Leave it to a former Brown to seal the Steelers’ 20-13 victory.
Joe Haden’s pick of Baker Mayfield with 1:06 remaining on a pass intended for Jarvis Landry kept the Steelers’ playoff hopes alive, dashed those of the Browns and gave Pittsburgh revenge in a rematch from two weeks ago.
The Steelers moved to 7-5, while the Browns fell to 5-7 in seeing their three-game winning streak come to an end. It also likely means Cleveland won’t see the postseason again after the season began with such high hopes.
The teams were on their best behavior for most of the day, with only Diontae Johnson losing his cool. He drew a 15-yard unnecessary roughness penalty in the third quarter.
Of course, most of those involved in the fight from two weeks ago were either suspended or, in the case of Mason Rudolph, benched.
The Browns scored the first 10 points as the Steelers gained only 2 yards in the first quarter, but it was all Pittsburgh for most of the final three quarters.
Baker Mayfield injured his hand on the helmet of Bud Dupree at the end of the first half. He played the second half wearing a glove and reportedly with it taped up, but completed only 8 of 15 passes for 98 yards and an interception in the second half, while losing a fumble.
Dupree had six tackles, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Devlin Hodges got off to a rough start but rallied to finish 14-of-21 for 212 yards with a touchdown and an interception. James Washington had four catches for 111 yards and a touchdown.