Baltimore vs Pittsburgh
Ravens Come Away With 16-14 Win at Rival Steelers Despite Injury to Tyler Huntley
For the second week in a row, the Baltimore Ravens lost their starting quarterback but were led by their defense to another win. This time, it was a 16-14 win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium (formerly known as Heinz Field).
The Ravens (9-4) were able to keep pace with Cincinnati, who beat Cleveland in Week 14, to remain tied atop the AFC North. Baltimore owns the tiebreaker thanks to a head-to-head win earlier this year, and the teams meet again in Week 18 in Cincinnati. Pittsburgh (5-8) saw a run of three wins in their last four games come to an end with the loss.
We’ll get into the quarterback situation in a moment, but the offensive star of the game was J.K. Dobbins, who ran for 120 yards and a touchdown in his first game after a nearly two-month absence thanks to a second knee surgery in just over a year.
“I think it was the kind of victory that you can attribute to heart and character and toughness and finding a way to get the job done, and never giving up, and never flinching and having each other's back in the end,” head coach John Harbaugh said after the game. “So, a lot of guys stepped up; the two guys in this room obviously – Anthony Brown and J.K. Dobbins – stepped up in a big way when we needed it the most.”
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Both Tyler Huntley and Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett left the game due to the concussion protocol. With the Ravens already without Lamar Jackson due to a knee injury, it was up to Anthony Brown to come into the game.
Brown was 3-of-5 for 16 yards while Huntley was 8-of-12 for 88 yards. Gus Edwards added 66 yards on the ground in the win. Brown also led a drive that took up nearly half of the fourth quarter and led to a Justin Tucker field goal to make it a two-score game at 16-7. Points that the Ravens would need after backup QB Mitchell Trubisky found Pat Freiermuth in the end zone with 2:30 left to cut the deficit to 16-14, but the Ravens were able to run out the clock without the Steelers getting the ball back again.
Harbaugh was highly complimentary of that 13-play, 57-yard drive that took up 7:55 of game clock and led to their final points of the game.
“That drive in the fourth quarter will go down in history as one of the great drives in this rivalry. It will in my mind, I promise you that,” Harbaugh explained. “When you might least expect it, there's your opportunity, and [Brown] stepped into it heroically."
The defense took advantage of Pickett being out of the game, forcing Trubisky to throw three interceptions, all of which came in the red zone. Calais Campbell also added a blocked field goal in what were several missed opportunities for the Steelers. The interceptions came from Roquan Smith, Marcus Williams, and Patrick Queen.
"You know the turnovers in this series have kind of been the thing. To get the three interceptions after they had driven down there speaks volumes,” Harbaugh said.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak by the Ravens in the series, which included last year’s heartbreaking 16-13 overtime loss in Week 18 that pushed Pittsburgh into the playoffs in Ben Roethlisberger’s final regular-season game. Baltimore’s last win over the Steelers came in late 2019, something that was not lost on the newer Ravens players.
“I've been hearing all week, 'You're not a Raven until you beat the Steelers.' That meant something to me,” Campbell said. “I take great pride in just being in this rivalry, being a part of this team and seeing the guys that came before us, the old vets.”
GAME RECAP
After a punt to start the game, the Ravens were successful in their second and third drives. Huntley brought them down to the 24-yard line in the second drive, leading to a Justin Tucker 42-yard field goal. That kick gave Tucker 1,466 points in his career, which allowed him to surpass former kicker Matt Stover for the most in franchise history. He had two more field goals on the day to make him 27-of-28 in Pittsburgh, which is notoriously a difficult stadium to kick in.
After it was 3-0, the Ravens caught a break when Steelers punter Pressley Harvin’s punt only went 17 yards. Starting from midfield, Dobbins then broke off a 44-yard run to set up a 1st and goal from the 4-yard line. On the next play, Dobbins finished the job and scored to make it 10-0 Baltimore.
The Steelers responded on the ensuing drive, scoring on a 1-yard run by Najee Harris to cut the Ravens’ advantage to 10-7. A Tucker field goal was the only score in the second quarter, making it 13-7 Baltimore at the half.
The third quarter was scoreless, setting up Brown’s clutch drive in the fourth quarter. He completed three passes along with heavy doses of running by Dobbins and Edwards, leading to Tucker’s 30-yarder with 3:22 remaining to extend the lead to 16-7.
After the Steelers’ TD with 2:30 left, they elected to kickoff instead of trying an onside kick. On 3rd and 3 from the Ravens’ 28-yard line, Edwards ran for six yards for a first down that iced the game.
UP NEXT
Harbaugh said he expects Huntley to be able to be cleared in time to play in Saturday’s game at Cleveland. The Browns fell to 1-1 with Deshaun Watson at quarterback and 5-8 overall following a 23-10 loss at Cincinnati today. The Ravens won the first meeting between the teams in Week 7, 23-20, at M&T Bank Stadium.