The new season opened on Sunday, but nothing felt unfamiliar in downtown Cleveland. Despite the insanely low expectations for the season, the Browns put up a formidable performance on both sides of the ball and had every chance to start the season with a win over the Bengals.
Instead, drops, missed kicks, and bad luck were the story yet again as the Browns fell 17-16 to the Bengals in heartbreaking fashion. New kicker Andre Szmyt made his NFL debut, and it almost couldn't have gone worse.
Browns lose one-point season-opener on heels of two missed kicks
Szmyt finished his day one-of-two on field goals and one-of-two on extra points, and the misses couldn't come at worse times. The missed extra point would have given the Browns a full three-point lead, which would have kept the game tied later on. And of course, Cleveland thought they had a layup attempt late in the game with a 36-yarder to take the lead with under three minutes to go, but Szmyt couldn't even come through with that one.
Cleveland opted to move on from Dustin Hopkins at roster cutdowns in favor of Szmyt, which was a widely understood decision. After a great 2023 season that earned him an extension, Hopkins was incredibly shaky last season and didn't appear any better in the preseason. However, it's new face, same problems when it comes to the kicking position, as it only took one game for the position to cost the Browns a game in 2025.
Overall, the defense settled in incredibly nicely once they got out of the scripted start, holding the Bengals to one long scoring drive after that and limiting Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase to a combined five catches for 59 yards. Joe Flacco didn't do anything extraordinary, but he managed the offense and did enough on his end to win the game, especially in the complete absence of a run game.
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how urgent the Browns are in treating the kicking position. Unfortunately, kicking is an art that has such little room for error and hinges so much on mental strength that a tough stretch can snowball quickly. Hopefully Szmyt and the Browns can figure something out soon because Browns' fans don't deserve any more losses at the hand (or foot) of their own kicker.