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          Cleveland Browns pounce on Pittsburgh Steelers from jump with 28 first-quarter points

          • Jake Trotter, ESPN Senior WriterJan 11, 2021, 01:34 AM
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              Jake Trotter covers college football for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2011. Before that, he worked at The Oklahoman, Austin American-Statesman and Middletown (Ohio) Journal newspapers. You can follow him @Jake_Trotter.
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          The start to the Cleveland Browns' first playoff game in 18 years couldn't have gone more perfectly on Sunday night.

          On the contest's initial play, Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey snapped the ball over the head of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. After a scramble for the ball, Cleveland's Karl Joseph recovered it in the end zone, giving the Browns a 7-0 lead just 14 seconds into their wild-card playoff game at Heinz Field.

          According to ESPN Stats & Information data, the last time the first play from scrimmage resulted in a defensive touchdown in any game came in Week 1 of 2018, when Sam Darnold threw a pick-six on his first career pass with the New York Jets.

          It didn't take long for the Browns to add to it. M.J. Stewart Jr. intercepted Roethlisberger on the ensuing drive, and Baker Mayfield made the Steelers pay with a 40-yard touchdown strike to Jarvis Landry. It was the first time the Browns scored 14 points in the first quarter against the Steelers since 2000, a game Cleveland went on to win.

          Kareem Hunt extended the lead to 28-0 with a pair of touchdown runs, the latter set up by another interception of Roethlisberger. The Browns are the first team to score 28 points in the first quarter of a playoff game since the Raiders against the Oilers in 1969.

          The start shocked a few notable names on social media: