One of the many reasons to celebrate a 20-18 win over the Bengals was Myles Garrett finally notching the NFL season sack record with his 23rd. It happened late in the game and Garrett was worried it might not come. (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.
CINCINNATI
It was one of the most entertaining Battles of Ohio, indeed, won, against all odds, by the Browns, 20-18.
It had tense drama intertwined with irrefutable history.
But most of all, it was a thrilling storybook ending …
* For Andre Szmyt.
He completed his season-long redemption tour by beating the Bengals with a last-second, 49-yard field goal after losing to them in Game 1 by one point on two misses. Szmyt also made two PATs from 48 yards after unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the Browns.
* For Myles Garrett.
His dogged pursuit of the NFL single-season sack record was finally rewarded with a lightning-quick takedown of Joe Burrow with 5:16 to play in the game. Garrett said he dreamt the night before that he fell short of the record, and the thought of that letdown fueled his unceasing adrenalin all game to reach 23 sacks on the season
* For Shedeur Sanders.
The rookie quarterback shook off a terrible first half and engineered his first fourth-quarter comeback win with a 40-yard drive to set up Szmyt’s field goal at the end. Sanders finished his seven starts at quarterback with three wins, including back-to-backers against rivals Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
* For Jim Schwartz.
The overlooked NFL head coach candidate inspired his defense to score two touchdowns on a 97-yard Pick 6 by linebacker Devin Bush and a 47-yard fumble return by backup cornerback Sam Webb, and hold Burrow’s 28 ppg offense to 18 points.
As perspective, the Browns’ offense failed to score two touchdowns in 10 games this season! Two field-goal misses by Evan McPherson helped a bunch, but a PBU by Grant Delpit on Burrow’s 2-point attempt with 1:12 to play made the game winnable with a field goal.
Now, what does a second straight, hard-fought win over a division rival do for coach Kevin Stefanski? Was his storybook ending a win to save his job with the Browns or merely a deserving way for an honorable man to exit after six seasons?
Stefanski celebrated the win, Szmyt’s redemptive field goal, and Garrett’s historic record with his players behind the closed doors of the locker room. Thunderous cheers could be heard through the concrete wall of the post-game media room. When Stefanski entered the room, he was visibly happy and at peace with whatever his fate will be.
“Respectfully, this game is not about me,” Stefanski said, predictably. “I told you guys that. I’m proud of that group for fighting.”
Pressed if he expects to remain coach of the Browns, Stefanski light-heartedly responded, “And with all respect to that attempt by you, I’m not making the focus about me.”
The belief by me has been that a decision to part ways with Stefanski was made before the last two wins, which raised the record to 5-12 this season and 8-26 over the past two years of the Stefanski regime.
But if that was the plan, keep in mind the Browns change plans like no other sports organization.
Just this year, they didn’t plan to draft two quarterbacks, but they chose Sanders 50 spots after drafting Dillon Gabriel in the third round. They didn’t plan to trade Joe Flacco, but they traded him to Cincinnati, of all teams, soon after deplaning from their international game in London.
Further back, they didn’t plan to trade Odell Beckham Jr., until they did.
So a change of heart possibly could take place, which would not only give Stefanski another year but also secure the services of Schwartz, whose defense is greatly responsible for the five victories. If they change head coaches, they risk losing Schwartz, unless he is the successor to Stefanski.
“I love Jim. I love working with Jim,” Stefanski said. “He’s deserving of those kind of [head coach] opportunities, and if that happens I’d be thrilled for him.”
Garrett credited Schwartz with “scheming it up to get the chips and doubles [blocks] off me. We just kept getting pressure [on Burrow].”
The record sack came on one of three times in the game Garrett was singled-up against a Bengals lineman, he said.
Garrett called it “a stereotypical sack, for me.”
“Getting off, doing the chopping and right into the dip,” he described. “And I was watching the clock. I knew that the next time [Burrow] gave a count, it was going to be that they were gone. So, I was just watching the ball as quick as I could and they had a couple other tells that gave me the snap count. So, as soon as I saw that, it aligned. It’s probably the best get-off I've ever had, trying to get that sack, and the rest is history.”
Garrett said he was “scared as hell” he wouldn’t get the record after waking up at 6:30 a.m. from the dream that he was shut out.
When Garrett took down Burrow for his 23rd sack with 5:16 to play, the game was stopped by the officials and Garrett was mobbed by his teammates rushing to him from the sideline.
The scene left Bengals coach Zac Taylor miffed. “We’re playing for our lives here, and I was never told we were going to stop the game, and in a critical moment like that,” the party-pooper huffed.
Garrett celebrated on his way to the bench for one of his few rest periods in the game. During a timeout, his defensive teammates lifted him on their shoulders as Garrett saluted the Browns fans behind their bench.
Szmyt got the same royal treatment after bisecting the uprights on his game-winner.
“It’s pretty incredible, truly unbelievable,” said of the moment. “I didn’t know what to do.”
After missing a field goal and PAT in the opening, 17-16 loss to the Bengals, Szmyt made 23 of 25 field goals, including two game-winners, and 24 consecutive PATs.
“To end the season like this is pretty unbelievable. It’s like a story,” he said.
As for Sanders, he attributed his bad first half (5 of 10 for 48 yards with almost three interceptions, three sacks and a lost fumble) to something he was dealing with “spiritually.”
The two field-goal drives he was able to put together in the second half were a significant rebound from that adversity. After an interception and sack on the final drive, he completed passes of 13 yards to Isaiah Bond and 11 to Jerry Jeudy to set up the field goal. A heave for an open Bond from 36 yards away fell just short of the intended receiver at the goal line.
Sanders said he proved “that I’m able to drive down the field … [that] a bad half doesn’t define [him].”
Later in his post-mortem, Sanders commended Stefanski for being “real tough” through these last weeks of outside noise about his future.
“I think I grew and learned a lot from him,” Sanders said. “I feel like we grew to understand each other. We share different things that we both will go through. I know he wanted this win. And I know he wants every win, but I know this one means a lot.”
Was it a win that saved Stefanski’s job. Or merely a win to go out on a high note?
We shall soon find out.