Browns, Steelers Play Thursday, Oct. 1 For AFC North Lead
TLDR: The Browns rallied past the Panthers 21-18 to get to 2-1, and now the Steelers come in Thursday night with first place in the AFC North on the line.
Three weeks into a season plenty of people had written off before it started, Cleveland is playing for the top of the division. Sunday's comeback over Carolina was the Browns' 2nd straight late rally, and the second the clock hit zero the Browns faithful at Barstool jumped straight to what comes next: a Thursday night game against Pittsburgh with the AFC North lead up for grabs.
YOUR CLEVELAND BROWNS WILL HOST THE PITTSBURGH STEELERS ON THURSDAY NIGHT FOR 1ST PLACE IN THE AFC NORTH!!!!!!
The win took some doing. Carolina went up 18-13 with 4:25 left, and Deshaun Watson answered with a 65-yard drive in 8 plays. It ended with a 14-yard touchdown to Harold Fannin Jr. with 1:48 to go, and Watson hit Denzel Boston for the 2-point conversion that made it a 3-point game. That drive also got a gift: Watson was picked in the end zone, but a roughing-the-passer flag wiped it out. Then the defense had to hold, and on 4th and 16 Bryce Young threw a checkdown that was nowhere close to the sticks.
Bryce Young just checked it down On 4th & 16 with the game on the line??
The sack on the play before set that up. Mason Graham came straight up the middle to make it 4th and 16, his 2nd sack of the day. For Jeff D. Lowe it was a moment of public confession. He says Graham has 4 sacks in 3 games, and he admits he hated the trade on draft night.
MASON GRAHAM!!!! THIS BIG DUMB IDIOT (ME) HATED THAT TRADE ON DRAFT NIGHT. FOUR SACKS IN THREE GAMES! #Browns
Lowe was already all in by the time he filmed his full reaction, shirtless and talking into his phone from his backyard pool. The message: get on board, buy in, and give credit to a gutsy 4th quarter.
#BROWNS WIN REACTION: Get on board! Time to buy in! What a win from everyone involved, and what a ballsy 4th Quarter. That ruled.
The internet obviously spent more time on the pool than on the analysis. The replies apparently decided it was an above-ground pool, and less than an hour later Lowe put out a statement on the matter.
Disgusted by the above ground pool accusations. Optical illusion. Go #Browns.
The fun part is how little anyone expected this. Back on September 8, when Wake Up Barstool ranked the division, the Browns were the first team cut from the AFC North. The panel liked what Cleveland was building but said the quarterback position wasn't settled yet.
“We're gonna eliminate the Cleveland Browns. This is not the year. It's the year before the year.”
Now it might be the year after all, at least for 1 more week. Watson is back from his Achilles injury and has 2 touchdown passes to Fannin in this one, and after the game he said he got a little teary-eyed feeling the crowd's energy. Next up is Pittsburgh, and oddsmakers opened the Steelers as slight road favorites. Big Cat isn't holding back on the hype.
The Browns game of the century Thursday night is officially on
We'll see if it's the game of the century, but it's the biggest game Cleveland has had this early in a long time. A win on a short week puts the Browns alone in 1st place in the North going into October. A loss sends them back to being a feel-good story that got a little ahead of itself. In the meantime, Lowe's pool is apparently in the ground.
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