Cleveland had to punt on the opening drive of the third quarter, and Kurt Sohn gave the Jets great field position with a 9-yard return to the Browns 41-yard line. New York then drove to a 37-yard Pat Leahy field goal to break the tie. Cleveland responded with a drive to the Jets 26-yard line, but it ended with no points on another missed field goal attempt by Moseley. Early in the fourth quarter, the Browns drove all the way to the New York 3-yard line, only to come up empty when Russell Carter intercepted a pass from Kosar in the end zone. Then after a punt, Kosar's next pass attempt was intercepted again, this time by Jerry Holmes, which set up Freeman McNeil's 25-yard touchdown run on the next play to give his team a 20–10 lead with 4:14 left in regulation. This led Jets announcer Charley Steiner to prematurely declare, "The Jets are gonna win this football game!"