‘Rout’ turns into down-to-wire nail-biter
PITTSBURGH – Something strange happened on the way to the rout Monday night at Heinz Field. Not only did the bruised, battered and bewildered Baltimore Ravens show up for this titanic mismatch, the Ravens bedeviled the favored Steelers all the way to the final play of a 20-19 Pittsburgh victory.
What most of the prognosticators failed to account for was that Baltimore came to town with paid professionals, too. They knew it was Monday night and that the rest of the league would be watching. The Ravens were playing for their season. They had plenty more to lose than did the Steelers. A loss here and Baltimore knew it would fall to 2-5 and out of the playoff race.
The Steelers were a solid two-touchdown favorite to dispatch of Baltimore and their first drive looked as though they would make quick work of the Ravens, who came in without the likes of hated Ravens’ Pro Bowl players Ray Lewis and Ed Reed.
But after Ben Roethlisberger passed his way down the field to Hines Ward and capped it with a short touchdown toss to tight end Heath Miller for a 7-0 lead, the offense couldn’t muster much of anything the rest of the first half.
Pittsburgh’s only other score, a 42-yard Jeff Reed field goal, capped a less-than scintillating 4-play, minus-12-yard drive than began on a Jamal Lewis fumble.
After gaining 79 yards on their opening TD drive, the Steelers managed only 30 yards the rest of the half.
All the while, the Ravens and quarterback Anthony Wright were picking apart Pittsburgh’s defense to the tune of 145 passing yards and 176 total yards.
Pittsburgh failed to sack Wright in the first half and even the vaunted Steelers’ blitz package couldn’t get to him, as the Ravens used the one segment of their roster not in disarray, the offensive line to pick up the blitz.
But when the second half began just like the first half ended – with a Steelers interception of a Wright pass – you could sense a change. When Roethlisberger completed a 10-play, 64-yard drive with another scoring pass to his big tight end to put Pittsburgh ahead, 17-10, you could almost feel a sigh of relief.
Again, however, the Ravens put together a long, sustained drive that gave Pittsburgh’s offense an unwanted rest. Baltimore came to town with nothing to lose and fooled nobody when they went for – and converted – a fourth-and-1 late in the third quarter to keep the drive going.
The Steelers then helped by having 12 men on the field on a third-and-8 incompletion. That penalty helped set up Matt Stover’s second field goal, a 40-yarder to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 17-13 with four ticks below 14 minutes remaining.
The Steelers still had the lead, but it was far from the cakewalk predicted from all corners.
And the Ravens were far from finished.
Wright masterfully moved the Ravens 39 yards in 8 plays, from where Stover connected on a 49-yard field goal that cut the Steelers’ lead to 17-16 with 8:40 remaining.
At that point, it was the Ravens who were feeling good about themselves. The Steelers, meanwhile, didn’t seem properly prepared for a heavy dose of the ground game they always seem to go to in order to put away games like these.
They had run the ball only 16 times and passed it 24, but came out and ran it anyway.
Willie Parker picked up back-to-back first downs. But the Steelers went to the passing game (three incompletions) and couldn’t even get off a punt to set the table for a possible Ravens’ comeback victory.
A 17-yard drive was all the Ravens needed for Stover’s fourth field goal, a 47-yarder with 3:21 remaining to put Baltimore ahead, 19-17.
Heroic measures were needed and the passing game seemed quite ready to spring into action. Two passes and two runs moved the ball to the Ravens’ 24-yard line, well in range for Reed, at the two-minute warning.
Unlike two week earlier, in an overtime loss to Jacksonville, the Steelers had the right quarterback and the right running back in the game. Roethlisberger handed off to Jerome Bettis for a five-yard gain and, once again, all seemed right in the Steelers’ world.
But two more Bettis carries netted nothing and the Steelers were left with Reed’s 37-yard field goal with 1:36 remaining and Pittsburgh moved back into the lead, 20-19.
There was still plenty of time left for the Ravens to get in position for a game-winning field goal, but the defense held and the Steelers went home happy.
It was a win, for sure, but anything but a blowout.
Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com.