When Thursday night’s game got to halftime, it looked like the Browns might roll over the Steelers for an easy win.
After going scoreless in the first quarter, Cleveland found the end zone on three straight possessions in the second quarter and carried a 21-10 win into halftime. Things went south again after the break, however, and a Deshaun Watson interception helped spark a 14-3 Steelers run in the fourth quarter that put overtime on the table.
Watson and the Browns had been in similar straits in their last two games and they came through for the third straight week. Watson completed four passes for 45 yards and the Browns survived a late sack and incompletion when Andre Szymt hit a 56-yard field goal for a 27-24 win.
“That’s part of the NFL. You have to ride the waves,” Watson said, via a transcript from the team. “So many momentum shifts, they are the best in the world, just like us. They are a really good team. They are going to make plays, and they made a couple of plays that went their way. We made a couple of plays that went our way. We just have to ride the wave until our opportunities came and at the end of the day, whenever those moments come, especially at the end, we found a way to get the W. That’s what ultimately matters.”
Watson’s feelings about riding the waves was about Thursday night, but it’s something that can be applied to his entire run in Cleveland. For much of that time, it looked like a shipwreck was the only possible outcome, but the last few weeks have offered long-awaited reasons to believe otherwise.
