CLEVELAND — Pat Freiermuth scored the touchdown that tied it. Jack Sawyer’s tipped pass helped create the interception that sparked the rally. Daylen Everette was in the middle of the coverage the Browns attacked. Alex Highsmith was part of a pass rush that could not finish the night. None of it was enough.
The Pittsburgh Steelers lost to the Cleveland Browns 27-24 on Thursday night at Huntington Bank Field. Andre Szmyt’s 56-yard field goal with 10 seconds left gave Cleveland sole possession of first place in the AFC North at 3-1. Pittsburgh dropped to 2-2 and will not play again until the Indianapolis Colts visit Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, Oct. 11, at 1 p.m. ET.
Freiermuth, Sawyer, Everette and Highsmith spoke with reporters after the game. The official team account posted clips from those availabilities Friday afternoon.
Freiermuth ties it, then watches the lead disappear
Aaron Rodgers drove the Steelers 80 yards in eight plays and found Freiermuth on a 3-yard touchdown with 1:42 remaining. Rodgers then sneaked in for the two-point conversion, tying the game at 24-24. Freiermuth finished with three catches on five targets for 17 yards and that score, his second touchdown of the season. Through four games he has 14 receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns.
Fellow tight end Darnell Washington also scored, on a 21-yard catch earlier in the fourth quarter. The two tight ends each had three catches and a touchdown on five targets. Rodgers finished 22 of 40 for 299 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. DK Metcalf had five catches for 115 yards. Jaylen Warren added 126 yards from scrimmage, with 93 on the ground.
The tie did not last. Deshaun Watson completed 4 of 5 passes for 46 yards on the winning drive, including two completions to Jerry Jeudy for 27 yards. Watson was sacked for a 4-yard loss with 19 seconds left, which left the ball at the Steelers’ 38. Szmyt still made the kick, his second field goal of the night and a career long. Grant Delpit then intercepted Rodgers’ final throw to end it.
Pat Freiermuth, Jack Sawyer, Daylen Everette & Alex Highsmith spoke to the media. @Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/qVaKTlrR5R
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) October 2, 2026
Watson finished 24 of 33 for 268 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Cleveland led 21-7 late in the first half before Pittsburgh scored 14 in the fourth. The Browns also got rushing touchdowns from Jaleel McLaughlin and Quinshon Judkins and a scoring catch from Harold Fannin Jr.
Sawyer: Browns “executed at a higher level”
Sawyer’s pressure changed one of the pivotal plays of the night. Early in the fourth quarter, Robert Spears-Jennings intercepted a deep pass intended for Denzel Boston. Officials first called defensive pass interference on Everette, a 42-yard penalty that would have put Cleveland at the Pittsburgh 23. Coach Mike McCarthy challenged. Replay showed Sawyer had tipped the ball at the line, which wiped out the penalty and restored the interception.
Pittsburgh scored on the next drive, Washington’s 21-yard touchdown, to pull within 21-16 after a failed two-point try. Cleveland answered with a 44-yard Szmyt field goal to make it 24-16 before the Freiermuth score.
Sawyer was blunt afterward in a locker-room interview aired on WTAE.
“There’s some things there that we need to clean up on our end. They did a good job. They executed at a higher level than we did.”
On the final drive, he added: “It’s always disappointing when they are able to get into field goal range. I think that they made a couple plays and the kicker hit a deep kick. Hats off to him.”
McCarthy said the defensive staff believed Sawyer had gotten a hand on the ball, but that the information was slow to reach the sideline. “We were yelling at Jack, and he said, ‘Yeah, I tipped it,'” McCarthy said. He told Sawyer afterward that if he tipped it, the staff should not have had to ask.
Sawyer, a fourth-round pick in 2025, had two assisted tackles and the pass defensed. He has yet to record a sack in 2026.
Everette calls the long Boston catch a miscommunication
The secondary was already thin before kickoff. Joey Porter Jr. was traded to the Dallas Cowboys. DeShon Elliott is on injured reserve. Jalen Ramsey played with a cast on a broken wrist. Brandin Echols had been working through the concussion protocol. Jamel Dean left Huntington Bank Field with his foot in a boot.
That pushed Everette, a 2026 third-round pick from Georgia, into a heavy role. He played 53 of Pittsburgh’s 65 defensive snaps, opposite Asante Samuel Jr., and finished with three solo tackles and a pass defensed. Safety Robert Spears-Jennings, a rookie, played 38 snaps, tied for the team lead with seven tackles and had the interception.
The play that stood out went the other way. On one of Everette’s first snaps, Watson hit Boston for a gain of about 60 yards. Boston got behind the rookie corner, and Cleveland scored three plays later to take a 14-7 lead. The Post-Gazette reported the completion at 61 yards.
“Just a miscommunication,” Everette said. “That’s all.”
Pittsburgh has now lost five straight in Cleveland and is 1-7-1 there since 2018. The loss was also the Steelers’ 10th in a row on Thursday night against an AFC North opponent.
Highsmith and the edge do not close it out
Highsmith also met with reporters. He did not have a sack. He finished with one tackle and one tackle for loss. He has 3.0 sacks through four games after posting 2.0 against Atlanta in Week 1 and 1.0 at New England in Week 2. He was shut out against Cincinnati and again Thursday.
T.J. Watt was the more productive edge. He had a tipped pass, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Cameron Heyward said the defense’s execution was not good enough for a second straight week. Watt was more direct about the finish and the record.
“To sit here and not be 3-1 isn’t acceptable. Obviously, it’s a long season, a lot left to go, but we just have to put it together. Even at the end of the game, it was way too easy getting down the field and getting in field-goal range.”
McCarthy said the team made mistakes in all three phases and came up short in the two-minute situation the staff has emphasized. “Gotta be better, be better on the road,” he said. Rodgers said it was not Pittsburgh’s cleanest game and that he missed throws he usually makes. Cleveland had five sacks and 10 quarterback hits.
What’s next
The Steelers get a mini-bye before hosting Indianapolis. Rico Dowdle (toe) was inactive for a second straight week, so Warren is expected to keep the lead role. Freiermuth and Washington should remain in the two-tight-end package that has been a feature of the offense. On defense, Everette’s snap count is likely to stay high until Dean and the rest of the secondary are healthier, and Sawyer’s tip will be part of the film on how the edge has to communicate in real time.
Cleveland, meanwhile, has won three straight, each on a fourth-quarter drive by Watson, and hosts no one until after the weekend slate settles the rest of the division.
