CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Browns took down the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-17 in the friendly confines of FirstEnergy Stadium Sunday afternoon improving to 4-7 on the year.
In what was Cleveland Browns QB Jacoby Brissett's swan song as the regular starting QB, the script felt all too familiar for the first 55 minutes at FirstEnergy Stadium.
Once again the Browns drove down the field and made it look easy as wide receiver Anthony Schwartz took a reverse to the house for an early touchdown.
After that? The Browns offense once again failed to put anything meaningful together for the next 3 quarters.
A Cade York field goal (including a bad 39 yard miss) accounted for all of the Browns offense until their final possession in regular time.
However the Browns seemingly rejuvenated defense kept them in the game all afternoon holding Tampa Bay to just 17 points through the first three and a half quarters.
With just over five minutes left in regulation, Jacoby Brissett marched the Browns offense down the field, including a long Nick Chubb run, to set up a game tying, 4th down TD pass from Brissett to David Njoku.
Last minute heroics from the signal caller who has done everything he's been asked to do for this team through the first 11 games of the season.
The defensive struggle continued into overtime with each team punting away their first possession after minimal gains. Brady and the Bucs offense were able to get to midfield on their second overtime possession, but Myles Garrett came through when the Browns needed it putting suffocating pressure on Tom Brady helping force a punt back to the Browns offense.
A quick first down pass to Amari Cooper set up the Browns at midfield with two minutes left in the overtime period. Then the dagger came.
With four yards to gain on a third down play at midfield, Brissett found a wide open Amari Cooper down the right sideline, nearly taking it all the way to the house.
The long gain set up a game winning Nick Chubb TD run to cap off Jacoby Brissett's admirable run as the Browns starting quarterback.
The biggest surprise of the day? Undoubtedly the Browns defense.
The much maligned defense that has been historically bad against the run in 2022 (including giving up 171 yards to the Bills last week) held the Buccaneers to under 100 yards.
Unfortunately, if this was the point in which they turned their season around as a collective unit, it's likely too little too late
Next week will see the return of Deshaun Watson as the Browns go on the road to face Watson's former team, the Houston Texans.
If this was the last time we saw Jacoby Brissett under center in a Browns uniform, he deserves a standing ovation for the job he did under unique, and at times, extremely difficult circumstances.
Check out the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show's instant reaction to the Browns win!