BEREA, Ohio — Andre Szmyt didn’t spend much time over the last three days wondering if his job was in jeopardy.
The Browns’ first-year kicker was busy trying to correct what he could from the two misses he had in Cleveland’s 17-16 season-opening loss to the Bengals.
“I didn’t really think about it,” he said on Wednesday. “I just tried to make the corrections I needed and just kind of move on.”
In the end, there was nothing much for him to worry about.
The Browns didn’t work any other kickers out on their off day Tuesday. They may or may not claim waived 49ers kicker Jake Moody later today, but it didn’t sound like they will.
Head coach Kevin Stefanski confirmed on Wednesday that Szmyt would be the team’s kicker as they head to Baltimore for a Week 2 showdown on Sunday afternoon.
“You know, young player, will only get better,” he said. “Obviously, he wants to come through in those moments, we expect him to come through in those moments. But just like any player on our roster, we’ll continue to get better.”
Szmyt is understandably grateful that he gets another opportunity.
“It feels good that they believed in me,” Szmyt said. “I kind of flushed last weekend, just focused on this weekend.”
Officially in his first NFL season out of Syracuse, Szmyt sailed two of his four kicks wide right in the second half of Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the Bengals, a missed extra point after Cedric Tillman’s 5-yard TD catch, and a 36-yard potential game-winner with 2:22 left in the game.
His two makes were an extra point and a 45-yard field goal earlier in the game.
The Browns turned to Szmyt after parting ways with veteran Dustin Hopkins as they trimmed their roster to 53.
A former Lou Groza Award winner, Szmyt had previously spent time on the Bears’ practice squad and with the UFL’s St. Louis Battlehawks. But all he had in terms of NFL kicking experience was one made PAT and a 3-for-3 preseason on field goals, including a game-winner in the finale against the Los Angeles Rams.
The Browns have consistently praised Szmyt’s entire body of work this offseason.
“I put my best foot forward in the offseason, in training camp, preseason,” he said. “So like I talked about it at the end of preseason, hitting the game winner, not letting the highs get too high and not think the lows get too low. So now obviously it sucks, but you move on and move on to this week.”
After the loss to the Bengals, teammates came to Szmyt’s defense, including quarterback Joe Flacco.
Given his own position, Flacco said he knows how easy it is to feel like all eyes are on you as a player and he can empathize given his own 18-year career.
“At some point this week, yes, I’ll be in the office throwing darts with him and look him in the eye and make sure that I can give him the confidence to go out there and do his job, because we’ve all done it,” Flacco said. “If he’s the player he wants to be, he thinks he is and he wants to be, this isn’t going to be the last time that he’s going to have to deal with something like this.
“When you play as much football as you want to play, if you’re able to do that, then you’re going to have to deal with these things every now and then. So he’s got to keep his head up and just continue to go out there and do what he’s doing.”
As far as what Szmyt thinks went wrong with those two kicks after having time to review the film, he referenced “cutting it” and not following through and staying with each kick all the way.
He’s also stayed off social media, and leaned on his fellow specialists in punter Corey Bojorquez and long snapper Rex Sunahara.
“I think everybody in the specialist position knows what it feels like,” Szmyt said. “It’s just kind of the same thing, have short-term memory and just forget about it and just move on.”
For Szmyt, the only kick that matters now is the next one.
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