The Sports Monitor

Embed from Getty Images Cue the music... Here we go Steelers, here we go. Yeah, it's playoff time. Thanks to a little help from the Buffalo Bills, the Pittsburgh Steelers are back in the postseason. The wild-card team will play the Cincinnati Bengals on Saturday night. That should be quite a showdown. But before we get into that game, let's look at Sunday's regular-season finale. It had the beginnings of the Ravens game from a week earlier, with turnovers costing the team and the Browns hanging around. Then the Browns realized they were the Browns. And some 200 miles away, Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick realized he was Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Steelers' defense showed some grit, Ben Roethlisberger found a receiver other than the irreplaceable Antonio Brown and the Steelers smothered the Browns at the end. And speaking of Brown, that was one heck of a season: 136 receptions for 1,834 yards. Imagine what he would have done with a healthy Ro...

View image | gettyimages.com Who had Ben Roethlisberger setting the NFL record for most yards by a backup in their office pool? 379. As in 379 yards passing. In a relief role. That's one heck of a day. Of course, it helps having two stellar wideouts like Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant to throw to. Yeah, and it's nice having the Browns on the other side, too, simply to add to the fun. Now the Steelers get a much-needed break before heading to Seattle. And, if you're keeping track at home, the Steelers (6-4) lead the Bills (5-4) and Jets (5-4) in the wild-card standings.

View image | gettyimages.com They can't be serious, can they? Ben Roethlisberger is questionable for Sunday's game against the Cleveland Browns. That's got to be some gamesmanship. If the Steelers can't beat the Browns without Roethlisberger, then maybe they aren't the playoff-caliber team they're supposed to be. It makes much more sense to hold out Roethlisberger this week. Add to it the bye week and he'll have two full weeks of recovery. Landry Jones is capable of leading this team. It's the Browns. It's at Heinz Field. Rest Roethlisberger. It's the smart move.

Cleveland is at the center of the sports universe. Can it really be? When you're talking Johnny Manziel and LeBron James, two of the biggest things going in sports, and they're both with Cleveland teams, then, yes, it is really happening. LeBron is the face of the NBA, and his Decision II, which Cleveland into a state of joy, is worthy of all the hype surrounding him. Say what you want about his leadership traits or the ability to win championships, he's the best player in the NBA. So when the best player in the league leaves the team he helped win two titles, it's big news. When it's LeBron, it's the story of the year -- at least if ESPN is concerned. LeBron makes the Cavs a legitimate title contender again, just like when he played for them. The genius of James' move is he rebuilds his image and still gets a shot to win a title. The NBA's Eastern Conference is a joke, so it's a lot easier for LeBron to make it back to the Finals than if...

Every now and then, there's an obituary that will stop and make you laugh. There was one today that made me want to pass it along. Scott E. Entsminger's obit described him as a lifelong Browns fan and a season-ticket holder. He also had an unusual request: He wanted six Cleveland Browns pall bearers so the Browns can let him down one last time. You can check out the full obit here .

Eight. As in eight turnovers. The Pittsburgh Steelers' offense had more turnovers than points (7) in Sunday's brutal-to-watch 20-14 loss to the Cleveland Browns. The day was better served to prepare for Cyber Monday shopping than enjoying a Steelers game. Charlie Batch looked like, well, Charlie Batch. The running game was 4-for-4, as in four different running backs with four lost fumbles. And despite all of the deficiencies on offense, the Steelers still had a chance to win the game in the closing minutes. I guess that chance existed in theory only. If you turned on the television late in the fourth quarter, you might have clung to the hope of a last-minute touchdown drive. The rest of us knew how it was going to end -- a loss to the lowly Browns. And while I just called them lowly, they are better than their 2-8 record coming into the game indicated. Their problem was closing out games, something they were able to do against the Steelers.   At least the de...

I wasn't impressed with Rashard Mendenhall this season. The Pittsburgh Steelers running back finished the season with 928 yards rushing on 228 carries, good for a 4.1 average. He also had nine touchdowns. He tore his ACL in Sunday's win against the Cleveland Browns, and now the Steelers will enter the playoffs without their leading rusher. No problem, I say. Mendenhall didn't have it this season. He had just two 100-yard games, 146 against the Jags and 116 against the Rams. Other than that, his best total was 70 yards against the Patriots. I don't think the Steelers will miss Mendenhall. Isaac Redman, despite his two fumbles against the Browns, is a capable fill-in. He totaled 479 yards on 110 carries, a 4.4 average. I expect the Steelers to use Redman, John Clay and Mewelde Moore against the Broncos. The bigger worry, to me, is Ben Roethlisberger's health and how he can handle the Denver defense. It's a shame Mendenhall was injured, but that wo...

I don't believe for a minute that Ben Roethlisberger is healthy enough to play against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Could he hobble around and throw the ball? Yep. Is it worth the risk? Nope. The Steelers should know around kickoff if their game against the Browns has any meaning. If the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens, then a Steelers' win gives them the AFC North title. If the Ravens win -- and I think they will -- then the Steelers' game is meaningless. Roethlisberger should sit either way. The Steelers shouldn't risk further injury to Big Ben. I understand his desire to play. But the Steelers need to understand the need to keep him healthy. Do you think the Browns would like a shot at injuring him as payback for Colt McCoy's concussion? I do. Any playoff run needs Roethlisberger to be as close to 100 percent as possible. I don't see how letting him play gets him closer to that goal.

The Cleveland Browns can't win on the field. They apparently don't know how to keep players healthy off the field. The Browns didn't conduct a concussion text on Colt McCoy after he was hit by Steelers linebacker James Harrison last Thursday, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. A few years ago a mysterious staph infection plagued the team. It was so bad, former player LeCharles Bentley sued the team in 2010. Maybe there's more to the losing than just the performance of the players. Just one more reason I'm glad I'm not a Browns fan.

I'll admit it. When Ben Roethlisberger left the field in the second quarter Thursday night, I thought the Steelers were going to lose to the Browns. There was no way Roethlisberger was going to return from that injury, I thought. The heck with losing to the Browns. From the looks of that injury on the replays, I thought you could kiss any dreams of a Super Bowl run goodbye. Yeah, I was way off on that one. Roethlisberger returned to start the second half and the Steelers did just enough to beat the Browns on national television. It looked like one of those games the Steelers would squander away. Hines Ward and Heath Miller each lost a fumble inside the red zone, and the Steelers started another drive inside the Browns' 40-yard line and came away with zero points. Ward, as a side note, didn't have another catch after that fumble. Even at the end, with Roethlisberger doing his best Willis Reed, it looked like the Browns would take the lead after the Steelers w...

Entering Week 10 in the National Football League, it appeared that the Houston Texans might have been the best team in the AFC. The Texans tumbled from the top after news reports revealed quarterback Matt Schaub could be lost for the season. The Texans (7-3) have a great running game, an excellent defense and have one of the best wide receivers in the game in Andre Johnson. Now they won't have a quarterback to throw Johnson the ball when he returns after his bye week. Matt Leinart is Schaub's backup, which means the Texans don't have a quarterback. Leinart couldn't win the quarterback job in Arizona after Kurt Warner retired and Leinart's former coach, Pete Carroll, didn't work out a reunion. The Texans' woes is good news for the Steelers, who have a week off to get healthy. The Steelers close out the season with the Chiefs, Bengals, Browns, 49ers, Rams and Browns again. The only tough test will be the road game against the 8-1 49ers. The main comp...