PITTSBURGH (AP) — The yard lines weren't the only things lost in the early winter squall that swept off Lake Erie and turned Huntington Bank Stadium into a snow globe on Thursday night.
The “good vibes only" mindset that carried the Pittsburgh Steelers through two-plus months of solid if not always spectacular football disappeared in a 24-19 loss to last-place Cleveland.
Over three eventful hours, all the ingredients of a classic “trap game” the Steelers (8-3) were hoping to avoid created a recipe with an all-too-familiar aftertaste of regret and missed opportunities,.
A bit of immaturity from wide receiver George Pickens, who got into an MMA-style exchange with an opposing defensive back ... again.
A pinch of frustration from normally stoic defensive tackle Cam Heyward, who vented afterward about being held on a decisive snap.
An ounce — OK, several ounces — of confusion from a coaching staff that couldn't seem to decide whether to accept a late Browns penalty and then compounded it by taking a valuable timeout immediately afterward when the defense couldn't get lined up right.
A dash of curious game planning, one that included inserting backup quarterback Justin Fields in high-leverage situations, most notably on third-and-6 with less than 5 minutes to go with the game still in the balance. The gambit that worked beautifully in an emotional victory over Baltimore last Sunday was a decidedly more mixed bag this time around.
Add it all up and the result was Pittsburgh's fifth loss in its last seven trips to Cleveland, squandering a chance to move closer to its first AFC North title in four years.
“We have a lot of football left,” quarterback Russell Wilson said. “We have a lot of opportunities to respond in the highest way, (the) highest level. I think everything that we want is still in front of us.”
Yet a team that's been one of the league's bigger surprises failed to avoid a misstep and provided a reminder that for all the good things it has done of late, the Steelers remain a work in progress.
“It is very deflating,” outside linebacker T.J. Watt said. "We need to close out games and we were not able to do that tonight. It sucks that we could not hold on, but a loss is a loss.”
Wilson's moonball. Even amid the snowflakes and quick deteriorating conditions, Wilson was unafraid to let the ball fly. Wilson averaged a healthy 12.9 yards per completion, including deep shots to Pickens, Van Jefferson and Calvin Austin III, the last a 23-yard flip to the end zone that Austin cradled to give the Steelers a late lead.
If there's one thing that Wilson has shown during his first five starts, it's the situation — be it the score, the down, the time left on the clock or the weather — is immaterial. He will throw it where he wants when he wants, regardless of the circumstance.
The final numbers for the offense — namely 368 yards and 35 minutes of possession — were good. The eye test, however, was another matter.
The line had trouble protecting Wilson, giving up four sacks, and generating push when it mattered. Take out a 30-yard sprint by Fields and Pittsburgh averaged less than 3 yards per carry on the ground.
The Steelers had the ball with under 5 minutes to go knowing two or three first downs would win in it. So middling runs and one ill-advised pass down the sideline by Fields later, Pittsburgh punted and momentum swung one last time.
Outside linebacker Nick Herbig shows a more than passable T.J. Watt impression when healthy. Herbig's strip-sack of Jameis Winston midway through the fourth quarter set up Austin's go-ahead touchdown. Herbig now had 3 1/2 sacks and three forced fumbles despite missing four games with a hamstring injury.
Pickens displays anger issues, particularly when things don't go his way. The third-year wideout had his third very public, strikingly violent outburst in two months when he got into it with Browns cornerback Greg Newsome III after a last-gasp Hail Mary fell incomplete.
The NFL fined Pickens more than $10,000 after he grabbed Dallas defensive back Jourdan Lewis by the facemask at the end of a loss in October. Two weeks ago Pickens and Washington's Mike Sainristil exchanged punches following an interception.
The volatile Pickens is by far Pittsburgh's best playmaker. Yet with the stakes likely raised in the coming weeks, he needs to keep his emotions in check if he wants to make sure he stays on the field.
Pittsburgh could have starting outside linebacker Alex Highsmith (ankle) back when they visit Cincinnati on Dec. 1. Highsmith has missed the last two games and five overall this season.
0-8 — head coach Mike Tomlin's career record on the road in Thursday night games against AFC North opponents.
Rest up and prepare for a finishing stretch that starts with a visit to the underperforming but still dangerous Bengals. Pittsburgh swept the season series from Cincinnati last year.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson throws a Hail Mary pass on the final play of the game in the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Cleveland. The Browns won 24-19. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens (14) reacts after missing a pass in the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Cleveland. The Browns won 24-19. (AP Photo/David Richard)
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin watches from the sideline in the second half of an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Richard)
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. (AP) — A jury convicted two men of charges related to human smuggling for their roles in an international operation that led to the deaths of a family of Indian migrants who froze while trying to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a 2022 blizzard.
Harshkumar Ramanlal Patel, 29, an Indian national who prosecutors say went by the alias “Dirty Harry,” and Steve Shand, 50, an American from Florida, were part of a sophisticated illegal operation that has brought increasing numbers of Indians into the U.S., prosecutors said.
They were each convicted on four counts related to human smuggling, including conspiracy to bring migrants into the country illegally.
“This trial exposed the unthinkable cruelty of human smuggling and of those criminal organizations that value profit and greed over humanity,” Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said.
“To earn a few thousand dollars, these traffickers put men, women and children in extraordinary peril leading to the horrific and tragic deaths of an entire family. Because of this unimaginable greed, a father, a mother and two children froze to death in sub-zero temperatures on the Minnesota-Canadian border,” Luger added.
The most serious counts carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office told The Associated Press before the trial. But federal sentencing guidelines rely on complicated formulas. Luger said Friday that various factors will be considered in determining what sentences prosecutors will recommend.
Federal prosecutors said 39-year-old Jagdish Patel; his wife, Vaishaliben, who was in her mid-30s; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and 3-year-old son, Dharmik, froze to death Jan. 19, 2022, while trying to cross the border into Minnesota in a scheme Patel and Shand organized. Patel is a common Indian surname, and the victims were not related to Harshkumar Patel.
The couple were schoolteachers, local news reports said. The family was fairly well off by local standards, living in a well-kept, two-story house with a front patio and a wide veranda.
Experts say illegal immigration from India is driven by everything from political repression to a dysfunctional American immigration system that can take years, if not decades, to navigate legally. Much is rooted in economics and how even low-wage jobs in the West can ignite hopes for a better life.
Before the jury’s conviction on Friday, the federal trial in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, saw testimony from an alleged participant in the smuggling ring, a survivor of the treacherous journey across the northern border, border patrol agents and forensic experts.
Defense attorneys were pitted against each other, with Shand’s team arguing that he was unwittingly roped into the scheme by Patel.
Patel’s lawyers, The Canadian Press reported, said their client had been misidentified. They said “Dirty Hary,” the alleged nickname for Patel found in Shand’s phone, is a different person. Bank records and witness testimony from those who encountered Shand near the border didn’t tie him to the crime, they added.
Prosecutors said Patel coordinated the operation while Shand was a driver. Shand was to pick up 11 Indian migrants on the Minnesota side of the border, prosecutors said. Only seven survived the foot crossing. Canadian authorities found two parents and their young children later that morning, dead from the cold.
The trial included an inside account of how the international smuggling ring allegedly works and who it targets.
Rajinder Singh, 51, testified that he made over $400,000 smuggling over 500 people through the same network that included Patel and Shand. Singh said most of the people he smuggled came from Gujarat state. He said the migrants would often pay smugglers about $100,000 to get them from India to the U.S., where they would work to pay off their debts at low-wage jobs in cities around the country. Singh said the smugglers would run their finances through “hawala,” an informal money transfer system that relies on trust.
The pipeline of illegal immigration from India has long existed but has increased sharply along the U.S.-Canada border. The U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 14,000 Indians on the Canadian border in the year ending Sept. 30, which amounted to 60% of all arrests along that border and more than 10 times the number two years ago.
By 2022, the Pew Research Center estimates more than 725,000 Indians were living illegally in the U.S., behind only Mexicans and El Salvadorans.
Jamie Holt, a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said the case is a stark reminder of the realities victims of human smuggling face.
“Human smuggling is a vile crime that preys on the most vulnerable, exploiting their desperation and dreams for a better life,” Holt said. “The suffering endured by this family is unimaginable and it is our duty to ensure that such atrocities are met with the full force of the law.”
One juror Kevin Paul, of Clearwater, Minnesota, told reporters afterward that it was hard for the jurors to see the pictures of the family’s bodies. He said he grew up in North Dakota and is familiar with the kind of conditions that led to their deaths.
“It’s pretty brutal,” Paul said. “I couldn’t imagine having to do what they had to do out there in the middle of nowhere.”
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger addresses reporters on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, at the federal courthouse in Fergus Falls, Minn., after two men were found guilty of human smuggling charges in connection with a case that led to the deaths of a family of four from India, who tried to cross the Canada-U.S. border during a blizzard in 2022. (AP Photo/Mark Vancleave)
FILE - Road signage is posted just outside of Emerson, Manitoba on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP)
In an image released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, shows how the migrants who survived the crossing were terribly inadequately dressed. (U.S. Attorney's Office via AP)
In an undated image released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, shows items found in a migrant child’s backpack. (U.S. Attorney's Office via AP)
FILE - Road signage is posted just outside of Emerson, Manitoba, Jan. 20, 2022. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
The Edward J. Devitt U.S. Courthouse and Federal building is seen, where two men on trial face human smuggling charges, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Fergus Falls, Minn. (AP Photo/Michael Goldberg)
This combination image shows left to right; undated photo released by the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office shows Harshkumar Patel in Elk River, Minn., and undated photo released by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows Steve Shand. (AP Photo)
FILE - A border marker, between the United States and Canada is shown just outside of Emerson, Manitoba, on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2022. (John Woods/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
