CLEVELAND (AP) — Andre Szmyt has gone from being nearly run of town to being one of the most popular Browns players in Cleveland.
The rookie kicker booted 55-yard field goal as time expired to give the Browns an improbable 13-10 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
“It was exciting. It was good to pull through for my teammates,” Szmyt said. “Obviously a couple of weeks back, that’s in the past. It’s good to do it for them.”
Cleveland (1-2) scored all of its points in the final 3:38 to snap an eight-game losing streak dating to last season.
According to Sportradar, it's the first time in franchise history the Browns have won a game in which they had scored no points and trailed by at least 10 with four minutes remaining.
The last time it happened in the NFL was when Denver rallied to beat Chicago on Dec. 11, 2011.
Supplying the winning points was Szmyt, who took the blame after he missed an extra point and field goal in the Browns' 17-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1.
“I’m really proud of that young man. I’m happy for that young man,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said of Szmyt. “He’s been through a lot in his life, I would tell you. And the kid’s come through.”
The Browns ended up winning with the type of complementary football that Stefanski has been stressing.
The defense sacked Jordan Love four times before coming up with a crucial turnover.
Cleveland got its first takeaway of the season with 3:18 remaining when Grant Delpit picked off Love’s pass and returned it 25 yards to the Packers 4. It was also the first turnover this year for Green Bay (2-1) and marked the first time in 10 regular-season starts dating to last season that Love had been picked off.
The offense struggled, but came up with the big plays when needed. Quinshon Judkins had 94 yards on 18 carries, including his first NFL touchdown on a 1-yard run up the middle to tie it at 10 with 3:02 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“I think today, as tough as it can be, we won a football game, and it was hard,” said Joe Flacco, who completed 21 of 36 passes for 142 yards and an interception. "It’s hard when you’re in your own stadium and you can’t put points on the board and everybody feels it and you feel it, but you've got to keep going out there and doing your job and having faith that, you know, something’s going to happen and we’re going to get it done.”
Special teams not only got two field goals from Szmyt, but Shelby Harris blocked a potential game-winning 43-yard field goal attempt from Brandon McManus after Judkins' TD and Greg Newsome II recovered at the 47. That gave the Browns a shot of not having to go into overtime.
Harris and Maliek Collins were able to get penetration over the guard, which led to the block.
“Well, I have a 6 foot-10 1/2 wingspan, so that kind of helps out, too," Harris said. "But, you know, it’s just I have a knack for it. It’s instinct, but also it’s a little bit of skill, too, but also it’s the guys around you.”
Cleveland took over and went 16 yards in five plays. Flacco had an 8-yard completion to David Njoku on third-and-2 to get the ball to the Packers 35. Flacco then spiked the ball, bringing Szmyt on with 2 seconds remaining.
Szmyt ended up being mobbed by teammates after his kick before running near the bleachers and doing a leap into Cleveland's infamous Dawg Pound, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary Sunday. Browns greats Hanford Dixon and Frank Minnifield — who came up with the nickname — were in attendance.
“Man, what a kick. Something made out of a movie, man,” Delpit said.
For as much elation Cleveland felt, it was a gut punch for Green Bay.
The last time it had a similar collapse was on Nov. 5, 1967, at Baltimore. The Packers led 10-0 before Johnny Unitas threw a pair of TD passes in the last three minutes to give the Colts a 13-10 victory.
“That was extremely disappointing, obviously. To have an opportunity to win the game and have them flip the script late is tough to deal with," Packers coach Matt LeFleur said. "We played well enough defensively to win the game, but we didn’t do a good enough job on offense and special teams.”
Love completed 18 of 25 passes for 183 yards, including a 3-yard TD to John FitzPatrick with 3:23 remaining in the third quarter to put the Packers up 10-0.
“It’s a tough loss, for sure," Love said. “Adversity is going to strike us at some point this season — and it struck today.”
Injuries
Packers: RT Zach Tom, who missed last week's game against Washington due to an oblique strain, aggravated the injury on the first offensive play. ... OG Aaron Banks (groin) was injured late in the first half. ... S Javon Bullard went off in the fourth quarter after appearing to be temporarily knocked out after taking a hit to his helmet.
Browns: RT Dewand Jones suffered a knee injury on the first series and did not return.
Up next
Packers: at Dallas next Sunday night. The game will take place one month after Micah Parsons was traded from the Cowboys to the Packers.
Browns: at Detroit next Sunday.
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