Back-to-back sacks of Joe Burrow by Myles Garrett, followed by a third by Isaiah McGuire, set up the Browns potential winning drive in the fourth quarter. But it was not to be. (Cleveland Browns)
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns and NFL analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
If I had told you that the Browns would hold the Cincinnati Bengals to seven offensive yards and one first down over the entire second half …
And that they would stifle Joe Burrow to 113 passing yards overall, the second-lowest output of his fabulous career …
And that the Browns would have five offensive possessions in the fourth quarter – five! -- to make up a 1-point deficit and win their season-opener …
Would you take it?
Of course, anyone would.
But being a Browns fan means witnessing and feeling bizarre and painful ways to lose. And this 2025 season opener was another excruciating, knitting needles-to-the-eyeballs exhibition of fan torture.
The Bengals escaped with a 17-16 victory when, in the fourth quarter alone, the Browns suffered crucial dropped passes by Harold Fannin and Jerry Jeudy, missed a 36-yard field goal by Andre Szmyt, and had a Joe Flacco catchable pass deflect off Cedric Tillman’s hands and be intercepted.
Earlier, in the third quarter, Szmyt missed a PAT and another Flacco pass deflected off Jeudy diving for the ball and was intercepted by safety Jordan Battle, setting up what proved to be the winning field goal.
“We stole one today,” said Burrow, whose 113 passing yards were second-lowest of his career to 82 he posted against the Browns two years ago.
Burrow had a stress-free first half, but the Browns’ defense got the home crowd all lathered up later. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Burrow was sacked on three successive plays – twice by Myles Garrett and the third time by Isaiah McGuire, who just couldn’t hold Burrow from leaning the ball outside the goal line and averting a safety that would have given the Browns an 18-17 lead.
Nevertheless, Flacco inherited the ball at the Bengals 42 with 6:56 to go after DeAndre Carter’s 14-yard punt return. Despite the earlier interception on the deflection off Jeudy’s hands, Flacco was in command much of the afternoon, utilizing rookies Dylan Sampson and Fannin in the passing game and making solid throws in the total absence of a running game (49 yards rushing on 24 attempts).
On what should have been a winning drive, Flacco converted his first third-down situation on a 13-yard completion to Jeudy and his second on a deep, 9-yard out to Jeudy, which took the ball to the Bengals’ 13.
Coach Kevin Stefanski tried to milk the clock down as far as he could, which gave the appearance of settling for a field goal. And after Flacco’s second sack of the game planted the ball at the Bengals’ 18, Szmyt trotted on for the 36-yard kick. And he missed it to the right. Just like he did on the PAT after a Flacco bullet TD throw to Cedric Tillman in the third quarter.
To his credit, the new kicker – the eighth in Stefanski’s six seasons – stood at his locker after such an agonizing experience in his first NFL game and answered to two waves of a media firing squad.
“I have to watch the film, but I felt I was kind of rushing it, rushing my approach a little bit, not getting all the way through the ball, just like a pushed ball,” Szmyt said of both kicks. “I tried to make the adjustment on the second one. I knew it was kind of right-to-left wind going towards the Dawg Pound. So I thought playing it right middle was the safe play, and I pushed it a little wide.”
Szmyt said he felt good all week and his kicking was sharp in pre-game.
“Learn from it, and move on,” he said with a shrug.
Asked if he’d consider bringing in a new kicker, Stefanski said, “I’m not there. Points are at a premium, obviously. So that’s frustrating. Andre’s had a really good camp. He’s done a nice job for us. So I’m not there.”
Flacco, the elder statesman of the team, was philosophic and sympathetic when asked about Szmyt.
“It’s the ultimate team game,” Flacco said. “We’ve all been in that situation. If you’ve played this game long enough and you love this game, we’ve all been in that situation where you, you know, don’t perform exactly the way you want to for your team.
“I know how that feels. And I can look at every guy in that locker room and they know how that feels. We’re in it together.
“So at some point this week, yes, I’ll be in the office throwing darts with him and look him in the eye and make sure that I can give him the confidence to out there and do his job. This isn’t going to be the last time that he’s going to have to deal with something like this. So he’s got to keep his head up and just continue to go out there and do what he’s doing.”
Other Browns appearing in their first NFL game experienced a better day.
Running back Dylan Sampson had 20 touches on offense, and though his running was negligible (29 yards on 12 attempts), he was 8 for 8 in passing targets for 64 yards. Despite one drop, Fannin was 7 of 9 on targets for 63 yards and also ran for 3 yards on a quarterback sneak after Flacco motioned to the far left.
Running back Rocket Sanders, the designated short-yardage back until Quinshon Judkins is playing, converted two fourth-down runs, including his first NFL touchdown of 1 yard.
Linebacker Carson Schwesinger led the Browns with eight total tackles, including a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. And defensive tackle Mason Graham was credited with three tackles after seemingly being the No. 1 target in the Bengals’ running game; they only rushed for 46 yards on 23 attempts for the game.
So there was reason for optimism for the future despite the crushing missed opportunity.
“Losing is losing,” Garrett said. “It’s not encouraging at all. Anytime you step on this field, you’re old enough to win. No one’s going to make any adjustments just because you’re a younger player, a rookie or a sophomore. Those guys who came and made plays for us, now we’re going to continue to lean on them, no matter the age, and continue to lift each other up
“This one game we were very close. Learn from it. Win the turnover battle. We’ve got to get some turnovers of our own to match them, and I think that swings the game right there.”
Flacco added:
“We’ve got a lot of good football players, a lot of guys that did a lot of good stuff, and we didn’t do some stuff that well. That happens,” he said. “We have to be able to overcome that and be strong mentally. If we want to be the team we think we can be, then little things like this, they’re good tests. We’re going to have to be able to overcome things like this at some point. So it might as well happen now and let’s face it head on and see who we are.”
Last words go to Jeudy.
“This game will most certainly help define our team. We either bounce back or settle,” he said.