Cleveland got the win it wanted Thursday night, though it took longer than it should have. Final score, 27-24, Browns over the Steelers at Huntington Bank Field. For a while there in the first half, this didn't look like it'd be close at all.
Then Pittsburgh showed up late and almost ruined the whole thing.
Cleveland's defense is really what won this game, not the offense. Two picks off Rodgers in the second quarter, both turned into points, and suddenly the Browns had a 21-point swing going before halftime. That's the kind of lead that should be safe. It almost wasn't.
Rodgers wasn't bad, to be fair. 299 yards, three touchdowns. But those two interceptions handed Cleveland extra chances right when Pittsburgh needed to be building momentum instead of giving it away, and that's usually the difference in these division games.
Credit where it's due, the Steelers didn't just roll over. Down 24-16 late in the fourth, they scored on a Freiermuth touchdown, then had to convert a two-point try just to tie it. Rodgers snuck it in himself to make it 24-24, after DK Metcalf had already dragged the offense down to Cleveland's 12-yard line on the drive before.
Game tied with under two minutes left. Cleveland still had the ball and two timeouts though, 1:36 to work with, and that ended up being plenty. Szmyt had already drilled a 44-yarder earlier in the fourth to push the lead to eight. He came back out and hit the walk-off kick as time ran out. 27-24, final.
Photo: Graphic: TheIndianPostLive | Data: NFL/CBS Sports
If you just looked at total yardage, you'd think this was basically even. Cleveland had 372, Pittsburgh 361. Eleven yards apart. The real separation came from turnovers, two picks for Cleveland, zero giveaways, and whichever defense showed up bigger in crunch time, which on this night was Cleveland's.
Watson did enough on the other side to make that margin stand, including a 17-yard completion to Jerry Jeudy during the stretch where Cleveland had to answer Pittsburgh's comeback.
There's some actual weight to this one beyond just a Thursday night score. Cleveland's 3-1 now, with a head-to-head win over a division rival in the bank, which matters more later in the season if these two teams are still close together in the standings come December. Pittsburgh drops to 2-2, and losing a rivalry game on the road never feels great, even this early.
Also worth pointing out, this snapped a series that's historically leaned pretty heavily toward Pittsburgh over the years, and keeps Cleveland's current streak against the Steelers going.
Short week, so neither team gets much time to dwell on this. For Pittsburgh, it's another round of questions about closing out games, especially with a defense that let a 21-point lead turn into a nail-biter. For Cleveland, the real test is whether this was a real step forward or just a good night that happened to line up right, since leaning on two takeaways to win isn't exactly a repeatable formula every week.
Either way, right now, the Browns have the win, the standings bump, and bragging rights in a rivalry that never really needs a reason to matter.
