So close . . . 

Just when it appeared the Browns would rack up their first three-game winning streak since the 2021 season Sunday in Seattle, playcaller Kevin Stefanski went in a different direction he had headed most of the afternoon. It cost them in a tough last-minute 24-20 loss.

The Browns had assiduously wiped out Seattle leads of 14-0 and 17-7 in the first quarter, catching up to the Seahawks at 17-17 with 7:29 left in the third quarter and taking the lead for the first time about five minutes later on a pair of Dustin Hopkins field goals.

The defense initially looked ominously like the unit the Indianapolis Colts carved up a week ago before the offense rescued it in a one-point victory. A very long afternoon loomed. And then just like that, things began to click on both sides of the football.

The defense slammed it into lockdown mode and stifled the Seattle offense for the next seven possessions. Thirty plays yielded just 117 yards and produced five punts and interceptions by Martin Emerson Jr. and an acrobatic pick by defensive tackle Maurice Hurst II.

Offensively, Stefanski wisely hauled out the screen play to help quarterback P.J.Walker, who had labored somewhat under siege from the Seattle pass rush. Screen left, screen right, screen right up the gut. Made no difference. Every time Stefanski dialed it up, which as it turned out wasn't often enough, it worked.

Three straight screens to running backs Kareem Hunt (12 yard middle), Pierre Strong Jr. (41 yards left) and tight end David Njoku (18 yards middle for the score) in the opening quarter led to Cleveland's first touchdown of the day and seemed to inspire the defense. Njoku later added eight yards and 41 more yards on middle screens.

Everything seemed under control. The ground game, which has compiled 310 yards in the last two games, showed up again behind a strong performance from the offensive line. The new three-headed monster of Hunt, Strong and Jerome Ford put up another 155 yards

The offensive line won a vast majority of its battles. And that's what's so puzzling about Stefanski's decisions as the the clock wound down. He had called such a nice game once utilizing the ground game and the occasional screen pass.

The defense zealously protected the lead once achieved with a key stop with about six minutes left in regulation, Myles Garrett collecting his only sack of the afternoon on third and 10 at the Seattle 39 to produce a punt. The loud Seahawk fans were silenced and looked discouraged.

All the Browns needed was a nice long chains-moving, clock-running drive starting at their 11. Walker had thrown only one interception all day and the running game was humming. 

He's the kind of quarterback you get religious about when he drops back to throw. He is an interception  waiting to happen. Inconsistency has followed him his entire career. But the Browns are in a position now where they have to trust him.

And that is what Stefanski did on third and three when they reached their 41 just before the two-minute warning. Moments earlier, the Browns caught a break when Seattle cornerback Riq Woolen was flagged for illegally putting his hands in the face of wide receiver Donovan Peoples-Jones on third down.

New set of downs. Runs by Walker on an RPO keeper and Strong gained seven yards. By then, they had burned 3:39 off the clock. So what's the call? Another RPO keeper by Walker? Strong, Hunt and Ford were fresh. Hunt is money in short-yardage situations. The offensive line hadn't let up. 

Nope. Time out Cleveland just before the two-minute warning. Why? Guess we'll find out Monday.

So who do you trust here? What's working? That's easy. The running game and screens. One hadn't been called since late in the third quarter and it was wiped out by a Joel Bitonio holding penalty. Time to trust the offensive line, no?

No.

What was it legendary Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes often said about throwing the football? "Three things can happen when you throw the ball and two of them are bad," he said.

Stefanski instead chose to put all his trust in Walker, who dropped back and tried to hit a slanting Amari Cooper. The ball caromed off the helmet of Seahawks blitzing safety Jamal Adams and ricocheted about 20 yards downfield into the waiting hands of Seattle safety Julian Love at the Seahawks' 43.

This is one time where an incomplete pass wouldn't have been distasteful. No Corey Bojorquez punt to pin the Seahawks deep in their territory with precious little time left. That was gone.

Not sure whether the defense had worn itself out holding the Seahawks scoreless the entire second half. But they sure looked different, playing what used to be called prevent defense. And you know what they said about that -- all it prevents is winning.

Three straight pass completions by quarterback Geno Smith to wide receivers Tyler Lockett and D. J. Metcalf and tight end Noah Fant, mixed in with some questionable tackling, quickly moved the ball to the Cleveland 14. At this point, the Seahawks weren't thinking tying field goal.  

A penalty for too many men on the field against the seemingly baffled Cleveland defense moved the ball five yards closer. That's where Smith connected with rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba, who used a Metcalf block to cruise in for the score. Jason Myers' extra point eliminated the possibility of a tying field goal.

Three subsequent Walker incompletions sandwiched around a nine-yard sack put this one in the woulda . . . coulda . . .  shoulda . . . didn't category.