8 instant reactions to the Browns’ statement win over rival Steelers

Don’t look now, but Todd Monken’s Cleveland Browns are 3-1 and all alone atop the AFC North.

Deshaun Watson played his finest half of football to help the Browns build an 11-point halftime lead, but he and the offense needed their third game-winning drive in as many weeks to finish Thursday night’s 27-24 win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers inside a rocking Huntington Bank Field.

Aaron Rodgers led a late touchdown drive and scored the game-tying two-point conversion himself on a QB sneak to make it 24-24 with 1:24 remaining. But this time, the offense bailed out a defense that managed to sack Rodgers five times after defensive lineman Mason Graham left the game in the first quarter with a knee injury.

Andre Szmyt drilled a 56-yard field goal to win it with 10 seconds left.

The Browns have opened 3-1 for the first time since Baker Mayfield’s third season with the team in 2020. They got there Thursday thanks to their best complementary football game of the season, though there’s still plenty to clean up. 

Here are eight immediate reactions from the Browns’ third win in 12 days.

Todd Monken’s Cleveland Browns just made their boldest statement yet in prime time 

1. Graham’s knee injury is the team’s biggest concern right now, but the response by Mike Hall Jr. and Adin Huntington was extremely encouraging. Both recorded sacks on Rodgers, with Hall stunning everyone late in the third quarter on a key third down after he had been carted off the sideline with an ankle injury earlier in the game.

2. The Browns have done a decent job this season avoiding turnovers. They’re doing a terrible job at limiting penalties though. Todd Monken’s group had nine accepted penalties for 65 yards in the first half alone on Thursday night. Most of the infractions came on defense and special teams in this one, but Cleveland entered Week 4 as the second-most penalized team in football, and this game didn’t help its cause. The Browns had 14 penalties total against the Steelers.

3. Watson is playing the best football of his Browns career. Cleveland scored touchdowns on three consecutive drives in the second quarter, and Watson finished the first half with 181 passing yards — the most of any half in his five-year stint in Cleveland.

4. The Browns may want to find more playing time for Jaleel McLaughlin. He’s got serious juice — as he showed on his 28-yard touchdown rush for Cleveland’s first points of the game. Cleveland’s most explosive rush from a running back entering Week 4 was 17 yards. It was his only offensive snap of the game. That’s a pretty good efficiency rating.

5. Safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren saw increased usage on defense — and the rookie responded. The signature play of his young career came during the third quarter, when he aligned deep in a single-high look, read Rodgers' pass to DK Metcalf, and made a picture-perfect pass breakup, arriving right as the ball hit Metcalf’s hands. McNeil-Warren played a career-high 36 defensive snaps, per Pro Football Focus.

6. In case you missed it, Cleveland never loses on Thursday Night Football — the Browns are now 8-0 all time — and that’s especially true against the Steelers. The Browns improved to 5-0 when hosting Pittsburgh on TNF, and the Steelers dropped to 0-10 all time in divisional road games played on a Thursday, a streak that dates all the way back to 1980 against the Houston Oilers. The Steelers haven’t won in Cleveland since 2021.

7. Cleveland’s running game is still nowhere close to being functional, but the Steelers’ defensive front was a tough matchup, and Quinshon Judkins looked as good as he has all season. Judkins finished the game with 96 scrimmage yards and a touchdown and gained plenty of tough yards between the tackles.

8. Jerry Jeudy was just about written off entering this game after seeing zero targets in Cleveland's Week 3 win over Carolina. But he came alive on the Browns' game-winning drive, catching two passes for 25 yards to help give Szmyt a chance. His 17-yard reception over the middle got that drive started.

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