by Say what you want about Joe Flacco, but when it mattered the most, the wily veteran led his team on 3 straight scoring drives in the fourth quarter to win the game as the Cleveland Browns stunned the Green Bay Packers 13-10 at The Stadium today.
Flacco, with a lot of negative chatter around him entering this game, showed up strong by completing 21 of 36 passes for 142 yards with his only interception coming on a last second Haily Mary toss to close out the first half.
It was the first semblance of a run game that truly got the offense moving however as Quishon Judkins appears to be finding his NFL legs. The rookie went for 94 yards on 18 carries with the game tying score in the fourth.
Perhaps most important for the Browns today was the play of their defense and special teams who all came up clutch. The defense held Josh Jacobs to just 30 yards on 16 carries and Jordan Love to just 18 of 25 passing for 183 yards. Rookie placekicker Andrew Szmyt made all 3 of his kicks, including a 55 yard game winner as time expired. The special teams also blocked a possible game winning field goal by Green Bay moments beforehand.
After a scoreless first quarter, the games first score came at the 14:57 mark of the second quarter when Brandon McManus hit a 39-yard field goal to give the Packers a 3-0 lead. The rest of the second quarter went by scoreless and the game went to halftime with the Browns trailing 3-0.
As the Browns remained scoreless in the third, it was the Packers finding the endzone first as Jordan Love capped off a masterful 14 play, 71-yard drive with a touchdown pass from 3 yards out to tight end John Fitzpatrick. The drive took 7:46 off the clock and was the first touchdown not only in the game but in the career of Fitzpatrick.
For the Browns, they simply couldn’t find the endzone until or even the scoreboard until late into the fourth quarter. They had to settle for a field goal after a 12 play drive soaked up 5:23 off the clock and got them down to the goal line for a first and goal, they made mistakes and were pushed back to a 35 yard field goal.
Shockingly, the defense picked the best time possible for their first turnover of the season when Grant Delpit picked off a Jordan Love pass and returned it inside the Packer five yard line. Moments later Quishon Judkins scored on a one-yard rumble to tie the game at 10 with 3:04 left in regulation.
From there, the defense promptly allowed the Packers to go on a game winning drive, providing zero resistance as Green Bay marched down the field into field position. Remarkably, the Browns scored a huge break and blocked a chip shot field goal by McManus.
Moments later, after a great short second drive led by Joe Flacco, it was Andre Szmyt blasting a 55 yard field goal to win it!
