Browns 27-24 Steelers: 21-point second quarter survives Pittsburgh's fourth-quarter rally

Twenty-one points in a single quarter. Everything Cleveland needed to beat Pittsburgh arrived in the second quarter of a 27-24 win at FirstEnergy Stadium — and nearly everything after it was an exercise in holding on.

Roman Wilson's touchdown had handed the Steelers a 7-0 lead in the opening quarter, and it held until Jaleel McLaughlin leveled the game at 7-7. Then the second quarter turned: Quinshon Judkins pushed the Browns in front at 14-7, Harold Fannin Jr. stretched it to 21-7, and Chris Boswell's field goal closed the half at 21-10. A 21-3 quarter, entirely Cleveland's. The third passed without a single point at 0-0, and nobody could have guessed what came next.

The fourth quarter produced 20 points and a full panic. Darnell Washington's touchdown, which came without the extra point, cut the deficit to 21-16. Andre Szmyt's field goal restored an eight-point cushion at 24-16, but Pat Freiermuth scored to make it 24-22 and Aaron Rodgers converted the two-point attempt to tie the game at 24-24. Pittsburgh had wiped out an eight-point deficit inside one quarter.

Szmyt, fittingly, had the final word. After Rodgers' conversion leveled the score, his second field goal of the quarter nudged Cleveland back in front at 27-24, and that was how it finished: a Steelers rally worth 14 points in the fourth, undone by two kicks. Cleveland were outscored 14-6 over the final quarter and still walked out winners.

Twenty-one points wins quarters. Calm feet win games.