Szmyt's 56-Yard Field Goal Lifts Browns Past Steelers 27-24

The Cleveland Browns defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-24 on Thursday Night Football at Huntington Bank Field, with kicker Andre Szmyt converting a 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to settle an AFC North rivalry game that changed hands four times in the fourth quarter. The result, confirmed in the league's official box score, moved Cleveland to 3-1 and dropped Pittsburgh to 2-2 as both teams opened the first divisional stretch of the season.

How the game was decided

Pittsburgh scored first, with quarterback Aaron Rodgers hitting Roman Wilson for a 12-yard touchdown midway through the first quarter. Cleveland answered with three unanswered touchdowns in the second quarter, a 28-yard run by Jaleel McLaughlin, a two-yard plunge by rookie Quinshon Judkins, and a short touchdown catch by Harold Fannin Jr. on a pass from Deshaun Watson, to take a 21-7 lead into the half after Pittsburgh added a late field goal.

Rodgers rallied the Steelers in the fourth quarter, throwing touchdowns to Darnell Washington and Pat Freiermuth, the second of which was followed by a Rodgers two-point conversion run that tied the score at 24-24 with 1 minute 42 seconds left. Watson then drove Cleveland from its own territory, completing four of five passes for 46 yards to set up Szmyt, who had already made a 44-yard field goal earlier in the quarter. His 56-yarder split the uprights with 10 seconds on the clock for the final margin.

• Final score: Cleveland Browns 27, Pittsburgh Steelers 24
• Deshaun Watson: 24-of-33 passing, 268 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception
• Aaron Rodgers: 22-of-40 passing, 299 yards, 3 touchdowns, 2 interceptions
• Andre Szmyt: 3-for-3 on field goals, including the game-winning 56-yarder

Pittsburgh running back Jaylen Warren led all rushers with 93 yards on 17 carries, while Cleveland's Judkins added 53 yards and a score on the same number of attempts. Steelers receiver DK Metcalf was the game's leading pass-catcher with 115 yards on five receptions, and Cleveland's Denzel Boston gained 89 yards on four catches, according to the game's full statistical breakdown.

A turnaround season under a new coach

The win was Cleveland's eighth consecutive victory in a Thursday night game and came in the debut season of head coach Todd Monken, who was hired in January after the Browns finished 5-12 and fired Kevin Stefanski. Monken, the former Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator profiled in the reporting on his hiring last winter, inherited a quarterback competition between Watson and second-year passer Shedeur Sanders. Watson, who missed all of last season recovering from a second surgery to repair his right Achilles tendon, won the starting job in late August and has now led fourth-quarter comeback drives in three consecutive games.

Sanders, who started seven games as a rookie last season and was named to the Pro Bowl as a late injury replacement despite a 10-interception, seven-touchdown season, remains the backup. The quarterback situation has been one of the more closely watched storylines of Cleveland's season, and Thursday's result gave Monken's staff another data point in Watson's favor heading into the back half of October.

Reaction from both sidelines

Monken credited his quarterback's composure in the fourth quarter while noting one lapse in protection late in the game.

"Happy for Deshaun. Not happy about the sack there at the end, but three straight fourth-quarter comebacks really cool for him," Monken said after the game.

Watson, who set up the winning kick with his final completions of the night, said he trusted Szmyt from well outside the kicker's usual range. "I knew it was money," Watson said of the 56-yard attempt. "He told me the landmark, so he was just lining it up and we see it all the time." Szmyt, for his part, said he had been confident even from a greater distance, telling reporters he believed he could make the kick "from anywhere" once the Browns' offense advanced the ball into range.

On the Pittsburgh side, Rodgers acknowledged the Steelers had not played a clean game despite erasing a 14-point second-half deficit. "I wouldn't say it was our cleanest game all the way around," Rodgers said. "They were getting after us on some long-yardage stuff." The loss was Pittsburgh's second straight on the road and left the Steelers winless away from Acrisure Stadium through the season's first month.

Where the division stands

The result tightened an already competitive AFC North. Cleveland improved to 3-1 overall and 2-0 at home, while Baltimore and Cincinnati both sit at 2-1 and Pittsburgh fell to 2-2. All four teams remain within a game and a half of first place with twelve games to play, and Thursday's result was Cleveland's first divisional game of the season, following non-conference wins over Tampa Bay and Carolina and an opening loss at Jacksonville.

For Pittsburgh, the defeat raises questions about a pass defense that allowed 268 yards and a touchdown drive in the final minutes after building a lead of its own in the fourth quarter. For Cleveland, the win is another data point in a season that began with modest external expectations after last year's 5-12 finish but has so far validated the front office's decision to retain Watson as the starter over its rookie-drafted alternative.

What comes next

Both teams are off until Week 5. Cleveland travels to face the New York Jets on October 11, looking to carry its divisional momentum into a game against an AFC opponent, while Pittsburgh returns to Acrisure Stadium to host the Indianapolis Colts the same day, needing a result to arrest its early-season road struggles before the schedule turns back toward division play later in the month.