They had to sweat for it, but Brown clinched the play-off pavement after defeating the visiting Steelers on Sunday 24-22. Brown, under first-year coach Kevin Stefansky’s supervision, is playing for the qualifiers for the first time since 2002. Cleveland and Pittsburgh will play again next week, this time at Heinz Field in the title role.
Cleveland won their first game in Week 17 since 2009 after leading 24-9 at the start of the fourth quarter. Brown then held out two late passes from Mason Rudolph, who played in place of Ben Rothlesberger. Two points retreating, Rudolph’s two-point pass sailed over Chase Claypool’s head. Brown then recovered the onside kick before Mayfield sprinted three yards in third and second.
Brown won despite giving up 315 yards from Rudolph, who started for the first time this season and only for the second time since losing at Cleveland in the 10th week of the 2019 season. The Cleveland attack was supported by a running game that spanned 192 yards and two touchdowns on 31 trolley.
Brown’s New Target
The Browns are bound after the season for the first time since the franchise’s fourth season in the NFL, when former number 1 seed Tim Couch directed the Browns into a regular season 9-7. Cleveland will now begin their quest for their first post-season win since 1994, when the Bill Pelishek Patriots’ team defeated Bill Parcel in the Wild Card Tour.
The Steelers, despite having lost four of their last five matches, won the North Asian Premier League with a score of 12-4. Pittsburgh returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2017. They are looking for their first post-season win since 2016, when they won two playoff matches before losing to New England by one game over the Super Bowl.
Pittsburgh 2-0 against Cleveland in postseason. The Steelers beat Brown 29-9 in the 1994 division round. Eight years later, Brown built a 24-7 lead before Tommy Maddox defeated Pittsburgh with a 36-33 victory.
Early lead behind Chubb
The main blocks were blasted by Austin Hopper and Jack Conklin of Nick Chubb free at 47 yards in Browns’ first possession. Cleveland extended their lead to 10-0 in the second quarter before being snatched 41 yards by Deontay Johnson by Matthew Wright’s goal 29 yards. A 26-yard finish from Rudolph to JuJu Smith-Schuster set Wright’s 46-yard goal set up before halftime.
A 41-yard catch from Chase Claypool put Wright’s third field goal – another 46 yards – in the middle of the third quarter. Brown’s attack responded to their ensuing possession. Mayfield completed 14 yards to David Njoco in third and fifth places, along with his 28-yard run in the next play, and repeated his landing pass to Austin Hopper.
Down 9-17, the Steelers were driving before MJ Stewart picked Rudolph, who was locked up in Smith-Schuster in Game Three and Nine. Brown recorded four plays later, as Jarvis Landry found a profit on a plane sweep in his first play in the fourth quarter.
Pittsburgh showed intent on its next drive, with Rudolph contacting Claypool in a 28-yard shot. The Steelers’ defense then returned the ball to the attack four minutes before the match after Mayfield failed fourth and seventh on the 35-yard line. Mayfield’s Stephon Tweet bag knocked Browns out of range.
Rudolph took advantage of the pause, hitting Johnson in a 47-yard grenade between two Brown’s defenders. Rudolf Smith Schuster then fired from two yards before a two-point pass to equalize the score over Claypool’s head.
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