The Cleveland Browns bested the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-10, in a critical AFC North divisional matchup. The game was the defensive battle that it was billed to be, but the Browns’ offense made just enough plays to set up a game winning field goal with just a couple seconds left on the clock.
The Steelers and Browns have now concluded their 2023 series, splitting with one win each. The Browns offense did not do anything spectacular, gaining 259 yards of total offense, but they did still manage to outgain the Steelers by 10 yards.
The last time these two teams met in Week Two, the Browns were off to a hot start offensively before losing their star running back, Nick Chubb, to a gruesome knee injury for the season. Jerome Ford picked up the slack and ended up rushing for over 100 yards in Week Two.
Ford spoke about the importance of having Chubb at this rivalry game. A game against the same team that injured him in Week Two.
“It felt really good to beat them today,” Ford said in his postgame press conference posted on the Browns’ website. “Especially with Nick being here and being in the stands. It meant a lot. I honestly didn’t know he was going to be at the game, so when I saw him, it gave me extra juice.”
The Browns didn’t have quite the same success rushing the football this go-around. Kareem Hunt led the way with 36 yards on 12 carries, followed closely behind by Ford with 31 yards on 12 carries. Overall, the Browns rushed 29 times for 96 yards and a touchdown.
Listen to the roar from Cleveland Browns Stadium when they showed Chubb on the scoreboard during the game, via ESPN Cleveland on X.
There were multiple Browns players that mentioned the spark that Chubb being in the building provided. Rookie QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson mentioned it in his postgame press availability posted on X by Scott Petrak of the Chronicle-Telegram.
“Yeah, I mean he’s huge,” Thompson-Robinson said. “I mean after that, Kareem starts snapping and jumping over people, so I think we need Chubb at every game.”
