Two straight wins. Both courtesy of fourth-quarter comebacks. The latter Sunday in the final two minutes of the home opener.
Thursday night can’t get here fast enough for the Browns and their fans.
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“It’s huge. It’s major,” quarterback Deshaun Watson, architect of the winning drives, said Tuesday of his excitement level. “It’s a great opportunity to showcase what we’re about on a big national stage.
“Ultimately, as a locker room, we just stay locked in, make sure we got our craft and everything that our game plan is so we can go out there and execute at a high level. We’re playing a very tough opponent, experienced opponent, and we got to make sure that we have all our things locked in going into that game.”
Browns QB Deshaun Watson on Thursday night matchup vs. Steelers. pic.twitter.com/rSY0r6iDkB
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) September 29, 2026
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The Browns will host the archrival Steelers at Huntington Bank Field. With the entire AFC North 2-1, it’s a battle to take sole possession of first place, at least for a couple of days.
History is on the Browns’ side.
They have won their last seven Thursday night games overall and their last nine at home on Thursday, including four against the Steelers. The Steelers are 0-9 on the road in divisional play on Thursday night.
The crowd finished the 21-18 win over the Panthers on Sunday in a frenzy and is expected to pick up where it left off.
“The energy, the excitement, the positivity, everything, we fed off that,” said Watson, who’s had a strained relationship with the fans but received loud cheers after hitting tight end Harold Fannin Jr. with the winning TD pass. “And I feel like that was a big part of that win on Sunday. And we want to continue to feed off that, especially against this opponent, Thursday night, primetime.
“And we want to showcase that we’re going to play really good football, put up a lot of points, make some excitement, get some cheers going and play well, play all three phases really good so we can get a W.”
The Browns in position to go 3-1 seemed highly unlikely after a 34-10 loss to the Jaguars in the opener. But the defense made a giant jump and Watson was at his best in the fourth quarters, including using his legs to pick up critical first downs. He’s the first Browns quarterback since Brian Sipe in 1980 to throw a go-ahead, winning touchdown in the final four minutes of regulation in consecutive games, per NFL Research.
While it’s far too early to declare Watson’s comeback complete — he was only 16-for-30 for 144 yards against the Panthers — he’s exceeded the expectations of many in the last two games. He has the chance to take the next step in front on a national TV audience.
“My main focus is, again, playing clean football, having an opportunity for us to be able to win the game,” he said. “That’s all I’m locked in on. I’m not getting too caught up in all the antics in the media and things like that. This is a very humbling league and you got to make sure that you’re locked in one game at a time. Keep the main thing the main thing and that’s playing football.”
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Coach Todd Monken was feeling the time crunch of a short week before his first division game as a head coach. As the play caller, he doesn’t work ahead on an opponent until the previous game is complete, so he began working on the game plan for the Steelers on Sunday night.
He’s not complaining. Especially with it being the only Browns game this season not scheduled for Sunday at 1 p.m.
“It is a mad rush. But this is where you want to be,” he said. “You want to be playing on Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night, at 4 o’clock. The better you get, the better you play, the more they put you on primetime.
“So this is really cool for our guys. Our guys are excited about it.”
The Steelers scored only 23 points in their 1-1 start before four-time MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers got hot Sunday in a 30-27 win over the Bengals. He passed for 292 yards and three touchdowns a little more than two months before his 43rd birthday.
“He’s a wizard. He can do all these throws that elite quarterbacks can do,” defensive end Jared Verse said. “His legs might not be what they were at the one point, but his arm is. I’d argue, it’s even better than it’s ever been. He’s gotten everything up, he’s hitting the tight windows, he’s throwing deep. If you let him sit back there and be the quarterback that he is, he’s going to dice you up all day.”
Rodgers has always had an incredibly quick release. As he has gotten older, he uses that to avoid the hits that linger longer past 40.
“A quarterback like that, he’s very seasoned. So to make him uncomfortable, you have to really be in his face,” Verse said. “Slight pressures and everything like that aren’t going to get to him. You have to really hit him, put the hands on him.”
Verse was acquired from the Rams in June, so primetime vs. the Steelers will be his introduction to the rivalry and the division.
“You can see the AFC North, it’s a battlefield,” he said. “Everybody’s winning, everybody’s having great games, everybody’s dominating. So it’s going to be another showcase. But our job’s to just go out there and dominate this Thursday.”
Cornerback Denzel Ward denied Rodgers and the Steelers a chance at victory in Cleveland last season with great coverage in the end zone in the final seconds. The Browns have won four straight vs. the Steelers in Cleveland.
“It’s a real exciting environment just to have a primetime game in front of the fans,” Ward said. “You can use the fans for energy and they’re going to be loud and can affect the offenses. So it’s definitely going to be fun and we definitely enjoy playing in primetime games back at home.”
Verse got a taste of what it’ll be like vs. the Panthers.
“It was crazy on Sunday, so I’m excited what it’s going to be like on Thursday,” he said. “We coming in, get a win, we go into this quick little mini-bye 3-1, that’d be the best feeling, especially for the fans out here.”
Browns DE Jared Verse on looking forward to first prime time game in Cleveland. pic.twitter.com/zQ6w32SAkE
— Scott Petrak ct (@ScottPetrak) September 29, 2026
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