How sweet it is!

The week hasn't officially started yet, and Joe Cleveland is already chalking it up to being the greatest week ever.

This is what happens when Ohio State can take out Michigan and the Cleveland Browns can do the same to the Pittsburgh Steelers in back-to-back home games on back-to-back afternoons.

Joe Cleveland was fortunate enough to witness the latter in person. I was also at the 2009 Thursday night game in which the Browns sacked Ben Roethlisberger eight times and stunned the Squeelers, 13-6. This one might have been a bit better.

Sure, Consentlessberger wasn't in uniform for this one. He sat on the sidelines nursing broken ribs. Also, Troy Polamalu wasn't in uniform, but then again, he hasn't been in uniform very much this season and yet the Steelers defense came into Sunday's game ranked No. 1.

It doesn't matter.

As Pat Shurmur told the team after their 20-14 victory that was more dominating than the score actually indicated, "You rookies are now 1-0 against the Steelers."

Jimmy Haslam, who was in the other owners box for several Browns-Steelers games that went the way of the Yinzer, is now 1-0 as the Browns' owner against the team he was once affiliated with.

Shurmur is now one of just three Browns coaches since the team returned in 1999 to beat the Steelers. The other two -- Eric Mangini (2009) and Chris Palmer (1999 and 2000). Coincidentally, both Mangini and Palmer were fired after just two years on the job, and -- a win Sunday regardless -- Shurmur is still expected to be fired after this season, his second year on the job.

Brandon Weeden becomes the third Browns starting quarterback to win a game against the Steelers. Tim Couch was the starter for the wins in 1999, 2000 and 2003, while Brady Quinn started the 2009 game. Weeden also becomes just the second rookie quarterback to beat a Dick LeBeau defense while LeBeau headed up the Steeler D.

The eight turnovers forced by the Browns were the most a Steeler team committed since 1989. It was also the most the Browns forced since 1989. Coincidentally, the last time it happened for either team, they played each other in a very memorable 51-0 season-opening victory at Three Rivers Stadium (Bud Carson's finest hour).

Sure, the starting quarterback may have a 37-year-old third-stringer and one of the wideouts may have been a 35-year-old guy who was sitting on his couch this season and had missed most of the last four seasons after shooting himself in the leg at a nighclub. And, it may have only been a six-point win.

But, in the end, it was a Browns victory ... OVER THE STEELERS!!!

Hallalujah!

Last season, you could sense the Browns were right there, as far as being physical with the ever-intimidating Steelers. The Steelers won both games, 14-3 and 13-9, but the Browns made the Steelers work for both games.

The Browns injured Roethlisberger in that first game, and forced him to play the entire game in the season finale when they had hoped to jump out to a commanding lead in that season finale to prepare for the playoffs. They also took out Polamalu and running back Rashard Mendenhall during that season finale, and without them, Pittsburgh lost a Tim Tebow-led Broncos team in the first round of the playoffs.

This year, it was the Browns that were the physical team. It was the guys in brown jerseys who were intimidating. It was the Browns that delivered solid hits that forced six fumbles -- five recovered by the Browns.

Don't look now, folks, but the the balance of power in the AFC North is shifting. The Steelers are getting older and more beat up, while the Browns are younger and hungrier.

The Ravens continue to win, but they, too, are also getting older and beat up. Meanwhile, the younger Bengals made the playoffs last season and are sneaking back into the hunt after being written off by many following a 34-24 loss to Browns a few weeks ago.

Could the road to the AFC North championship be going through Cleveland and Cincinnati the next few seasons? What does this Sunday tell you?

The Browns dominated the Steelers. The Bengals dominated the Raiders. The Ravens had to rally to beat the rudderless Chargers in overtime -- a team that lost to the Browns a few weeks ago.

Haslam wisely stepped in and pulled the plug on the disasterous "white flag" promotion. They should have put those palates outside the Steelers locker room so they could take them as they left. Or, handed them out after the game to anyone wearing black and yellow and crying in their little yellow towels.

Probably the only thing better than watching the Browns beat the Steelers was watching all of those stunned Steeler fans, who so gleefully twirled their towels and tried to make Cleveland Browns Stadium Heinz Field West just a few hours earlier, walk out into the chilly Cleveland afternoon zombie-faced, like the famine just hit their village or something.

It was a beautiful thing.

Now, the Browns improve to 5-23 against those Stillers since 1999. Not a fantastic stat, but keep this one in mind.

In the years Cleveland beat Pittsburgh (1999, 2000, 2003 and 2009), the Steelers were denied a playoff berth. Sitting at 6-5 with another game with the Ravens on tap next week and not getting any healthier, 2012 could be another notch in that chain.

This week, Browns fans don't have to hear it from those front-running losers at their workplaces or in their circle of friends. Now, WE can be the ones who let them have it.

Like I said before, we haven't seen the Buckeyes and Browns score wins over their archrivals in the same weekend since 1962, so this one was a long time coming. Just imagine if the Cavs could have held on against LeQuitter's Heat Saturday night?

Speaking of the Buckeyes, you've got to congratulate them on a 12-0 season -- a season that nobody expected. Sure, some true Buckeye homers probably thought Urban Meyer would have Ohio State in the national title game in his first year, but most would have been happy with a winning record and another win over That Team Up North.

Who would have thunk it that, if not for a bowl ban, Meyer could have very well had the Buckeyes playing for a national championship in January, and against Notre Dame, even? Take that, ESPN and SEC!

Last season, this team finished a dismal 6-7 under Luke Fickell. With Meyer, that got transformed to 12-0. This is not a coincidence.

Meyer's spread offense fits Braxton Miller like a glove. Unlike Rich Rodriguez, who came to Michigan as an unpopular choice and then proceeded to force his spread down his school's throat despite not having the proper personnel (and was fired after just three seasons), Meyer knew that the Buckeyes had the pieces in place to make the transtion to the spread pretty seemless.

He was able to convince the seniors, whom he didn't recruit, to stay, even though they had the right to transfer penalty-free to another university when the NCAA sanctions were handed down.

They didn't blow the doors off their opponents, which some critics have brought up. However, the fact remains that they played in 12 games and won them all.

If Ohio State is not the preseason No. 1 next season, then something is definitely wrong.

Meyer got the rivalry back to Ohio State's side after Jim Tressel owned Michigan during his 10-year career (9-1) and the hiccup last season under Fickell. It looks like it will be there to stay for the time being.

Ohio State beating Michigan and the Browns beating the Steelers. Yes, Thanksgiving DOES mean something, after all!

***

Don't look now, but this Browns team could use the Steeler win to springboard themselves to a fanstastic finish.

The 2009 team responded from that 13-6 Steeler win to rip off four consecutive victories to end the season. The winning streak saved Mangini's job for a season under incoming team president Mike Holmgren, who was rumored to have been hired just before that Steeler game.

This season, the Browns follow up with games against Oakland on the road (3-7), Kansas City (1-10) and Washington (5-6) at home, and Denver (7-3) and the Steelers (6-5) on the road. Only the Bronco game appears to be totally unwinnable, and that could be interesting if they clinch prior to that and rest Peyton Manning and some of the starters.

The Redskins under Robert Griffin III are playing well lately, but it should be cold on Dec. 16. RG3's idea of cold growing up in Texas was 55 degrees.

The Browns could very well be 8-8 (if all the planets and stars align properly) or, at least, 6-10 when this season is all said and done.

6-10 isn't great, but it is progress from 4-12 and 5-11 over the last four seasons. If two of those six wins are against Pittsburgh, you can make a case for Shurmur to stick around for another season.

Some idiots are complaining about draft position ... ENOUGH ALREADY!! If we perennially play for the damn draft, we'll always rebuild. You need to win games, that's the bottom line. And, is there any lock-down player that you need to get in the top three or four this year? Matt Barkley, Geno Smith and Collin Klein aren't looking likc locks to be future QB studs in the NFL, and most of the high prospects appear to be on the defensive side.

So, quit bellyaching about how the Browns won or why they won. The bottom line is, THEY BEAT THE DAMN STEELERS!!! Be a true damn Browns fan and ENJOY IT for once!!!

I will say, though, that anything less than that 6-10 projection, and Shurmur is gone ... even if they can beat the Steelers again at Heinz Field in the season finale.

The Browns aren't a great team, but anyone with any knowledge of the NFL can see that this team has some interesting and intriguing pieces in place. This team has talent, and that talent was on display. That talent will only get better with more experience and with better coaching.

Football fortunes are on the rise in Ohio. Just you wait and see.

Until next time, remember that Cleveland Rocks!

And, PITTSBURGH SUCKS!