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When the Browns took over on their own 25-yard line with 1:13 left on the clock and no timeouts remaining, down 24-23, it didn’t look good to say the least. Jacoby Brissett who looked awful checked back in to try and lead the Browns on a miraculous drive to end an 18-year winless streak of their opening game of the season.
It didn’t look promising, but they knew with a strong legged kicker in Cade York, they had a chance if they could just get the ball across midfield and near the Carolina 40-yard line. That is exactly what they did. Let’s take a deeper dive at the madness that went down.
Play 1 25-yard line, 1:13 on the clock
Incomplete pass, but Brissett is hit as he threw. Browns caught a huge break on this one as it was a very touchy call. Bryan Burns moves Wills back like he is on roller skates until he slams into Brissett. The refs state the flag was thrown because he clanked helmets with Brissett, and that was enough in their eyes, to draw the flag.
Play 2 40-yard line, 1:09 on the clock
Brissett fields an ankle high snap and rushes to his right as the Panthers blitz through the line with ease. He gets a pass off to Kareem hunt behind the line, where he is tackled in bounds, and ends up losing multiple yards.
Play 3 38-yard line, 0:47 seconds on the clock
Brissett threads the needle as he finds Donovan Peoples Jones in triple coverage for the completion across midfield. This was a dangerous but excellent pass by Brissett, not all throws are going to be easy but he put this one right on the money and DPJ made a sure handed grab.
Play 4 48-yard line of Carolina, 31 seconds on the clock
Brissett does the smart thing and spikes it, bringing up second down.
Play 5 48-yard line of Carolina, 29 seconds left on the clock
Brissett throws another sharp pass, this time right on Amari Cooper who can’t get out of bounds, but goes down at the 41 yard line. This is where it gets a bit dicey however, because it brings up a 3rd and 1. With 22 seconds left as they raced to the line, do you spike it? Which means you have to kick on fourth down, or do you try and run a play?
Play 6, 41-yard line of Carolina, with 15 seconds remaining
They spike the ball but it is sloppy, and they almost got called for intentional grounding. Had that been the case, it would have been game over. They got very luck on this non call.
Play 7, 58-yard field goal attempt, 13 seconds left on the clock
Cade York nails it and it is time to party!
Recap
Brissett made two crucial throws on that drive. The Browns also spiked the ball twice on one set of downs as well, you rarely see that on a first and third down. They got lucky, but after 22 plus years of bad luck since returning in 1999, they deserved a break for once!
