How Browns, Andre Szmyt got ultimate redemption in massive upset of Packers

Billy Heyen

How Browns, Andre Szmyt got ultimate redemption in massive upset of Packers image

The Cleveland Browns, on paper, had no business upsetting the Green Bay Packers.

Not this season, not with the Packers' defense playing out of its mind and the Browns' offense being helmed by an over-the-hill, 40-year old Joe Flacco.

But they don't play games on paper.

And in Cleveland on Sunday, that was good news for the Browns and terrible news for the Packers.

The Browns trailed 10-0, but their defense kept them in the game.

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They looked to have blown a chance midway through the fourth quarter, going from second-and-goal at the 1 to fourth-and-goal at the 17, but at least Andre Szmyt made his field goal to pull within 10-3.

Then it was Grant Delpit nabbing an interception on a terrible throw by Jordan Love and returning it inside the 5.

Rookie running back Quinshon Judkins plunged in from a yard out to tie it with the Szmyt extra point.

And then the Browns' big guy, Shelby Harris, blocked what would've been a go-ahead field goal with 30 seconds left.

Flacco made a couple good throws to get Cleveland into range for a 55-yard field goal attempt.

And that brought on Szmyt for his redemptive moment.

In Week 1, the Browns should've beat the Bengals, but Szmyt missed both an extra point and a chip-shot field goal.

Cleveland stuck by their new kicker, the former Syracuse star who is in his first NFL season, and he made all his kicks in Week 2, although it didn't matter in a blowout loss.

This time, Szmyt could prove he belongs.

And from long distance, Szmyt was money.

The Browns, against all odds, had shocked the Packers.

In a cynical view, it could be a victory that hurts the Browns' eventual draft pick in the 2026 first round.

But Sunday was no time to be cynical. It was a time to embrace the fact that these Browns, a team everyone has counted out, found a way to pull off a shocking victory.

You just never know what's going to happen on a given Sunday.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle