The Browns Beat the Steelers and Lost Mason Graham

Andre Szmyt hit a career-long 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left, and Cleveland beat Pittsburgh 27-24. Mason Graham, the Browns’ sack leader, left on the Steelers’ first series and is now week-to-week.

The win moved the Browns to 3-1 and first in the AFC North. It also removed the interior rusher who had four sacks in three games before Thursday night at Huntington Bank Field.

A 21-Point Burst, Then a 56-Yard Kick

Pittsburgh used almost 10 minutes on the opening possession and still scored. Aaron Rodgers found Roman Wilson from 12 yards out after 17 plays, and the visitors led 7-0. Graham was already being checked by then. Cleveland did not touch the ball until the second quarter, then scored three times in a row.

HOW THE LEAD CHANGED HANDS

1. Oct. 1, first quarter: Rodgers hits Wilson for a 12-yard touchdown (Chris Boswell kick) after a 17-play, 78-yard drive, and Pittsburgh leads 7-0.
2. Oct. 1, second quarter: Jaleel McLaughlin rips a 28-yard run, Quinshon Judkins punches in from 2 yards, and Deshaun Watson lobs a 2-yard score to Harold Fannin Jr., putting Cleveland up 21-7.
3. Oct. 1, 0:08 left in the half: Boswell drills a 31-yard field goal, and Pittsburgh goes to the locker room down 21-10.
4. Oct. 1, fourth quarter: Darnell Washington’s 21-yard catch makes it 21-16 after a failed two-point pass; Szmyt answers from 44 yards for 24-16; Pat Freiermuth scores from 3 yards and Rodgers sneaks the two-point try to tie it at 24-24 with 1:42 left.
5. Oct. 1, 0:10 left: Szmyt’s 56-yard kick wins it, 27-24. Grant Delpit intercepts Rodgers at the Cleveland 18 with one second on the clock.

Watson went 4 of 5 for 46 yards on that last drive, including two catches by Jerry Jeudy for 27 yards. A sack for a 4-yard loss with 19 seconds left left the ball on the Steelers 38. Szmyt still drilled it down the middle. Denzel Ward also had an interception, and T.J. Watt forced and recovered a fumble at the other end.

Five Linemen Sacked Rodgers After Graham Left

Graham did not record a sack. Five teammates each got one, and the rush still finished with a season high against a quarterback who threw for 299 yards and three scores. The names were rotation pieces, not the player who had been the engine for three weeks.

THE FIVE SACKS ON RODGERS

• Maliek Collins: Veteran tackle, one sack.
• Mike Hall: Second-year interior, one sack.
• Sam Williams: Edge, one sack.
• Isaiah McGuire: Edge, one sack.
• Adin Huntington: Depth tackle, one sack, and a candidate for extra snaps while Graham sits.

Jared Verse, the edge the Browns got from the Rams in the Myles Garrett trade, did not join that list. Cleveland still won the yardage fight on the ground and on net, even as Rodgers piled up passing yards and Jaylen Warren ran 17 times for 93.

THURSDAY NIGHT TEAM TOTALS

Cleveland finished with 372 total net yards to Pittsburgh’s 361 and ran 27 times for 112 yards, 4.1 a carry. DK Metcalf had five catches for 115 yards, and Denzel Boston had four for 89, including a 60-yard gain on a throw Watson put 29 yards in the air.

The Interior Rush Cleveland Just Lost

Graham is 23, listed 6-foot-4 and 315 pounds, and the No. 5 pick in the 2025 draft out of Michigan. He started every game as a rookie and finished with half a sack in 17 games. Through three games this season he had a sack in each one, including two against Carolina, before the Steelers’ first drive ended that streak.

The Browns’ own count after Thursday still credits him with the club lead. PFF logged nine pressures from the interior (four sacks, four hurries, one hit). Verse was supposed to replace Garrett’s production off the edge. The sacks have come inside instead.

GRAHAM THROUGH FOUR WEEKS

• Sacks: 4.0, leading Cleveland and tied for third in the NFL.
• Tackles: 15, with six for loss and five quarterback hits.
• This game: Hurt on the opening series, no sack, no tackle on the sheet.
• Draft slot: Fifth overall in 2025, starter from week one of his rookie year.

Todd Monken, in his first season as head coach, had been talking about Graham as a player who arrived early. The praise sat next to the injury news on the club site.

He’s a tremendously talented young player that you could see early in the season, it all coming together. He’s not only active and quick, he’s a highly intelligent player, which I think helps him in terms of reading sets, in terms of communication up front. And he plays with unbelievable effort.

Todd Monken, Browns head coach, on the club injury note

What the MRI Changed Overnight

Graham’s left leg bent while he was being blocked. He walked to the medical tent with help, then to the locker room, and left the stadium on crutches with a brace on the knee. That walk-off is why the first read looked like a season-ending tear. The pictures from the field did that work before any scan did.

An MRI the next day at University Hospitals showed an MCL sprain and an ankle sprain. The medical staff will take it week to week. Ian Rapoport said Graham is expected to miss a few weeks and that the scan offered hope it is not a long-term injury. Analyst Tony Grossi, on Oct. 3, put the absence at 4 to 6 weeks. Those are not the same window.

WHAT WE KNOW

• The diagnosis: MCL sprain and ankle sprain, confirmed by MRI on Oct. 2, no surgery indicated.
• The club line: Return to be judged week to week.
• The first insider read: A few weeks, not a season-ending tear.

WHAT IS UNCONFIRMED

• The longer window: Grossi’s 4 to 6 weeks has not been echoed by the team.
• Week 5: No practice report yet on whether he can travel to MetLife Stadium on Oct. 11.

Huntington is the name already attached to extra interior snaps. Hall and Collins logged heavy work even with Graham healthy. The five sacks on Thursday were proof the rotation can hit the quarterback for one night. They are not proof it can replace four sacks from one tackle over a month.

Watson’s Third Straight Late Drive Came With Turnovers

Watson completed 24 of 33 passes for 268 yards, one touchdown, and one interception, a 94 passer rating, and ran seven times for 22 yards. The 31-year-old missed all of 2025 after his Achilles went twice and had not played in a regular-season game since October 2024 until this year’s opener, a 34-10 loss at Jacksonville. He has now led a go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter in three straight weeks.

The first half was clean. The second half was not. He lost a fumble (Watt was on the strip and the recovery) and threw the interception, both after the break, and those two giveaways are what let Pittsburgh climb out of a 21-7 hole. On the last drive he still moved the ball 36 yards in seven plays. Szmyt did the rest.

“He believes in all of us,” Watson said of Monken. “For him to be able to trust me in these moments is major.”

Monken, asked about a 3-1 start that followed that Jacksonville night, said he would have called anyone nuts for predicting it after the way the opener went. “That’s a credit to our players, because all they do is just work,” he said. The offense that work produced still needed a kicker from 56 yards because the quarterback’s second-half ball security gave Rodgers the ball back.

Fourteen Penalties Nearly Let Pittsburgh Back In

Cleveland was flagged 14 penalties for 88 yards. Pittsburgh had eight for 50. Nine of Cleveland’s flags came before halftime. One first-quarter defensive snap drew three. Late, the flags kept helping the Steelers’ tying drive, including a holding call that gave Rodgers another shot at the end zone and an offside on the two-point sneak that tied the game.

The Browns are winning ugly on purpose right now, and the flags are the part that does not scale. They survived Tampa Bay, Carolina, and Pittsburgh in a three-game streak. A 14-flag night against a division rival that still had Watt, Rodgers, and Metcalf is a thin way to sit in first place. Szmyt was 2 for 2 and 3 for 3 on extra points for nine points. The defense got two takeaways. Those two facts covered the rest.

First Place Meets a Jets Trip Without Graham

After Thursday, Cleveland is 3-1 and alone in first in the AFC North. The Steelers are 2-2. Baltimore and Cincinnati sat at 2-1 heading into the rest of Week 4, so the picture can move before Cleveland plays again. The Browns do not play until Sunday, Oct. 11, at the New York Jets, then host the Ravens on Oct. 18, go to Tennessee on Oct. 25, and visit Pittsburgh on Nov. 1.

That is extra rest after a Thursday game and a hard stretch without the tackle who had been wrecking centers. Huntington, Hall, and Collins will have to hold the middle while Verse still hunts his first sack in brown and orange. Watson will be asked for a fourth straight late drive if the flags keep coming. Szmyt already showed he can make a 56-yarder with the season’s first-place game on the line.

Delpit’s interception with one second left closed the night. Graham had been in the locker room since the first series, then on crutches in a brace. The Browns got the division win. They also got the MRI that put their best interior rusher on the shelf.