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Complementary football pays dividends for the Browns | The Huddle

All three sides of the ball played critical roles in the Browns’ 13-10 win over the Packers

Sep 23, 2025 at 10:13 AM

Kelsey Russo

Associate Editor & Staff Writer

Complementary football – the notion that the offense helps the defense, the defense helps the offense, both sides help special teams, and special teams benefits the offense and the defense.

All three sides of the ball are intertwined into the final result of a football game, each playing their own individual role and collective role. It's why head coach Kevin Stefanski reiterated its importance through the first two weeks of the season, as missteps on one side of the ball can place another side in difficult situations; and on the flip side, how a positive play can set up another side of the ball for success.

After emphasizing the need to play complementary football to help the Browns win their first game of the season, they excelled at doing so against the Packers in Week 3.

"Made a point of it this week but that's football 101," Stefanski said. "We know that we have to play that way every single week. But I think you saw there in that fourth quarter, our defense needed to get stops, and they got stops, and that was a huge part of that game."

Even as the offense fought through a stout Packers' defense that kept them scoreless through three quarters, the Browns' defense never gave up their battle. They limited the Packers' run game to 81 net rushing yards, and RB Josh Jacobs to 30 rushing yards on 16 carries. The longest run of the day was for 10 yards by QB Jordan Love. The Browns recorded six tackles for loss, keeping the Packers from gaining positive yardage and moving the sticks.

They also totaled five sacks on Love for a loss of 34 yards, with that pressure coming from across the front seven. DT Maliek Collins led the team with 1.5 sacks, while DE Alex Wright and LB Carson Schwesinger each added a sack of their own. DE Myles Garrett, DT Adin Huntington and DT Mason Graham each recorded half a sack. The Browns had seven quarterback hits alongside the five sacks.

Their secondary played a critical role as the Browns recorded their first takeaway of the season when S Grant Delpit picked off Love late in the fourth quarter and returned the interception for 25 yards. His interception set up the Browns' offense to score their lone touchdown of the day.

That defensive takeaway set up the Browns' offense in the red zone. And the offense used the momentum from the turnover to fuel their production. As the Browns' offense lined up on a first-and-goal with 3:02 left in the game, QB Joe Flacco handed the ball off to RB Quinshon Judkins, who ran up the middle and pushed his way through the pile and into the end zone. Not only did Judkins score the Browns' lone touchdown of the game, but he also recorded his first career touchdown.

"Emphasis on getting the ball back to our offense this week, complementary football," Delpit said. "Shoutout to that Browns' defense, flying around, getting to the ball, limiting yards. We are looking great. Shoutout to the offense they got it done, that is a step forward."

A few minutes later, the field goal/PAT defense took the field with 27 seconds left in the game and lined up for a 43-yard field goal attempt by Packers K Brandon McManus. As the ball left McManus' foot and began to sail upward, DT Shelby Harris raised his arm above pile and got his hands on the ball, blocking the field goal. The ball then bounced, and both teams swarmed to try and recover the ball, but CB Greg Newsome II fell on the ball for the recovery.

"Complementary football, we get a stop on defense," Stefanski said in his postgame locker room speech. "We needed one. I looked at him, and he knew it was coming. No. 93, another field goal block."

The offense quickly took the field, and Flacco connect with WR Jamari Thrash for a short pass of three yards. After a deep incomplete pass to WR Jerry Jeudy, Flacco threw a short pass to TE David Njoku, who powered his way forward for a gain of eight yards to give the Browns better field position. They quickly hurried to line up and Flacco spiked the ball to stop the clock with two seconds left. That's when K Andre Szmyt and the field goal unit took the field for a 55-yard field goal attempt to win the game.

Szmyt lined up his kick from 55 yards out. After the ball was snapped and secured by P Corey Bojorquez, Szmyt took his steps forward, planted his left foot and kicked the ball. He watched the ball sail through the uprights as the clock hit 0:00, before he was swarmed by his teammates for winning the game 13-10 with the longest walk-off field goal in Browns history.

The talk of needing to play complementary football turned into a reality in Week 3 and gave this team another building block in their foundation. When all three sides of the ball work in tandem – even as the game ebbs and flows over the full 60 minutes – it allows momentum to build that they can feed off of and use throughout the game. Putting that style of play on tape, with this specific group of players, gives them film to study and use in their preparation for the remainder of the season.

The Browns enjoyed their first win of the season, celebrating the comeback fashion. When Monday rolled around, they reviewed the film to learn from the positive and negative moments of the game, using them as teaching points in their preparation for Week 4 against the Lions and beyond.

Seeing that complementary football again on film and reflecting on the win reminded Newsome of a word to describe the Browns so far through three games – resiliency.

"No matter what happens, no matter what anyone thinks, we're a resilient group," Newsome said. "We always play for each other. We're never going to back down from any challenge. The sky's the limit for us. We just got to continue to keep our head down, keep working and try to keep stacking wins."

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