PITTSBURGH — The Cleveland Browns must be wondering what more they possibly could have done against the team that beats them like no other.

Derek Anderson threw three touchdown passes before halftime. Joshua Cribbs had a 100-yard kickoff return touchdown — and, if that wasn't enough, a 90-yard return, too. The Browns limited the Pittsburgh Steelers to three field goals in the first half, intercepted a pass and led 21-9 at the half.

Still, it wasn't enough. Again. Nothing the Browns (5-4) do seems to be enough against the Steelers (7-2), whose come-from-behind 31-28 victory Sunday was their ninth in a row and 15th in 16 games against their closest and most consistently beaten rival.

Despite that ongoing domination, the Browns were certain this was this game when they went up by 15 points in the first half.

Perhaps too certain.

"They were loud and laughing and screaming in the first half, talking about how they were beating us down, how we had a little hangover from Monday night," defensive end Brett Keisel said, referring to Pittsburgh's 38-7 rout of Baltimore six days before. "But it flipped on them."

Did it ever. The Browns managed no first downs in the second half until their final possession, misused their timeouts and never slowed Ben Roethlisberger's throwing or running. It all added up to yet another loss to the Steelers.

The Browns could have tied the AFC North race with seven weeks remaining, a major turnaround for a team coming off four consecutive last-place finishes, Instead, they're two back with seven to play, a significant deficit considering the Steelers are looking more and more like the team that won the Super Bowl two seasons ago.

"I think this team has come a long way, but we still have a long way to go," coach Romeo Crennel said. "We have to get better and we have to play better."

The Steelers worked much harder for this one than they did their 34-7 season-opening win in Cleveland on Sept. 9. Coming off a short week of preparation, the Steelers looked out of sync and didn't put together a touchdown drive until Roethlisberger's 12-yard scoring pass to Hines Ward cut the Browns' lead to 21-16 in the third.

Only six days after throwing five touchdown passes in the first half against Baltimore, Roethlisberger beat the Browns largely because of his legs, even though he previously had only 86 yards rushing all season.

With an entire side of the field left open for him, Roethlisberger scrambled 30 yards for the touchdown that put the Steelers up for the first time at 24-21 with a little more than 11 minutes remaining. On his first three carries, Roethlisberger ran for 49 yards.

"It's a huge element of his game," Steelers tight end Heath Miller said. "It seems like every week, he's either scrambling and making big throws down the field or scrambling and making big first downs and scoring big touchdowns."

Cribbs returned a bobbled kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown after nearly being trapped near his own goal line to put Cleveland back into the lead at 28-24, but Roethlisberger patched together a decisive 78-yard touchdown drive that showed off the different sides of his game.

Roethlisberger found Miller for 20 yards on third-and-18, Santonio Holmes for another 18 yards and scrambled for 10 yards himself to set up his 2-yard scoring pass to Miller with about three minutes remaining.

"All I ever hear is about (Tom) Brady and Peyton (Manning), but this guy we have here is very special," defensive end Brett Keisel said. "He makes plays those guys don't make and that's what makes him so special. He can get out of the pocket, he can create, he's a beast and we're glad he wears black and gold."

Roethlisberger finished 23-of-34 for 278 yards and two touchdowns. By contrast, Anderson, who became a starter when Charlie Frye played terribly in the opener against Pittsburgh, was 16-of-35 for 123 yards. It didn't help that the Steelers took away Anderson's primary receivers, Kellen Winslow and Joe Jurevicius, after the Browns drove 71 yards on 16 plays for a touchdown on their first possession.

Even so, the Browns had a chance to tie it but Phil Dawson missed a 52-yard field goal attempt with six seconds remaining.

Cleveland might have had more time to get Dawson closer if Crennel hadn't used two timeouts while challenging the Miller touchdown catch, which was upheld. Or if Cribbs' return inside the Steelers 40 hadn't been nullified by a holding penalty that forced the Browns to start from their own 33. Or if Anderson hadn't spiked the ball to stop the clock because Jurevicius was hurt and a play couldn't be run.

"With how everything turned out, we had that last two-minute drill, we moved the ball," lineman Ryan Tucker said. "We just ran out of time, basically. It was just one of those games."

Another one of those Browns-Steelers games. It resembled Pittsburgh's 36-33 win in a January 2003 wild card game, when the Browns couldn't hold a 24-7 lead and lost in the closing seconds.

"We haven't been in a position like this all year," Keisel said. "(Coach) Mike Tomlin has been talking about this. When we have adversity, what are we going to do to respond? We showed them a little bit."

Notes:The Steelers swept the season series for the fourth consecutive year. ... Roethlisberger's 22 TD passes in nine games are six off Terry Bradshaw's team record set in 1978. ... LB James Harrison, who had two forced fumbles on defense and another on special teams Monday, forced two more fumbles. ... The Steelers are 4-0 in the division and 5-0 at home. ... Willie Parker, who ran for a club record 223 yards against Cleveland last season, had 105 yards on 25 carries.