Winners and losers from the Browns’ 24-19 win over the Steelers

Winner: Tomlin’s decision

Understandably, head coach Mike Tomlin’s pivotal decision to accept the late game penalty called on Ethan Pocic is a highlight.

It came on a third-and-2 while sitting 25 yards away from the end zone. Patrick Queen forced a Jameis Winston throwaway, which landed on the back of Pittsburgh’s Cameron Heyward, then rolled off before making contact Pocic’s hands.

Instead of declining the illegal touching penalty to force a potential game-deciding fourth-and-2, Tomlin accepted it to push Cleveland back to third-and-6.

Cleveland more than likely would’ve turned to Dustin Hopkins for the 45-yard field goal, and the weather conditions were not in his favor. Tomlin’s decision to accept the penalty were due to originally assuming it was intentional grounding, then considering how far Cleveland would have to kick a field goal.

“I thought it was a grounding initially, and I couldn’t hear the officials. When I realized that it wasn’t ruled a grounding, I got information from them and made the call that we wanted to make,” Tomlin said. “The distance was more important to us. If it wasn’t grounding, we weren’t moving them five yards back. They were potentially kicking into the wind, so we wanted to stop them and make the field goal a longer one.”

But what it did was give the Browns two extra downs to gain six yards for a first down, and chew up more clock.

The rest is history.

Winner: Effort

The Browns visibly displayed extra effort during Thursday’s win, because some of those plays were made out of nothing.

Multiple examples point back to their second touchdown series, which started and finished with effort.

The snowflakes became heavy by the late part of the third quarter, so imagine the intangibles needed for Blake Whiteheart to see through them when concentrating on catching Winston’s 29-yard pass on the first play of the series.

You fast forward to the series’ last play; a fourth-and-goal with two yards needed to get into the end zone.

No open targets prompted Winston to escape the pocket and right end, with the battery contraption that allows communication with coaches dangling from his helmet. But with Cameron Heyward chasing him from behind, and Cameron Sutton coming toward him, Winston does his best John Elway impression and pulls a helicopter while falling into the end zone.

It’d be irresponsible to not mention the play of Jerry Jeudy, who caught all six targets for a game-high 85 yards (14.2 per reception). But the biggest one came in the last two minutes of the game, right after Tomlin accepted the illegal touching penalty.

On that pivotal third-and-6, Winston dropped back and found Jeudy on a post route for 15 yards, keeping the series alive and leading to the eventual game-winning score by Nick Chubb.

The effort was real in the win.

Both: 4th-down aggressiveness

Sticking to your strengths increases your likelihood to a win. Thursday night displayed a tale of what happens when you stick to your strengths, or move away from them.

For as underwhelming this Browns offense has been, they’ve always stuck to their philosophy of fourth-down aggressiveness. That paid off Thursday night, converting all four of their fourth-down attempts.

Chubb converted two of them, and Winston had the other two: one passing and one rushing.

Regarding Pittsburgh, there’s nothing wrong with going for it on fourth down, but it’s odd when your offense isn’t one to do so.

Pittsburgh entered Week 12 tying for 22nd in fourth-down attempts averaged per game (1.1), and tying for 20th in conversions per game (0.6).

One would expect them to continue the conservative approach on fourth downs. Instead, they chose their rivalry game to become aggressive on fourth downs, and attempted to convert on three of them.

Two of them were unsuccessful: a designed QB run for Justin Fields on a fourth-and-2 in the first quarter, resulting in a loss of two. And a designed run for Jaylen Warren on a fourth-and-1 in the third, but Warren lost a yard.

It’s not so much critiquing Pittsburgh for attempting to convert these fourth downs, but the fact it doesn’t fit their style of play this season.

Winner: Avoiding the red zone

Though the Browns defense tied for 10th in fewest red zone scoring opportunities allowed (3.0), they had a tendency for still allowing an efficient opposing red zone scoring percentage, ranking 24th in that area (63.33%).

A strength for the Steelers offense going into Week 12 was traveling downfield to create red zone opportunities, tied for 10th in this category (3.6). Yet they had the third worst red zone scoring percentage (44.44%).

Cleveland understood this and brought the consistent pressure that kept Pittsburgh from getting to the red zone much, limiting them to two opportunities. The Steelers only converted one red zone series, in the fourth quarter.

Though it was a close game, they forced Pittsburgh to find other ways to put points on the board, compared to doing so in the red zone, which helped Cleveland in the long term.

Loser: Germain Ifedi

Dawand Jones suffered a season-ending fractured ankle in Week 11, and Jedrick Wills Jr.’s knee injury kept him inactive for the sixth time this year.

This prompted a left tackle dilemma was visible before Thursday night, as a replacement wasn’t announced ahead of kickoff.

The Browns turned to backup Germain Ifedi, who could’ve been better on Thursday. Among the Browns, he finished dead last in overall offensive grading (36.0), and had the second worst pass blocking grade (19.3), per Pro Football Focus.

Ifedi gave up the most quarterback pressures (four) and allowed the Winston’s only sack; Pittsburgh’s Nick Herbig got by and recorded a strip sack, recovered it, and Pittsburgh’s offense took advantage with a touchdown on the next series for a 19-18 lead.

Winner: Snow

Even during a historic, fiery, rivalry game, the one element both sides could agree on was the beauty of Thursday night’s weather atmosphere.

Indeed cold, but an aesthetic that’s hard to beat.

When you think of the best NFL snow games, there’s a number of past examples:

There’s Lions vs. Eagles in 2013, when LeSean McCoy led Philadelphia to a win with 29 carries for a franchise record 217 yards and two touchdowns.

Raiders vs. Patriots during the 2001 divisional round, where the infamous Tuck Rule was in play and prompted an eventual New England dynasty.

Even the Snowplow Game of 1982, where Patriots head coach Ron Meyer had a snowplow operator clear a spot for his kicker versus Miami, eventually paying off in a 3-0 win.

Though it’s still fresh, Thursday night’s game will be added to the rankings of the best NFL snow games ever.