Cleveland, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – After 20 years of abuse from the Steelers, the Browns dished some out Thursday night.
And they will pay dearly for it.
Cleveland knocked JuJu Smith-Schuster and James Conner from the game, sacked Mason Rudolph 4 times, intercepted him 4 times and held the Steelers to 236 yards of offense in a 21-7 drubbing at FirstEnergy Stadium.
It was the Browns’ second win in 5 days and marked the first time ever they beat both the Ravens and Steelers in the same season.
Unfortunately, a brawl with 8 seconds remaining marred the win and potentially scuttled their season in the process.
“There’s no way to justify it. You just can’t do it,” receiver Odell Beckham Jr. said. “There’s no place in this game for it. Multiple players are going to get suspended from both teams. It’s just not in this game of football.”
Following what appeared to be a late hit and takedown by Browns defensive end Myles Garrett, Rudolph attempted to remove Garrett’s helmet and Garrett responded violently, ripping Rudolph’s off instead and then hitting Rudolph on the top of his head setting off a melee.
Garrett was ejected along with defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, who shoved Rudolph from behind as order started to be restored.
“It sucks,” Ogunjobi said. “I probably am going to miss some time but at the end of the day, we are brothers. I feel we would all do the same thing for each other. When you see someone jumping your teammate and who is kicking your teammate, you would do the same thing, quarterback or not. When you see someone ripping off your teammate’s helmet and putting their head into the ground, you are a player.”
Baker Mayfield finished 17 of 32 for 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns and he didn’t throw an interception for a third straight game.
“It feels like we lost,” Mayfield said.
Running back Nick Chubb ran for 92 yards, giving him 1,000 yards in 10 games to join Jim Brown as the only players to do that in franchise history.
“It means a lot,” Chubb said. “I have to credit my offensive line. They did a great job creating some holes for me to hit. They helped me hit 1,000 yards in 10 games. I did not do it on my own.”
The goal-to-go from the 1 offense was put to the test twice in the first half, and the Browns passed both times.
On the Browns’ opening drive, Mayfield punched it in on first down with a QB sneak for a 7-0 lead. The run was necessary after Odell Beckham Jr.’s 43-yard catch and tumble across the goal line was overturned by replay and the ball put at the 1. Hunt extended the drive with a spectacular 20-yard catch on third-and-8 at the Pittsburgh 43.
“It does feel like we lost the game,” Beckham said. “As much as you want to put a smile on and walk out of here, there was so much in that game that there is to look at. It’s just back to the drawing board. Be 1-0 next week. That’s all we can focus on is Miami right now. Whatever consequences for our actions, we’ll take it on the chin like a man.”
Early in the second quarter Mayfield capped a 7-play, 77-yard drive with a 1-yard TD toss to Landry for a 14-0 advantage with 9:55 left in the half. The score was set up in large part by receiver KhaDarel Hodge, who hauled in a 49-yard catch. Replay chopped his 18-yard run after the catch off and Hodge later drew a third-and-goal pass interference penalty on Steelers cornerback Joe Haden to give Cleveland a fresh set of downs.
Landry became the first Browns receiver to catch a TD in 3 straight games since Travis Benjamin in 2015.
A 33-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback Denzel Ward in the first quarter didn’t cost the Browns points because Chris Boswell kicked a 44 yard field goal wide left by a mile into the Dawg Pound to keep the Browns in front by 7 with 7:47 remaining in the opening quarter.
The Steelers drove back into Browns territory in the second quarter when safety Morgan Burnett dropped running back Trey Edmonds on third-and-1 for loss of 1 and Ogunjobi drilled Rudolph, forcing the QB to loft an errant throw out of bounds on fourth down giving Cleveland the ball at their own 46.
On Pittsburgh’s next offensive series, they dialed up a flea flicker, but Rudolph's deep ball was tipped by Ward and Burnett picked it before racing 43 yards to the Steelers 30.
Burnett suffered an Achilles injury late in the first half ending his night, and his season could be over.
Following the turnover, Chubb ran for 3 yards, but a pair of incompletions brought Seibert on for a 45-yard field goal into the Dawg Pound, which sailed wide right, his first field goal miss of the season. He missed wide right from 50 to end the third quarter and kickers are now just 2-8 kicking towards the Dawg Pound this season.
Safety Justin Burris strip-sacked Rudolph but instead of falling on the loose ball, defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson went for the scoop and run, but missed, and the Steelers fell on it for a loss of 14. Defensive Chad Thomas sacked Rudolph on third down for his third sack of the season.
Linebacker Joe Schobert came away with a sliding interception of Rudolph with 9:44 left in the third to take over at the Steelers’ 49 but T.J. Watt’s sack of Mayfield on first down put the offense behind the chains and Jamie Gillan was forced to punt for the fifth time.
Safety Damarious Randall was ejected for a violent helmet-to-helmet hit on Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson, who had to be attended to by medical personnel at the 8:11 mark of the third quarter. Johnson left the field with blood running down from his ear.
“Damarious was not trying to go hurt anybody,” Schobert said.
It was one of 3 defensive penalties that set up Pittsburgh’s first score and left the Browns without both starting safeties.
Williams was flagged for pass interference moving the ball to the 3 to set up Rudolph’s 5-yard TD to running back Jaylen Samuels to cut Cleveland’s lead in half, 14-7 with 5:39 left in the third. It was a 5-play, 87-yard drive that saw the Browns serve up 58 of those yards thanks to penalties.
Thomas nearly picked off Rudolph on fourth-and-2 with 13:29 remaining in the fourth but the incompletion still gave the Browns the ball back at their own 32. It didn’t take long for another Gillan punt.
Schobert picked off Rudolph for the second time with 6:22 left in the fourth and returned the interception to the 4-yard line.
Tight end Stephen Carlson hauled in his second touchdown of the season, an incredible acrobatic 8-yard catch from Mayfield in the back of the end zone to put the game on ice 21-7 with 5:25 to play.
Burris put the game away by hauling in the fourth Rudolph pass of the night for the Browns, returning it 28 yards to midfield with 4:03 on the clock.
None of it will be remembered. Just those last 8 seconds.
