Kosar Passes Browns Past Steelers

The way things are going for Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Bernie Kosar this season, he couldn’t have a pass intercepted even if he tried.

Kosar completed 21 of 29 passes for 179 yards Sunday and extended his streak of passes without an interception to 262 as the Browns beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 17-14.

The Steelers repeatedly deflected Kosar’s passes at the line of scrimmage, and two of his throws landed in the grasp of Steeler defenders who were unable to hold on. One of the deflected passes landed in the arms of teammate Leroy Hoard, lying flat on his back in the end zone, for a two-yard touchdown.

“To say it was a couple of breaks is an understatement,” Kosar said. “One thing the Steelers do--and I was worried about it through the course of the week--was that they really concentrate on batting balls down. They did that a lot today. We definitely got some breaks on tipped balls today.”

Kosar’s streak is the second longest in NFL history behind Bart Starr’s string of 294 attempts without an interception for Green Bay in 1964-65.

Cleveland (4-4) surpassed last season’s total of three victories and sent the Steelers (3-5) to their ninth defeat in their last 10 trips to Cleveland.

Pittsburgh missed an opportunity to tie the score midway through the fourth quarter when Gary Anderson’s 52-yard field-goal attempt bounced off the right upright.

The Browns led, 10-7, at halftime and increased the advantage on a one-yard scoring run by Kevin Mack in the third quarter.

Warren Williams pulled the Steelers to within 17-14 on a one-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.