While the Pittsburgh Steelers offense may have put up an exceptional 459 yards on a haphazard Cleveland Browns defense that was shorthanded in the secondary and sold out against the run, the fact of the matter is that the actual damage was made all the more worse when you factor in penalties.
In all, the Browns were flagged 16 times during the game, with 12 being enforced. One penalty was declined, another was offset, and twice they committed penalties on the same play, in which only one was enforced.
Of the 12 enforced penalties, six of them occurred against the defense, not including a special teams penalty on a field goal attempt that put the Steelers’ offense back on the field.