As is often the case in sports, a losing team’s final statistics do not show the reality of what is going on inside a locker room. Sometimes, within that apparent despondency of defeatism, success stories are built under the understanding that effort and glory go beyond numbers and visible triumphs. Andre Szmyt’s case with the Browns this season exemplifies this.
Cleveland began the season with a 16-17 loss to the Bengals. In that game, the kicker missed a field goal that could have given his team a different result. There was criticism of him, even ridicule, but behind that mistake was an emotional collapse that Szmyt was trying to endure. It was then that he realized that not even the playing field gave him the security to stand up.
Shortly before the start of the campaign, Szmyt lost his mother as a result of a brain aneurysm. The unexpected death of his mother affected him more than he imagined. Although he continued to train like the professional he is and did not want to use his grief as an excuse to be absent from practice, that game against Cincinnati made him realize that he was not well. The wound was open
His teammates noticed and encouraged him to continue, because anyone can make a mistake. Wrapping him up, encouraging him to try as many times as it took, Szmyt reinvented himself. With his grief on his shoulders, the kicker assimilated his loss while working on concentration in his clearances under the shelter of all the Browns.
This joint work was reflected not only in the effectiveness he had afterwards with his kicks, but also in the celebrations with each field goal scored. Throughout the season, Cleveland players could be seen celebrating those scores as if they had won the Super Bowl. There was a reason to celebrate them effusively: to lift Andre’s spirits. And they succeeded.
Szmyt finished with 24 field goals made, 89% accuracy and 24 extra points. While it was generally a bad season for the team, it was a very good one for him.
The moment of glory for Szmyt and the Browns
Fate also played its part in framing Andre’s story. Just as it put the Bengals in his path to collapse at the start of the season, it put them back in his path for the finish to show him that he was stronger than ever.
With his mom as the number one fan from heaven, Szymt again had the game-winning field goal against Cincinnati in Week 18. Unlike what happened in Week 1, he did not miss. On the contrary, he scored and gave Cleveland the 20-18 victory.
In addition to the victory, his teammates celebrated Andre’s evolution, carrying him and cheering him on for kicking the most important ball of the year for him. A ball that meant acceptance of the duel and the tragedy in the best way, remembering that his mother would have wanted to see him like this, happy and content.
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