The Cleveland Browns managed to come from behind to beat the Indianapolis Colts, 39-38, in one of the craziest games in the NFL so far this season.
The Browns got off to a fast start, with RB Jerome Ford running for a 69-yard touchdown on the third play from scrimmage. But the Colts countered on their opening drive with a 59-yard touchdown pass to rookie WR Josh Downs with 11:38 left in the first quarter, and the score was knotted up at 7-7.
With 4:28 left in the first quarter, Colts QB Gardner Minshew took off for a 17-yard scramble for a touchdown set up by a 19-yard completion to RB Jonathan Taylor earlier in the drive. Late in the first quarter, QB Deshaun Watson left the game with an injury, but after the Cleveland defense forced a fumble on a Myles Garrett strip-sack, QB P.J. Walker led a scoring drive capped by a two-yard touchdown run by Kareem Hunt to tie the game at 14 with 14:22 left in the first half.
Garrett came through again, blocking a Matt Gay field goal try with 10:09 left in the first half. The Browns took over at the Indianapolis 26-yard line and would settle for a field goal to go up 17-14. But Indianapolis responded with an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a four-yard Minshew scramble for a touchdown to take a 21-17 lead after Gay’s extra point. Indianapolis got a stop, but Garrett again continued to make his mark on the game with a strip-sack that was recovered by Tony Fields for a Cleveland touchdown to put the Browns up 24-17 with 1:42 left in the first half. The Browns added a field goal before the end of the half to go up 27-21.
The Browns made a field goal in the third quarter, but a Taylor rushing touchdown for Indianapolis cut the lead to 30-28 with 5:11 left in the third quarter. The score would remain 30-28 until the fourth quarter, when a 32-yard completion from Minshew to WR Alec Pierce helped lead to a 27-yard Gay field goal to put Indianapolis up 31-28 with 14:09 left in the game. On the ensuing drive with 11:06 remaining, Walker took a shot deep for Cleveland and was intercepted by Colts S Robert Thomas at the 2-yard line.
The Colts went three-and-out off the turnover though, and the Browns responded with a 58-yard field goal with 6:33 left to put Cleveland up 33-31. A 75-yard receiving touchdown by WR Michael Pittman Jr. ensued on the following drive, and the crazy back-and-forth game took another turn with the Colts taking a 38-33 lead with 5:38 left in the game. The Colts forced a three-and-out on the next Cleveland drive, but the Browns would get the ball back at their own 20 with 2:35 left.
With 2:27 left, facing third-and-long, Walker would thread the needle and hit WR Elijah Moore for a 30-yard gain down to midfield, and then RB Pierre Strong Jr. rumbled for a gain of 13 yards on the next play. With 52 seconds left, the Browns had the ball at the Indianapolis 13, and they needed to find the end zone. But Walker fumbled, and DL DeForest Buckner recovered it, and the Colts appeared to clinch the 38-33 victory. But illegal contact was called against the Colts, giving the Browns five yards and a new set of downs with 47 seconds left.
A defensive pass interference in the end zone against Indianapolis gave the Browns new life again, and then RB Kareem Hunt ran it in on fourth down from the 1-yard line, and with 15 seconds left the Browns took a 39-38 lead. The two-point conversion attempt failed.
The Colts weren’t able to score with 15 seconds left, and the Browns clinched the win.
The win improves the Browns to 4-2. Around the AFC North, the Baltimore Ravens blew out the Detroit Lions, and the Pittsburgh Steelers are currently playing the Los Angeles Rams. The Cincinnati Bengals are on bye.
