Andre Szmyt missed from 48 yards, got another chance, and did not waste it. Ten seconds from the end, he drove through a 37-yard field goal that lifted the Cleveland Browns past the Baltimore Ravens and completed a fourth-quarter comeback that felt unlikely for most of the afternoon.
That is what changed in Week 6: a game that had been stuck in place for three quarters suddenly tilted on one clean kick. The Browns improved to 4-2, and a victory over the Baltimore Ravens pushed them into first place in the AFC North. For a team that entered at 3-2 and needed a rebound after an ugly week in New York, the search for a Browns game today answer ended with Szmyt and a lead they could finally protect.
The finish was built on a late surge that showed up in the numbers. Cleveland put up 113 yards and six first downs in the fourth quarter alone, enough to keep the pressure on after Tyler Loop’s kick sailed wide and left the score at 10-3. The Browns were still alive because they kept creating one more possession, one more shot, one more chance for the next kick.
Szmyt had already handled the kind of pressure that can change a specialist’s day. He had made 25 consecutive field goal attempts before the miss from 48 yards, and that earlier failure could have become the story. Instead, it became the setup for the kick that counted. The second attempt was shorter, cleaner and struck with the game on the line.
The rest of the game had not been pretty enough to explain the ending on its own. Deshaun Watson was dropped five times in Week 6, and the Browns had been hit with the kind of stress that usually breaks a comeback before it starts. They also allowed eight sacks to the Jets a week earlier, which made the margin for error look even thinner going into this one. Still, they stayed in it long enough for Szmyt to settle the result with his foot.
The bigger meaning is hard to miss. The Browns are now 4-2, in first place in the AFC North, and in a spot they have not reached this late in the season since 2014. What comes next is simple enough to state and hard enough to live: Szmyt will be remembered for the miss from 48 yards only if the 37-yard winner does not last as the kick that defined Cleveland’s Week 6 turn.
