3 Big Takeaways from Browns 24-19 win over Steelers

The Browns defense excelled from the beginning of the game against the Steelers, coming up with big stops on the Steelers first two offensive drives of the game. On the Steelers opening drive, DE Myles Garrett sacked QB Russell Wilson for a loss of eight yards to force them into a field goal situation. K Chris Bowell missed a 58-yard attempt, giving the Browns offense good field position.

Then, on the Steelers second offensive drive, S Grant Delpit brought down QB Justin Fields in a fourth-and-short situation, and the Steelers turned the ball over on downs.

In the second quarter, Garrett also stripped the ball and sacked Wilson to force the fumble, and LB Winston Reid recovered the fumble to end the Steelers’ offensive drive and give the ball back to the Browns offense. Their dominance continued as Garrett sacked Wilson for a loss of eight yards in the final 11 seconds of the first half. The Browns limited the Steelers to just a field goal in the first half.

“I think guys were doing their job,” Stefanski said. “I thought those fourth down stops were huge in this football game. And those are turnovers. I know they don’t go down as turnovers, but for all intents and purposes, those are turnovers and that was huge for our team.”

The Browns dominance continued, as DT Maurice Hurst II forced a turnover on downs after he dropped RB Jaylen Warren for a loss of one yard on fourth down attempt in the third quarter.

As the conditions on the field worsened due to the snow, the Browns gave up their lead and a total of 13 points to the Steelers in the fourth quarter. They gave up back-to-back touchdowns, which allowed the Steelers to establish a one-point lead with 6:20 left in the game.

However, the Browns defense stood their ground on one final defensive stand in the final 50 seconds of the game. As Wilson tried for one deep pass into the end zone with six seconds as LB Jordan Hicks applied pressure, and the Browns secondary covered their assignments. CB Denzel Ward and S Grant Delpit batted at the pass for the ball to fall to the ground and end the game.

“This is what you live for,” DT Shelby Harris said. “You want the game to be determined by us and we went out there and got the result that we wanted. As the defense, we wanted this game to be on our back. We wanted to go out there and end it, and that is “what we did.”