The Steelers were desperate this week, and it showed when they went out and signed free agents Plaxico Burress and Brian Hoyer. The former could be a major factor this week against Cleveland as wideout Antonio Brown is going to miss Week 12.
CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora wrote on Thanksgiving that Burress was expected to play and could end up playing a larger role. La Canfora confirms that Brown will miss Sunday's game as well. Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk reported Brown's absence early Sunday.
That absence means a bigger role for Burress.
The Steelers are already obviously without Ben Roethlisberger: Charlie Batch will start under center against Cleveland because of injuries to the ribs of both Big Ben and Byron Leftwich.
And Batch's weapons in the passing game will consist of Mike Wallace, Emmanuel Sanders, Heath Miller, David Gilreath and Burress. It's a short list, and it should scare Steelers fans.
Or, at the very least, convince them to expect a low-scoring game against the Browns on Sunday. At least they're not literally waving the white flag, though.
The last time that both Batch and Burress played for the same team in a game, by the way, was Nov. 30, 2003. Oddly enough, they've never started for the same team before.
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