After Dustin Hopkins kicked his fourth field goal of the day from twenty-nine yards with one minute and forty seconds remaining, all that a Cleveland defense that had dominated the game all day with the exception of the first drive of the game needed to do was make one more stop.
They couldn't and as rookie kicker Jake Moody lined up for a forty-one yard field goal attempt that would win the game, if successful, it felt like another devastating defeat for a team that needed a break was coming to Cleveland yet again.
But the kick drifted wide right and the Browns had upset the previously unbeaten 49ers 19-17 in Cleveland.
Jerome Ford rushed for 84 yards, Kareem Hunt added 47 yards and scored the only Cleveland touchdown with Amari Cooper leading the receivers with four catches for over one hundred yards.
The Browns improved to 3-2 with the win and will travel to Indianapolis next week to play the Colts.
Brownie Bits
1) This win was almost all about the defense as other than the first drive of the game with the Niners scoring a touchdown and the final one that led to the missed field goals, the Browns defense dominated a team that has a claim to best in the game right now.
2) The Browns finished with three sacks of Brock Purdy, none of them by Myles Garrett, and just missed on several others.
Jim Schwartz's defense harrassed Purdy all day and may have given teams a blueprint for defeating the second year quarterback that had not lost a regular season start until this game.
3) The Browns lost a touchdown early in the game when a thirty-two yard P.J. Walker to David Njoku touchdown pass was taken off the board due to a holding call on Wyatt Teller.
The Browns would get no points from the drive when Dustin Hopkins missed the field goal attempt from 47 yards.
4) That miss from Dustin Hopkins was his only miss of the day and his four field goals led the Cleveland offense and his clutch boot of the eventual game-winner continued to make the Browns faith in trading for him and releasing Cade York justified.
5) P.J. Walker threw for 192 yards with two interceptions and missed many open receivers but other than the fourth quarter interception that led to the short field touchdown that gave San Francisco the lead, Walker did enough to keep the Browns in the game.
6) All of the above said, Walker threw a ball on the game-winning drive that could have been intercepted in the end zone.
Walker should have either thrown the ball away or even ran for the end zone, and the Browns just missed another crushing defeat.
7) San Francisco finished with 215 yards of total offense and while the Jim Schwartz led defense played a huge part in that number, let's not forget that Deebo Samuel left the game in the first quarter and Christian McCaffrey missed most of the second half.
Brock Purdy likely would have been far more effective with two of his major weapons.
8) What you can give complete credit to the defense for doing is erasing 49ers standout tight end George Kittle.
Kittle was thrown to only twice and caught only one of those targets for a whopping one yard.
9) The biggest play in the game might not have been any scoring plays, it may have been a play from a seldom-used player.
On the final Cleveland drive on a fourth and five, P.J. Walker hit David Bell for a six yard gain to keep the drive alive.
David Bell is a player that I had hoped would develop into the Browns version of Cooper Kupp, a player that plays in the slot and catches everything thrown to him.
It hasn't worked that way thus far but when the game was on the line, Kevin Stefanski had confidence in the catching ability of Bell to throw the ball to him.
Perhaps there is still hope.
10) Amari Cooper's fifty-eight yard reception was the Browns largest gain of the day and the veteran receiver continues as the Browns go-to and most dependable pass catcher.
Cooper caught four of his eight targets but two of the missed four were plays that Cooper was open and P.J. Walker just missed him.
11) Same thing for Elijah Moore, who was wide open for big gains on the final drive and both times P.J. Walker's throws were errant.
The second of the two could be excused as Walker was on the move but the first has to be all on Walker.
12) The wide receivers other than Cooper have disappointed thus far and I'd love to see the Browns try to get someone before the trading deadline.
I'm not sure if Elijah Moore isn't being used properly or he's not playing well but he hasn't made the impact expected and Donovan Peoples-Jones has taken a step back (one target vs the 49ers) in production and playing time.
I'm finding it hard to see how the Browns, who were so happy with their receiving group, can be happy right now and if the team doesn't make a move, either they are stubbornly sticking to their talent assessment or the prices were too high to pay.
13) Cleveland played four of their first five at home and finished 3-2, which I think was the record that they had to have after five games to be in contention.
They managed to achieve that but will now play on the road in three of their next four and five of their next seven.
The next games in Indianapolis and in Seattle are winnable but neither guaranteed.
The Colts are playing backup quarterback Gardner Minshew but the same Minshew defeated the Ravens in Baltimore and shouldn't be considered an easy mark, particularly if the Browns are starting P.J. Walker again.
The Browns need at least a split of those two games to feel decent about where they will be.
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