The Browns have shown they were not happy with the first play-off in 18 years.
A national audience of the first time had to see exactly what it means Sunday on a historic night that Browns fans will not soon forget. And if they were a little late, they missed one of the best first quarters the NFL has ever seen.
With four quick tackles, the Browns made NFL history with 28 points in the first quarter, the most in the playoffs ever, and brought them some more honors to the franchise’s first post-season victory since 1994.
More importantly, though, the Browns’ 48-37 win over the Steelers was yet another performance of the kind of decision that brought the team to this point on the NFL calendar. Without their head coach, without a bunch of key contributors and with just one practice under their belt after a week drastically affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Browns dug deep and played the kind of complementary, opportunistic football that wins games January .
The Browns advance to the AFC Division Round and will face No. 1 in the Arrowhead Stadium. 1 selected Kansas City Chiefs brave. The kick-off will be presented on CBS on Sunday at 3:05 p.m.
Cleveland’s defense forced five times, which was a draw all season, and three of them came in the first quarter. The Browns selected Ben Roethlisberger four times and forced veteran QB to try to bring the Steelers back on their own from a double-digit deficit they faced almost all night.
Baker Mayfield shoots out with a quick break to Jarvis Landry and finishes with 263 yards and three touchdowns in the first playoff game of his career.
Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt were a force from start to finish, and they were just as dangerous on the ground as through the air. Chubb rushed for 76 yards and added 69 through the air, most of which came on a 40-yard screen touch early in the fourth quarter. Hunt hit twice while hitting a total of 61 yards.
Landry led all Browns receivers with five catches for 92 yards and one offense. Austin Hooper added seven catches for 46 yards and a touchdown.
Roethlisberger threw for a whopping 501 yards and four touchdowns, but the Steelers never came closer than 12, despite the dominant time of possession and the Browns ’offense, 553-390.
It started with the very first turn of the game, and it only got better and better from there in the Browns ’historic 28-point first quarter.
Steelers C Maurkice Pouncey sent the first screenshot of the game well over Ben Roethlisberger’s head, and no one laid their hands in front of the 2-yard line. The ball bounced free several more times before Browns S Karl Joseph secured it for the beautiful, game-opening defensive attack.
MJ Stewart got the ball in the Steelers’ next possession when he picked Roethlisberger and fielded the Browns near midfield. It took Cleveland just three plays to turn the takeaway into an attack, when Mayfield fired a strike at Landry, who jumped over the field and curled up in the end zone for a 40-yard attack with 9: 46 to play in the quarter.
Hunt scored his first of two touches to tackle a 65-yard six-yard line, while bulldozing in the final zone and dragging a pair of Steelers with him on an 11-yard run. It was left with 4:40 left in the quarter, but the Browns were not finished.
Sheldrick Redwine intercepted Roethlisberger in the ensuing possession, got up and returned to the Steelers’ 15-year-old line. Hunt hit it from 8 yards out and outscored the Browns 1:56 in the first quarter.
The Steelers broke the lock with 1:44 to play in the second quarter with a James Conner power play, but the Browns responded immediately. The Browns needed just 1:10 and drove 64 yards, regaining a 28-point lead on Mayfield’s 7-year pass to Hooper.
The Browns eventually took a 25-point lead in the half after a final goal from Chris Boswell.
The Steelers rumbled with a back-to-back onslaught in the third quarter to make Cleveland’s lead much more manageable.
Roethlisberger and the Steelers moved quickly, picking up almost all of their yards through the air. Eric Ebron dragged in the first run, a 17-year-old, while JuJu Smith-Schuster caught the second, a 5-year-old on the fourth-and-goal to make the score 35-23 with 2:57 left in the third quarter.
Although it bumped slightly in the third quarter, Cleveland’s offense woke up early in the fourth quarter to ease tensions.
Mayfield found Landry for a big third conversion with a 17-yard pass, and the Browns were in the final zone a few times later when Chubb took a screen, plowed through two defenders and headed to the 40-yard box. attack jumped.