The Browns Lost to the Jets After Leading 12-10

The Cleveland Browns led the New York Jets 12-10 with 6:15 left and still lost, 17-12, in the rain at MetLife Stadium. Eight sacks, a missed extra point, and a punt snap that skipped through Corey Bojorquez’s hands turned another late lead into Cleveland’s first defeat since Week 1. The Browns are 3-2 after a three-game streak of fourth-quarter escapes.

Head coach Todd Monken said the previous three wins were the same messy game, finished in the fourth quarter. On October 11, 2026, the finish ran the other way.

A Three-Game Escape Act Ended in the Rain

New York scored on its first series and then spent the rest of the afternoon in a grind. Geno Smith found Garrett Wilson for 17 yards, 21 yards, and a 32-yard touchdown, and Wilson accounted for 70 of the 90 yards on that eight-play opening drive. After that, Cleveland’s front, missing tackle Mason Graham, forced punts. The Jets still left with the win because the Browns never built a drive that could live in the rain.

Both teams punted through a scoreless third quarter. Jason Sanders’ 54-yard field goal 23 seconds into the fourth made it 10-6. Deshaun Watson then did the thing that had won Cleveland the Buccaneers, Panthers, and Steelers games: he scrambled, he threw it over the top, and the Browns led. They led for three minutes and 14 seconds.

HOW THE POINTS LANDED

The Jets improved to 2-3 and ended a three-game slide. Their own account posted the home win before the locker room emptied.

home win! pic.twitter.com/zv29zWxXfW

— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 11, 2026

Watson’s Touchdown Still Left Them a Point Short

Trailing 10-6, Watson ducked a rush and ran 20 yards to the Jets’ 29. On third-and-10 he threw Boston open down the left sideline for a 29-yard score, Cleveland’s first touchdown of the day and its first lead. Boston finished with three catches for 46 yards. Five games into his career, that was the throw the offense had been waiting on all afternoon.

Szmyt, who had already hit from 25 and 41, missed the extra point. The lead stayed at two, so Allen’s later run won the game instead of tying it. Watson went 15 of 33 for 155 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions, with six rushes for 40 yards. Isaiah Bond led Cleveland with three catches for 74 yards, including a 30-yarder, and dropped a ball on second-and-19 with 2:25 left. Jerry Jeudy had three catches for 19 yards on seven targets. Harold Fannin Jr. caught one ball, for 4 yards, on the last series.

Rookie KC Concepcion left in the first quarter with a head injury after a hit by Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Bond played the rest of the plan. Watson said he told Bond to keep his head up because Concepcion had taken those reps all week.

There was still hope. There were still opportunities, and again, they capitalized on it better than us. Then we had a penalty, a sack and some missed opportunities, but that happens. And again, get on the bus, get on this flight, watch the tape, see what we could have did better and learn and get ready for Baltimore next week because the opportunity might happen again.

Deshaun Watson, quarterback, after the game

Eight Sacks Came Because the Run Game Died

New York had allowed 123.5 rushing yards a game, eighth most in the league, and Cleveland still managed only 96 yards on 24 carries. Quinshon Judkins ran 14 times for 44 yards (3.1 a carry), with a long of 14, and only two of those 14 runs picked up a first down. Raheim Sanders added three carries for 12 yards. Watson’s 20-yard scramble was the only run that moved the sticks in a way the Jets had to respect.

Once the run stopped, the Jets blitzed and did not leave. TruMedia logged a 69.6 percent pressure rate and a 52.3 percent blitz rate on Watson’s 44 dropbacks. Rookie edge David Bailey had three of the eight sacks and seven pressures. Will McDonald IV added the last one. Cleveland’s passing net was 102 yards after those eight sacks cost 53. The Browns punted on eight possessions and finished with a season-low 198 net yards and 13 first downs, split as 99 yards and seven first downs before halftime and 99 yards and six after it.

METLIFE BY THE BOX SCORE

Monken did not pin the eight sacks on one chair. He tied them to the run game that never showed, which is the same loop Cleveland has lived in shotgun most of this season.

As long as I’m here, I hope we never give up eight sacks again. It’s everything when that happens. It’s coaching, it’s playing, it’s getting the ball out of our hands, it’s protection. It’s all of the above. It’s rarely just one person. We all have got to take a big frickin’ bite of this and work to get better. You’re gonna put yourself in that position when you can’t run the football, and we weren’t able to run the football.

Todd Monken, head coach, after the game

The rain is a thin alibi. New York threw, caught, and ran in the same weather, and Braelon Allen still found 116 yards. Cleveland’s drops and long holds were choices, not climate.

The Snap That Traveled Through Bojorquez’s Hands

The defense gave the offense the ball back anyway. After Boston’s touchdown, Carson Schwesinger stripped Smith, and Adin Huntington recovered at the Jets’ 43 with 4:13 left. A first-down run by Judkins went out of bounds for no gain. Two incompletions followed. The series lasted 12 seconds. Then long snapper Rex Sunahara sent a high, wet snap over Bojorquez, the ball went through the punter’s hands, and New York had it at the Cleveland 23.

THE LAST FOUR MINUTES

• The extra point: Szmyt’s miss after Boston’s touchdown left the lead at 12-10 instead of 13-10, so a Jets touchdown could win it.
• The 12-second series: First-and-10 at the Jets’ 43 turned into a three-and-out that did not even drain a half-minute of clock.
• The snap: Cleveland’s eighth punt never left Bojorquez’s hands, and New York started at the 23.

On third-and-9, Allen bounced left for Braelon Allen’s 22-yard winning run at 3:01. He finished with 24 carries for 116 yards, starting in place of Breece Hall (quad) for a second straight game. Cleveland got the ball at 1:41 with no timeouts. McDonald strip-sacked Watson on fourth-and-11 from the 19 and recovered it with 44 seconds left. Those were the two fumbles Cleveland lost. Aaron Glenn said his team fought and finished.

Quincy Williams Forced the Game to Stay Close

Linebacker Quincy Williams, playing his old club for the first time, finished with 11 tackles, three forced fumbles, a tackle for loss, and a pass defensed. Late in the third, he popped tight end Kenyon Sadiq on a catch and the ball came out; Ronnie Hickman recovered. Sadiq later left with a concussion. Early in the fourth, Williams tipped a Smith throw for Wilson on third-and-1 and forced a punt. Without those plays, the 12-10 lead never exists.

WILLIAMS AGAINST HIS OLD CLUB

• Tackles: A team-high 11, with the Jets stuck at 14 first downs.
• Forced fumbles: Three, including the Sadiq strip that Hickman recovered.
• The Wilson tip: A pass defensed on third-and-1 that kept New York from stretching a 7-6 game.

Up front, Maliek Collins had nearly doubled his season sack total by halftime, teaming with Huntington on the first sack and taking Smith himself on the second. Sam Kamara bull-rushed Smith for his first NFL sack, the third of a first half in which Cleveland got to Smith three times after that 90-yard opener. Schwesinger later added the strip-sack. Monken said defense was the only side that battled after the first drive, and the box score backs him: New York had 276 yards, 14 first downs, and 0-for-2 in the red zone. The unit did enough to win a 12-10 game. It did not get a 12-10 game to protect.

Who Pays for This Loss in Week 6?

Judkins left before a third down in the second half and walked out of MetLife with his right foot in a boot. Schwesinger, who had eight tackles plus the strip, left in a walking boot as well. Concepcion’s head injury had already thinned the receivers. None of those statuses were updated before the team flew home. Cleveland has now allowed 19 sacks allowed through five games, last in the league, and eight of them came in this one.

WHAT CLEVELAND TAKES INTO BALTIMORE

• Judkins: 14 carries, 44 yards, then a protective boot and no formal update.
• Schwesinger: The strip-sack that set up the 43-yard chance, then a walking boot of his own.
• Concepcion: Out after the first-quarter hit, with Bond finishing a plan written for someone else.

The Browns host the Baltimore Ravens on October 18 at 1 p.m. Baltimore is 3-1 and first in the AFC North. Cleveland is 3-2, tied on wins with Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and it has not yet played a clean game. The last three weeks, that did not matter in the fourth quarter. Against the Jets, it did.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Was the Attendance at Browns vs. Jets?

MetLife Stadium listed 67,418 for the October 11, 2026, 1 p.m. kickoff in steady rain, a Week 5 CBS game that closed as Jets minus 2.5 with a total of 38.5.

Did Either Team Score a Red-Zone Touchdown?

No. Cleveland went 0 for 1 in the red zone and New York went 0 for 2. Wilson’s 32-yard score, Boston’s 29-yard score, and Allen’s 22-yard run all started outside the 20, which is why a 17-12 game still felt like a field-position fight.

How Many Long Touchdowns Does Denzel Boston Have?

Boston has three touchdowns of 25 yards or more in his first five NFL games, and the 29-yarder against the Jets was the only Cleveland trip to the end zone on Sunday.

Who Missed the Game on the Browns’ Defensive Line?

Defensive tackle Mason Graham was inactive with knee and ankle injuries. Collins, Huntington, and Kamara sacked Smith three times in the first half in his place, then the Jets still ran for 134 yards.