PITTSBURGH — Less than 24 hours after the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Browns and sent them back to Cleveland with a 1-5 record, Mike Tomlin criticized Browns general manager Andrew Berry for trading his starting quarterback to a division rival last week.

Berry sent veteran Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals for a fifth-round draft choice a little more than a month after he won the starting job.

"To be honest, it was shocking to me," Tomlin said Monday afternoon at his weekly news conference. "Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn't make sense to me — to trade a quarterback who you think enough of to be your opening-day starter to a division opponent that's hurting in that area. ... But that's just my personal feelings."

The Steelers travel to Cincinnati later this week for a Thursday night game against the Bengals. Flacco started for the Bengals on Sunday in their loss to the Green Bay Packers and threw for 219 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions. The Steelers and Flacco have a long history dating to his days as Baltimore's starting quarterback, but Tomlin's comments appear to be geared toward Berry helping out a division rival more than anything else.

That wasn't the only brow-raising comment from Tomlin during his news conference. He also said the field conditions at Acrisure Stadium were "poor" on Sunday. Special teams captain Miles Killebrew suffered a non-contact knee injury on the chewed-up playing surface, and the Steelers almost lost kicker Chris Boswell when his plant left got stuck in the surface on a field goal attempt in the second half.

"I thought it was poor yesterday," Tomlin said. "I'm not concerned going forward because it's my understanding that the turf is going to be swapped out. But I certainly acknowledge it was a concern yesterday."

Tomlin said he had no prior knowledge of the field conditions before he showed up for Sunday's game.

"I don't work over there," he said. "I work over here."

Boswell, who declined to speak with reporters after the game, is one of the few Steelers players who does practice at Acrisure Stadium during the week, so he probably knew it was going to be a challenging day beforehand. Boswell also had trouble with his footing during pregame warmups.

The Steelers-Browns game was the sixth game played there since Aug. 30. Pitt played four games there, and the Steelers also played there in Week 2.

Other than Killebrew's, Tomlin said the Steelers came out of the Browns game without any other injuries.

What he said

"I think that is very reflective of the environment. He's a good teammate. We're winning games. He knows his time is coming to ante up and kick in." — Tomlin on tight end Pat Freiermuth handling his reduced role without complaint

Our take

Freiermuth once again saw his playing time diminish against the Browns. While Darnell Washington and Jonnu Smith played 47 and 41 snaps, respectively, Freiermuth played only 21. This came on the heels of Freiermuth playing just 15 snaps in the previous game against the Minnesota Vikings.

Freiermuth's role is not likely to change Thursday night against the Bengals, who, like the Vikings and Browns, also employ a 4-3 base defense. In speaking about his tight ends room, Tomlin said the versatility of the group provides the coaching staff with options in how they'll attack opponents.

While Washington is important against 4-3 teams, Tomlin called Freiermuth a "zone killer," indicating he will have an increased role when the Steelers play teams that employ a lot of zone coverage in their pass defense.

What's next

The Steelers travel to Cincinnati for a Thursday night game against the Bengals. They have won three of the past four meetings and the past three games played in Cincinnati.

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