in Week 18. That game could mean everything or nothing for both teams involved by that point in time but is likely to be physical and chippy no matter what.