The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns typically play each other tough. Thursday night was no different as a wintry mix fell from the Cleveland sky.
Playing in freezing temperatures, the Browns stunned the Steelers 24-19 to snap Pittsburgh’s five-game winning streak.
Myles Garrett and the Browns controlled most of the game versus their AFC North rival. Garrett was a game wrecker, and the Browns defense contained Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh’s offense.
Thursday’s contest at Huntington Bank Field was a prototypical AFC North battle – full of physical play and good defense.
USA TODAY Sports selects the winners and losers from the Week 12 AFC North battle:
NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
Winners
Myles Garrett
Garrett was the best player on the field in the first half. He had three sacks, one forced fumble and four pressures.
Garrett recorded a sack on Pittsburgh’s first offensive possession that led to a miss field goal by Steelers kicker Chris Boswell. The Browns’ star defensive end then had a strip sack in the second quarter and closed out the first half with another sack.
Garrett faced multiple double teams in the second half as the Steelers correctly adjusted their game plan.
The Browns’ defensive end did have to check into the blue tent in the fourth quarter but returned to the game.
Garrett tallied five tackles and three sacks in the win.
Jameis Winston
Winston was locked in. His pregame interview is proof.
The Browns’ QB had a couple errant throws, but made perhaps the two biggest plays in the game.
Early in the fourth quarter on fourth down, Winston put his body on the line. He scrambled around, ran 2 yards and leaped to cross the plane for a touchdown. The battery to his communications device even popped out of his helmet during the TD scramble, per the Amazon broadcast. Winston’s touchdown, plus a successful two-point conversion, gave the Browns an 18-6 lead with 12:16 remaining.
Later in the fourth quarter, the Browns’ quarterback completed a 15-yard pass to Jerry Jeudy that set up the game-winning score.
Winston went 18-of-27 passing for 219 yards. He tossed one interception and lost a fumble. It was an up-and-down performance by the journeyman QB, but he competed.
Nick Chubb
Thursday was Chubb’s first game against the Steelers since the brutal knee injury he sustained in the teams’ 2023 Week 2 game.
Chubb ran hard and got tough yards against a stingy Pittsburgh run defense. The Browns’ running back poetically scored the game-winning touchdown with under a minute left in the fourth quarter.
Chubb rushed 20 times for 59 yards and had two rushing TDs.
Jerry Jeudy
Jeudy’s turned himself into Cleveland’s top wide receiver. His huge 15-yard catch on third down set up Nick Chubb’s game-winning, 2-yard touchdown.
Jeudy finished with a game-high six catches for 85 yards. He seemed to be always open in the snow.
Grounds crew
The Browns’ grounds crew deserves credit for maintaining the field and making the snowy surface at least playable.
Losers
Punters
Browns punter Corey Bojorquez’s first punt went a grand total of 12 yards.
Steelers punter Corliss Waitman shanked a 15-yard punt late in the fourth quarter that gave Cleveland life.
Bojorquez had three punts for an average of 30.7 yards.
Waitman just had the one costly 15-yard blunder.
Browns’ third-down efficiency
The Browns went 1-for-10 on third down.
Winston tossed a costly interception on third down with under five minutes remaining in the contest.
Russell Wilson
Wilson suffered his first loss as the Steelers’ starting QB despite producing his fourth straight game with a passer rating above 90 (116.7). The veteran quarterback is now 4-1 as Pittsburgh’s starter. He’s played well enough to keep his job.