The Dawg Pound gets loud as the Steelers’ Kenny Pickett goes under center in the third quarter at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
The Cleveland Browns defense made big plays when it mattered most.
In the first half, the defense held the Steelers to 64 total yards. Then, on the Steelers’ final play, quarterback Kenny Pickett failed to complete a pass, leading to a last-second Browns field goal and a 13-10 Cleveland victory.
“This defense is Cleveland’s star right now, even if things go wrong,” wrote Ashley Bastock, Browns reporter for Cleveland.com.
If the Browns make the playoffs, it will depend on their defense, she said.
The Steelers failed to pull out a late win, something they have done so well this season, and the score was tied at 10 in the final minutes.
Instead, the Browns took a page from the Steelers playbook.
“They won some ugly games this year and we just had to find a way to win,” guard Joel Bitonio said. “Our defense gave us enough opportunities and found a way.”
CBS Sports writer Bryan DeArdo said “a lack of passing was a big reason the Steelers lost their first game this season against a divisional opponent.”
Pickett completed 15 of 28 throws for 106 yards and the Steelers fell to third place in the division behind. Cleveland and Baltimore.
“Pittsburgh’s offense is too predictable and poorly executed to achieve a meaningful victory, even though the Steelers have won several times,” he wrote.
The loss came to Browns rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who was making his second NFL start after Deshaun Watson broke his shoulder.
“I was frustrated,” Thompson-Robinson told Cleveland.com. “I didn’t know how the game was going to end, whether I was going to get the ball back or something.
So like I said, I’m proud again, that I can trust my defense and my offense and go out there and do what I need to do.
Browns fans cheered for their quarterback — chanting “D-T-R,” according to Tom Withers of the Associated Press — and Thompson-Robinson was hoarse after the game for calling plays in the huddle.
“He DID do it,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski told Withers. “He made some big plays on that drive, he made some big plays the whole game.
I know he wasn’t always perfect, but he came through when it mattered.
Former Steelers safety Ryan Clark, now an analyst for ESPN, criticized his old team, calling it “shameful” that the offense wasn’t underway while Thompson-Robinson was leading a game-winning drive.
