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Bad Browns, officials and Cutch’s future

Commentary

PITTSBURGH — OK, so the Steelers’ win in Cleveland wasn’t a work of art, but here’s some perspective:

n If you haven’t eaten for three days, you’re not going to complain that your Quarter Pounder was a bit overdone.

The Steelers went to Cleveland, a team in crisis on a four-game losing streak. They came away with a win and still remain in control of their own destiny to win the AFC North and make the playoffs.

n They left Cleveland with no new significant injuries, too. That’s a plus, especially with a short week to prepare for Thursday night’s game in Indianapolis.

The schedule threw them a break with the woeful Browns coming up at precisely the right time.

Win the game, take that break and try to build on it.

Never apologize for winning, no matter how automatic it may have seemed. But, man, the Browns are beyond awful.

Sign them up

Mike Tomlin renewed his call for the NFL to make game officials full-time employees, and it still doesn’t make any sense.

The problem with officiating football is 22 players are moving the moment the ball is snapped. Who can possibly see everything that’s going on in a tangle of six 300-pound men pushing each other?

Tomlin goes to Pirates and Penguins games, so surely he must notice that full-time officials get calls wrong in baseball and hockey, too.

What would NFL officials do during the week? Study tape, maybe. But how would that help them make split-second decisions when chaos develops during a play?

The NFL could easily afford the extra salaries. The issue is the officials don’t want their football work to be a full-time endeavor.

All the officials have other real-life jobs. The conspicuous Ed Hochuli is a partner in an Arizona law firm. That pays a lot more than refereeing NFL games over four months.

If the NFL demanded a full-time commitment from its officials, the turnover in the staff would be massive.

Would Tomlin and other coaches tolerate a big influx of officials working at the NFL level for the first time?

The NFL needs to find ways to improve officiating. Having the officials punch a daily time clock isn’t one of them.

Time to go?

There are a lot of rumors surrounding Andrew McCutchen as the MLB offseason heats up.

The belief here is that the Pirates will move him if they can get a major league pitcher and a prime prospect in return.

Thank you

The sentiment may be as corny as Aunt Martha’s succotash, but it’s sincere.

Every Thanksgiving Eve I reserve this block of space to thank you for reading.

We’ve been meeting here for a while now, and some of you have hung in there through the years and still read right to the end.

Thanks. Without you, this circus would have folded its tent a while ago.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com

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