{"id":374007,"date":"2025-12-28T23:23:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T23:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/374007\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T23:23:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T23:23:09","slug":"nfl-news-nfl-fans-upset-with-refs-as-browns-top-steelers-in-close-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/374007\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL news: NFL fans upset with refs as Browns top Steelers in close game"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The Cleveland Browns hung on to defeat the Steelers on Sunday, 13-6, giving rookie quarterback <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/shedeur-sanders\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Shedeur Sanders<\/a> a marquee victory in his rookie season and forcing a battle for the AFC North division title between Pittsburgh and the Baltimore Ravens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">The Steelers\u2019 final play of the game had NFL fans asking for a penalty flag.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM<\/a><\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1200\/675\/nfl-steelers-aaron-rodgers-122825-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"Aaron Rodgers walks off the field\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers walks off the field after an NFL football game against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Cleveland.\u00a0 (David Richard\/AP Photo)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/person\/aaron-rodgers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Aaron Rodgers<\/a> hoped to find wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the end zone for the go-ahead score with 21 seconds left. However, Browns cornerback Denzel Ward was on Valdes-Scantling to break up the play and help Cleveland seal the victory.<\/p>\n<p>Ward appeared to jump with Valdes-Scantling simultaneously, getting his arms up as the pass came into Rodgers\u2019 intended target. Ward didn\u2019t look at the ball and there appeared to be contact between him and the receiver as the ball came in.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/sports\/browns-shedeur-sanders-defends-kevin-stefanski-against-sabotage-claims-from-supporters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">BROWNS&#8217; SHEDEUR SANDERS DEFENDS KEVIN STEFANSKI AGAINST &#8216;SABOTAGE&#8217; CLAIMS FROM SUPPORTERS<\/a><\/p>\n<p>No flag was thrown on the play and Cleveland came out the victor. Fans wondered why there was no defensive pass interference on the play.<\/p>\n<p>Despite two tough interceptions, Sanders did enough to keep the Browns out in front. He found Harold Fannin Jr. for a 28-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Kicker Andre Szmyt nailed two field goals and it was all the Browns needed.<\/p>\n<p>Sanders was 17-of-23 with 186 passing yards and was sacked twice.<\/p>\n<p> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1200\/675\/nfl-browns-denzel-ward-122825-1.jpg?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"Denzel Ward celebrates\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Cleveland Browns cornerback Denzel Ward (21) and safety Donovan McMillon (31) celebrate after the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Huntington Bank Field on Dec. 28, 2025. (Ken Blaze\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n<p>Rodgers, who was without his top target in DK Metcalf, was 21-of-39 for 168 yards. He made a precision pass to tight end Pat Freiermuth to keep the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/sports\/nfl\/pittsburgh-steelers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Steelers\u2019 final drive<\/a> alive. The team just couldn\u2019t get it done in the closing seconds.<\/p>\n<p>Freiermuth had three catches for 63 yards.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers\u2019 loss means they will take on the Ravens for the division title, and a playoff spot, in the Week 18 finale.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fox.com\/fox-nation-bundle?cmpid=org=one::ag=owned::mc=seo::src=fn::cmp=13010061000::add=\" title=\"A Fox One and Fox Nation bundle offer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1200\/675\/fox-one-fox-nation-promo-111825-1.png?ve=1&amp;tl=1\" alt=\"A Fox One and Fox Nation bundle offer\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Bundle FOX One and FOX Nation to stream the entire FOX Nation library, plus live FOX News, Sports, and Entertainment at our lowest price of the year. The offer ends on Jan. 4, 2026. (Fox One; Fox Nation)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/foxnews.onelink.me\/xLDS?pid=AppArticleLink&amp;af_dp=foxnewsaf%3A%2F%2F&amp;af_web_dp=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fapps-products\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Baltimore came out the winners of its showdown against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. The team used a lot of Derrick Henry, who scored four touchdowns.<\/p>\n<p>The Steelers won the previous matchup against the Ravens, 27-22, back in Week 14.<\/p>\n<p>Follow Fox News Digital\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoxNewsSports_\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">\u00a0sports coverage on X<\/a> and subscribe to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/newsletters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The Cleveland Browns hung on to defeat the Steelers on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[1754,49,48,1724,514,949,1729,82],"class_list":["post-374007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-aaron-rodgers","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-shedeur-sanders","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}