Shedeur Sanders Shows Support to Browns Villain as Kevin Stefanski Puts Blame on the Kicker

Shedeur Sanders didn’t even play in this one, but he walked off with the most memorable gesture of the night. Cleveland’s opener against Cincinnati ended with a gut-punch scoreline, Browns 16, Bengals 17. Kevin Stefanski summed it up at the postgame presser, “Very, very disappointing to come away with a loss in that game. Can’t be minus two versus a good football team. And that’s really the story of the football game. Tip balls and we gotta play cleaner.” But the turning point? A missed field goal and an extra point that hung like an anchor around the team’s neck.

Andre Szmyt wore the “villain” tag the moment the ball hooked wide. Nobody wants that role, but somebody always has to own it. Sanders saw it play out and walked over, hand extended, dapping up Szmyt on the sideline. It didn’t fix the scoreboard, but it showed the kicker that not everyone was ready to bury him under headlines.

Shedeur Sanders daps up Andre Szmyt after he misses the field goal to give the Browns the lead

(h/t @SMHighlights1)pic.twitter.com/QALs5PsbC9

— Hailmarypass (@Hailmarypass_) September 7, 2025

Kevin Stefanski, though, didn’t sugarcoat things in the postgame. He admitted turnovers and tipped passes played a role, but his voice hardened when he circled back to special teams. “We obviously missed a field goal, missed an extra point. Those are points in these type of games that you have to come away with. So it hurts when you feel like you’re doing some good things,” Stefanski said. He wasn’t wrong. In games like this, one kick writes the ending. Cleveland will try again next week, but Szmyt will hear that thud in his sleep.

This story is developing. Stay tuned.

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