It was a tale of two halves Monday night in Pittsburgh as the Steelers slipped past the Ravens 23-20 thanks to Josh Reed’s 46-yard field goal in overtime.
Baltimore took a 13-3 lead deep into the third quarter but following a Nate Washington 8-yard reception on a 1st and 10 play from Pittsburgh’s 33-yard line, LB Jarret Johnson was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty that set up the Steelers at the Raven 44-yard line.
Up until that point, Pittsburgh was lifeless and Heinz Field resembled a morgue. The Steelers wound up scoring three plays later on a Santonio Holmes 38-yard touchdown reception, which trimmed Baltimore’s lead to 13-10. Then on the Ravens’ first play following the kickoff, Pittsburgh LB James Harrison crushed rookie QB Joe Flacco, causing a fumble that was scooped up by LaMarr Woodley at the 7-yard line and taken into the end zone for a Steelers’ touchdown. Suddenly, two and a half quarters of solid play went out the window for the Ravens and they found themselves trailing 17-13.
After the Steelers pushed their lead to 20-13 on Reed’s second field goal of the night with just under 10 minutes to play, Flacco led Baltimore on a nine-play, 76-yard drive which ended with Le’Ron McClain scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run that tied the game at 20. It all went for naught, however, as the Steelers forced the Ravens to punt on their opening possession of overtime, then won the game seven plays later on Reed’s third field goal.
Baltimore flat out blew an opportunity for a big win. Before Johnson gift-wrapped momentum for the Steelers thanks to his penalty, Pittsburgh looked lost. For the second straight week Ben Roethlisberger was playing like crap, they had no running game and outside of finding some success running the no-huddle, the Steelers’ coaching staff appeared befuddled on how to move the ball on the Ravens’ nasty defense. But that’s why teams have to play all 60 minutes, especially when they’re on the road and playing in a tough environment. There’s no doubt Baltimore will look back at this game and think about what could have been.
Side Note: Is it just me or did anyone else get the impression that ESPN commentator Ron “Jaws” Jaworski was flat out rooting for the Ravens during the game? I know Tony Kornheiser mentioned that Jaws’ son went to Delaware (same school as Flacco), but man, most of his comments seemed aimed at how good Flacco is/could be. I like Jaws, but he seemed a little biased tonight.
Also, it was great to hear that Andre Frazier was up and walking around the Steelers’ locker room after the game. Frazier was taken from the field on a stretcher after injuring his spine on the opening kickoff of the game.
Rookie halfback Rashard Mendenhall and right guard Kendall Simmons will be placed on injured reserve today. Mendenhall made his first start and he left in the third quarter with a fractured shoulder. Simmons has a torn Achilles tendon.
