Things weren’t looking great for quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and the Browns as they began their final drive with 1:18 left in regulation.
Cleveland hadn’t scored since the end of the first half, with five punts and an interception through the third and fourth quarters.
But as head coach Kevin Stefanski put it, Thompson-Robinson came through. He hit all four of his passes for 39 yards to put the Browns in field goal position, then spiked the ball to stop the clock with five seconds remaining.
Dustin Hopkins then sent his 34-yard field goal through the uprights to hand the Browns their seventh win.
“I think we just came together,” Thompson-Robinson said in his postgame press conference of the final drive. “I have to go back and watch the film to see how all the other drives went. But I know on that last drive, from the O-linemen all the way up to the running backs and the receivers, everybody was all locked in. Everybody had their job, knew what their job was and executed.”
Thompson-Robinson admitted he heard the crowd chanting “DTR” toward the end of the game, which he said was great for his family. But at the same time, he’s trying to stay focused and do his job.
To that end, he wasn’t taking too much time to linger on the victory — his first as an NFL starter.
“I’m already focused on next week. I’m focused on going to Denver,” Thompson-Robinson said. “But yeah, man, I’m super happy, glad that I can get this one for my teammates and actually go out there, like I said, get the reps at practice, make the mistakes throughout the week. And so that way those mistakes don’t come up on Sunday.
“And there were some times where there were plays I messed up in the week that we got corrected today, and they were huge for us coming down the stretch.”