CLEVELAND — Deshaun Watson engineered a last-minute drive, and Andre Szmyt made a 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left to lead the Cleveland Browns past the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-24 on “Thursday Night Football.” With the win, the Browns move to 3-1 and sit alone in first place in the AFC North to begin October.
The Steelers opened the scoring with a 17-play drive that covered nearly 10 minutes in the first quarter, but they didn’t get into the end zone again until the fourth quarter. Aaron Rodgers and the offense have been frustrated by defensive issues up front and Cleveland’s sticky coverage. However, Rodgers led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives and converted a score-tying 2-point conversion on a QB sneak.
Watson got the Browns into comfortable field goal range on the final drive before taking a second-down sack that put them on the edge of Szmyt’s range. However, after Watson misfired on a third-down throw, the kicker drilled a long field goal. Grant Delpit blocked a desperate last-ditch effort from Rodgers to seal the win.
Watson led the Browns on three great second-quarter touchdown drives, taking advantage of a turnover in the Steelers secondary. In their first game after trading Joey Porter Jr. at the Dallas Cowboys, the Steelers defeated the No. 1 cornerback Jamel Dean with an ankle injury in the second quarter.
Watson had his best game of the season so far, finishing 24-for-33 for 268 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Each team also lost a key defensive lineman to injury in the first half. Pittsburgh’s Derrick Harmon (foot), the team’s first-round pick in 2025, did not return after being carted off. Cleveland defensive tackle Mason Graham (knee) went down in the first quarter and did not return.
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Has Deshaun Watson erased any doubt that, if healthy, he is a 17-game starter this season?
The entire season for Browns quarterbacks has been a bit like Halley’s Comet, so let’s not look too far ahead.
However, for Browns fans, Thursday night felt like a rare but happy moment. After the Browns seemed to be in total control, Watson needed to build a late field goal opportunity. He did.
It’s far from perfect, again, but Watson has improved every week. He is healthy and has directed three wins in a row. His first half Thursday night was his best — and not just statistically. The Browns were explosive, Watson made plays in transition, and everything seemed to click.
The second half was even tighter sledding for a variety of reasons, and Watson committed two turnovers.
He’s still missing the throws he needs to make to really put the Browns up, but he had another 21-yard scramble in the fourth quarter — the same gain in a similar spot last week. He then got the Browns in position for Szmyt’s 56-yard field goal. — Zac Jackson, Browns writer
Joey Porter Jr. is a Cowboy, and Jamel Dean left this game in the second quarter with an ankle injury. Will this second Steelers hold for a team with playoff hopes?
When Joe Burrow picked apart the Steelers secondary last week, it would have been easy to dismiss it and say the Cincinnati Bengals’ elite receiving tandem was doing that to everyone. Now that Watson has done the same? It’s fair to call Pittsburgh’s secondary a concern — and we’re not just talking about the cornerbacks.
Dean is now CB1. He turns 30 this month and has missed 12 games over the past three years due to injury. Durability issues have arisen. He entered Thursday nursing an ankle, limped off in the first half and did not return.
Because of this, third-round rookie Daylen Everette was forced to play full time opposite Asante Samuel Jr. A coverage breakdown left Denzel Boston wide open for a 60-yard gain behind Everette in the second quarter. Veteran safety Rayshawn Jenkins appeared to be benched soon after, with seventh-round rookie Robert Spears-Jennings taking over.
The most expensive play of the second half came on the Browns’ game-winning field goal drive, when Samuel allowed a 17-yard chunk play to start that series.
Everette has promise, and Samuel is performing at a starter level, but neither is Porter. Especially in a division that now includes the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Boston and the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Tee Higgins, the Steelers will need Everette to grow up quickly and Samuel to play like he did in training camp.
That said, Thursday showed that the Steelers’ defense has problems that go beyond the defensive backs. Missed tackles at all levels of the defense and inconsistent run defense are just as much of a problem in the secondary. A defense that looked stout in the first two games has a lot to clean up after the mini-bye. — Mike DeFabo, Steelers writer
The Cleveland Browns are living the ‘best-case scenario’ under head coach Todd Monken
Robert Mays and Dave Helman
After frequent punts all night, Aaron Rodgers engineered two fourth-quarter touchdown drives. Is he more capable than most give him credit for?
The Steelers don’t expect MVP-caliber play from Rodgers consistently. What they need is the veteran QB to show his experience in the most critical moments.
On Thursday, he delivered. Rodgers led the Steelers down the field in a nearly two-minute situation, hitting DK Metcalf on several chunk plays. The Steelers bring Rodgers back for drives like that. — DeFabo
The Browns defense still generated plenty of pressure even after losing DT Mason Graham early. Can this group continue to improve if Graham misses time?
After being pushed around and caught early in the post, Denzel Ward’s interception seemed to spark a change in Cleveland’s defense. This is a team that is best — and most comfortable — when challenging wide receivers in man-to-man coverage and wreaking havoc in the trenches with rushes designed to collapse the pocket and force the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly or make transition plays.
Rodgers wasn’t moving well, and even after Graham went down with a knee injury early in the game, the Browns kept getting to Rodgers — and kept putting the quarterback on the ground. The Browns recorded five sacks.
If Graham has to miss significant time, that would be a blow to a team that clearly counts on the defensive front as its engine. Still, it’s hard to see the Browns changing their style or the intent to impact the quarterback even in ways that don’t show up on the stat sheet. — Jackson
Last week, the Steelers moved the right side of their O-line, with first-round rookie RT Max Iheanachor and veteran RG Brock Hoffman. Can they do more after the line struggled again on Thursday?
The personnel shakeup has happened. Now this young group has to grow up.
In some instances, individuals have had their difficult moments. After a near-flawless debut, Iheanachor allowed his defender to touch Rodgers’ arm with a first-half interception. He later allowed a sack before a missed field goal and allowed another sack in the fourth quarter. He also made a false start. No one should expect Iheanachor to be perfect early in his career. He certainly wasn’t Thursday.
Not all rookie mistakes. Third-year pro Mason McCormick was beaten with a swim move for a sack, and the group as a whole had a lot of collective destruction. Especially against mugged fronts, they had problems, including one situation when two inside rushers were completely clean. Improving communication and identifying pressures that manipulate the protection plan will be critical.
The other part of this conversation is that the Steelers once again struggled to create separation against man coverage, forcing Rodgers to stay on the football. The two-pronged attack of pressure and man coverage gave the Steelers issues in New England. Given a chance to show improvement, this looks an awful lot like a loss in Week 2. — DeFabo