The Steelers fell behind early, and despite tying the
game, weren’t able to ever take the lead and lost to the Baltimore Ravens,
26-14, at Heinz Field.
The game was tied, 14-14, at halftime, but weren’t able
to muster anything in the second half.
“Not enough play-making in the second half for us to
secure victory,” said Coach Mike Tomlin. “It really is as simple as that. They
made the plays when they had the ball to maintain possession of it and move. We
didn’t make enough plays quickly enough to get off the field. On offense we
didn’t make enough plays to possess the ball. They dominated the time of
possession and were able to control the game in the second half.
“We have to own it. We don’t like where we are. But we accept
it. We understand it. It’s our doing. We have to keep working. We will do that.
We won’t make excuses. Disappointing tonight. The sun will come up tomorrow. We
will look at it, assess it, make necessary adjustments and things relative to
our performance and who is available to us and get ready to roll again. That’s
our story.”
Ben Roethlisberger was 27 for 47 for 274 yards, with just
50 yards passing in the second half. The offense also managed just 19 yards
rushing and were two for 12 on third down.
The Steelers won the toss but deferred to the second
half, giving the Ravens the ball to start the game. Joe Flacco came out firing,
taking the Ravens on an eight-play, 75-yard drive, completing four of four
passes for 51 yards. He found John Brown for a 33-yard scoring strike, taking
an early 7-0 lead.
Roethlisberger and company took over at their own 25-yard
line after the touchdown, but the Ravens quickly got the ball back.
Roethlisberger connected with Vance McDonald, and Tony Jefferson stripped the
ball, causing a fumble. Jefferson originally was credited with a 31-yard
touchdown return, but after review he was ruled down by contact.
The Ravens took advantage of the turnover. Flacco hit
Chris Moore for 19 yards, and Lamar Jackson lined up at quarterback and ran for
eight yards. Flacco hit Alex Collins in the end zone for a three-yard touchdown
pass, extending their lead to 14-0.
The offense got clicking late in the first quarter, with
Roethlisberger hitting JuJu Smith-Schuster for 38 yards. Roethlisberger
completed consecutive passes to Ryan Switzer, for eight and six yards, and
James Conner took it for one-yard on third-and-one. But on the ensuing third
down, Brandon Carr broke up a pass to Smith-Schuster in the end zone. Chris
Boswell got the Steelers on the board with a 34-yard field goal, to cut the
lead to 14-3 early in the second quarter.
It looked like the Ravens were poised to extend their
lead, when Sean Davis knocked the ball out of Collins’ hands and Terrell
Edmunds recovered at the one-yard line.
With their backs against the wall, the offense got
clicking again. Roethlisberger hit Jesse James for 23 yards, James Washington
for four yards, and McDonald for 12 yards. He continued with the hot hand,
hitting Smith-Shuster for 11 yards, and Switzer for six yards. Roethlisberger
found Antonio Brown for 17 yards, but an illegal crackback block on Conner
pushed them back 15 yards. Roethlisberger went back to Brown for nine and seven
yards. The drive stalled after that, and they were forced to settle for a
39-yard field goal by Boswell, cutting the lead to 14-6.
The defense stepped up and held the Ravens on their
ensuing drive, putting the ball right back in Roethlisberger’s hands. And this
time he wasn’t coming up short of the end zone.
Roethlisberger hit McDonald for 11 yards, and it was the
big guy who stepped up again. McDonald broke two tackles, and then muscled his
way as he carried two defenders on his back for a 33-yard gain. Roethlisberger
capped the drive with a 26-yard touchdown pass to Brown, adding a two-point
conversion when he hit Conner, tying the game at 14-14, a score they would take
into halftime.
The Ravens regained the lead in the third quarter when
Justin Tucker hit a 47-yard field goal, putting them ahead, 17-14. The Ravens
added to the lead, with Tucker hitting a 49-yard field goal at the start of the
fourth quarter, extending it to 20-14.
A third unanswered field goal by Tucker gave the Ravens a
23-14 lead, and after Roethlisberger was intercepted by Anthony Levine, the Ravens
added a fourth field goal for a 26-14 victory.
A DETAILED LOOK AT
HOW THEY SCORED:
First Quarter: Steelers 0, Ravens 7
Scoring Play: Joe Flacco 33-yard touchdown pass to John
Brown.
Scoring Summary: 8-75-4:15
First Quarter: Steelers 0, Ravens 14
Scoring Play: Joe Flacco three-yard touchdown pass to
Alex Collins.
Scoring Summary: 4-31-1:56
Second Quarter: Steelers 3, Ravens 14
Scoring Play: Chris Boswell 34-yard field goal.
Scoring Summary: 12-69-5:26
Second Quarter: Steelers 6, Ravens 14
Scoring Play: Chris Boswell 39-yard field goal
Scoring Summary: 14-79-6:13
Second Quarter: Steelers 14, Ravens 14
Scoring Play: Ben Roethlisberger 26-yard touchdown pass
to Antonio Brown. Roethlisberger to James Conner for two-point conversion.
Scoring Summary: 5-76-1:58
Third Quarter: Steelers 14, Ravens 17
Scoring Play: Justin Tucker 47-yard field goal.
Scoring Summary: 12-51-3:26
Fourth Quarter: Steelers 14, Ravens 20
Scoring Play: Justin Tucker 49-yard field goal.
Scoring Summary: 11-37-6:15
Fourth Quarter: Steelers 14, Ravens 23
Scoring Play: Justin Tucker 28-yard field goal.
Scoring Summary: 14-82-6:40
Fourth Quarter: Steelers 14, Ravens 26
Scoring Play: Justin Tucker 31-yard field goal.
Scoring Summary: 5-14-1:19
No comments:
Post a Comment