For the third consecutive game, the Steelers played without Ben Roethlisberger. After losing to Baltimore two weeks ago in Pittsburgh, the Ravens were the clear cut favorite at home.
Charlie Batch had most likely the most memorable game of his career. He threw for 276 yards and a touchdown, and also had a huge block to seal off a touchdown. Jonathan Dwyer carried the load for the Steelers, rushing for 50 yards on 19 carries.
Pittsburgh took an early lead on their first drive of the game. Shaun Suisham was good from 46 yards to cap off an eleven play drive, taking up five and a half minutes.
The Ravens would get on the board early in the second quarter on a 45 yard field goal from Justin Tucker. Less than two minutes later, Tucker hit another field goal to give Baltimore a 6-3 lead.
The Steelers would go three and out which lead to the first turnover of the game. On a second and ten, Joe Flacco threw up an ill-advised pass which was intercepted by Ryan Clark. Things wouldn’t go the way the Steelers wanted, despite being set up with the ball at the 50. Two plays later, Todd Haley called for some trickery that had bad news written all over it. Antonio Brown got an end around pass, but threw it right into coverage where it was intercepted by Corey Graham.
The Ravens would march down the field and Flacco hit Anquan Boldin two plays in a row resulting in a Baltimore touchdown, giving them a 13-3 lead.
The Steelers were fortunate to cut it to a one possession game before halftime, and they did so with a Shaun Suisham 41-yard field goal.
Pittsburgh got the ball to open up the second half and capitalized on a touchdown run from Jonathan Dwyer. The drive featured a 43-yard completion to Heath Miller and set Dwyer up for his touchdown. The touchdown run by Dwyer was helped out by a block thrown by Charlie Batch around the goal line.
Midway through the third quarter, Batch found a wide open Emmanuel Sanders down the middle of the field for a huge gain. Sanders caught the ball, but immediately fumbled it and the ball was recovered by the Ravens. The play most likely would have gone for a Steelers touchdown, if Sanders were to have secured the ball properly.
Several plays later, Ray Rice, who was held in check by the Steelers with the exception of one run, broke off a 34-yard touchdown run, giving the Ravens a 20-13 lead.
The fourth quarter was started off and the Steelers were set up with great position to tie the game up. Issac Redman and Heath Miller had gains of 24 and 23 yards setting the Steelers up in the red zone. Batch was unable to convert for the Steelers, as he threw an interception in the red zone, on a pass intercepted by Ed Reed.
The defense came up huge for the Steelers though, as three plays later, James Harrison would get a strip-sack on Flacco. The ball was recovered by Ziggy Hood and gave the Steelers the ball back right at the 27 yard line.
The Steelers would capitalize on the great field position and tie the game up. A 17-yard completion to Sanders set Batch up for his first touchdown pass in two seasons. On second and goal from the seven yard line, Batch hit Miller towards the sideline and Miller made an unbelievable play to extend the ball to the end zone for the touchdown. The play was review and upheld.
The Ravens were forced to punt which gave Pittsburgh perfect position to win the game. The Steelers got the ball back with over six minutes left, and used every second of the clock to win the game. With a roughing the passer call going in the favor of the Steelers, they got Shaun Suisham in great postion to win the game, which he would, and was good on a 42-yard field goal as time expired.
The Steelers had one of their best wins all season and it was a great thing without Roethlisberger and Ike Taylor, who was injured early in the game and didn’t return. The team is still tied with the Cincinnati Bengals in records, but holds the wild care spot due to their win over them earlier this season.
