PITTSBURGH 13, CLEVELAND 6

CLEVELAND (Ticker) -- Tommy Maddox and the Pittsburgh Steelers were sloppy. The Cleveland Browns were worse.

Cleveland committed five turnovers, had a punt-return touchdown negated by a penalty and failed to score on three straight runs from the one-yard line as the Steelers beat the mistake-prone Browns, 13-6.

Maddox went just 9-of-24 for 73 yards and a touchdown but helped the Steelers (4-7) score 13 points off the Browns' three fumbles as they won for just the second time in eight games.

"You can't turn the ball over," Cleveland coach Butch Davis said. "This league is all about turnovers. You turn the ball over that many times, it's a miracle we were as close as we were."

Five plays after the Browns (4-7) committed their first turnover - a fumble by James Jackson at their own 13 - Maddox tossed a one-yard touchdown to tight end Mark Bruener to give Pittsburgh a 7-6 lead with 6:28 left in the first half.

Trailing 10-6 midway through the third quarter, Cleveland was stuffed on second- and third-down rushes from the 1. On fourth down, receiver Dennis Northcutt , whose 74-yard punt-return TD in the first quarter was negated by a holding call, was tackled by cornerback Chad Scott just shy of the goal line. The Browns challenged the call, but Northcutt's elbow was deemed to be down just before the ball cross the plane of the end zone.

"I had him man-to-man, so he was my guy the whole way," Scott said. "I just tracked and followed him and I was able to make the tackle before he got into the end zone."

Kelly Holcomb was picked off by safety Brent Alexander in the end zone with 2:27 left in the third quarter and was intercepted by Scott at the Pittsburgh 40 with 1:41 remaining in the contest.

"We knew it was going to be tough, but we said all week that we just needed to find a way to win this game," said Maddox. "It did not matter if it was pretty, ugly or three to nothing. The defense just stepped up and made a couple of huge plays."

The Steelers play three of their next four games at home.

"The fact is this is a divisional game," Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. "The way it is right now in our division we can still make the playoffs. We needed to get this win on the road come home for two weeks and try to make Heinz Field the place it has been - a tough place to play."

Holcomb went 25-of-44 for 234 yards for the Browns, who outgained the Steelers, 303-168.

"When you move up and down the field, you have to be able to punch it in," Holcomb said. "I think we got inside the five-yard line three times. You've got to be able to get it in there. We had five turnovers. You can't fumble the ball and throw an interception on the goal line like I did."

With the score 7-6, Pittsburgh's Jeff Reed was wide right on a 45-yard attempt with 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the second quarter. But Alexander recovered a fumble by Cleveland running back Jamel White on the next play, and Reed was successful on a 23-yard kick with 2:09 left in the half.

Jackson finished with 94 yards on 25 carries, while Pittsburgh's Jerome Bettis gained 93 yards on 24 attempts. He became just the fifth running back in NFL history to surpass 3,000 career carries.



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