Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh
Ravens Put Ray Rice Controversy Behind Them in Dominant 26-6 Win Over Rival Steelers for First Win
Either way, the Baltimore Ravens were going to be without running back Ray Rice for this game, as he would have served the second of his two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s domestic violence policy.
But the Ravens ended up cutting Rice after more evidence of the issue surfaced, and he was then suspended indefinitely by the NFL.
Regardless of the circumstances, any time there is a seismic event within a team, you never know how the remaining members will respond.
But the Ravens, who were 0-1 after a home loss to Cincinnati last week, responded with their play on the field after a short week in this Thursday night matchup, dominating on defense and leading an efficient offense in a 26-6 win at home over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers, who dropped to 1-1 after the loss.
After the game, the Rice situation was addressed by head coach John Harbaugh and some members of the team—most likely for the last time.
“We had a tough family situation this week,” Harbaugh said. “I thought our guys handled it tremendously—with class, with character. They responded.”
“We [were] all about getting the win. We wanted to kind of give that to Ray,” rookie linebacker C.J. Mosley said after the game. “We wish all the best for him. Even though he messed up, every man got to go through their mistakes to get better. We wish him the best, but as a team, we’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
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Bernard Pierce, the lead man in the backfield, gained 96 yards on 22 carries. Justin Forsett also added 56 yards, 41 of which came on one long gain. Joe Flacco wasn’t asked to do much, but was solid in completing 21 of 29 passes for 166 yards and throwing two touchdowns with no interceptions. In fact, the Ravens won the turnover battle 3-0, as Ben Roethlisberger threw an interception and Heath Miller and Justin Brown both fumbled. Tight end Owen Daniels caught both of Flacco’s touchdown passes, and Justin Tucker was a perfect 4-for-4 in field goals.
Defensively, Haloti Ngata had an interception, Elvis Dumervil recorded two sacks, and Mosley and DeAngelo Tyson each recovered a fumble.
Especially coming off last week’s loss, Harbaugh was impressed with the total win in all three phases of the game.
“Our coaches, across the board, did a great job. With all the things that were swirling around us this week, our coaches went to work on football,” Harbaugh explained. “Gary [Kubiak] and Dean [Pees] and Jerry [Rosburg] led the way. All of our position coaches had the guys in the right frame of mind. The guys were well taught, very few mistakes, very few penalties, very few missed assignments. That's how you win a football game in this kind of an environment in a rivalry game."
Flacco was asked if there was anything that made a difference on offense after last week’s loss, but he couldn’t pinpoint anything outside of better execution.
"There's no special thing – we played better. We did the little things right and we made the plays when they presented themselves,” Flacco said. “It felt good, definitely, to go down there and get points on the board early. If we didn't, I think we still would have responded well and continued to play a good game."
For Daniels, who was an offseason pickup, it was a good introduction into this rivalry, as he accounted for both touchdown receptions in the game.
“It kind of feels like that old high school, crosstown rivalry type of situation,” Daniels said. “It's an honor for me to be part of it [for] the first time, and everyone buys into it–the city buys into it, the team buys into it, and it's a big deal. It's pretty cool."
The result was a rare one-sided victory in this rivalry, as it was just the second time in the last 11 meetings that the outcome was decided by more than three points.
GAME RECAP
While the final score was lopsided, it didn’t look like it would end up that way for the Ravens. The Steelers’ first drive lasted over eight minutes and drove into Baltimore’s red zone before Brown fumbled with the Ravens recovering at their 15-yard-line. The Ravens then had a long drive of their own, going 12 plays for 85 yards, ending with a two-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Daniels to open the scoring.
Tucker kicked a field goal to extend the lead to 10-0, and Shaun Suisham kicked two field goals for the Steelers to make the score 10-6 at halftime.
The Ravens then embarked on a drive that took 6:30 off the game clock in the third quarter, featuring several runs from Pierce and ending with another short touchdown from Flacco to Daniels from a yard out to make it 17-6 in favor of the home team.
Baltimore got within the Steelers’ 5-yard line three times in the fourth quarter but had to settle for field goals in each occasion.
Roethlisberger threw the game’s lone interception with two minutes remaining, and the Ravens were able to run the clock out from there for the convincing win.
UP NEXT
This was a big win for the Ravens to get, as they play their third game within the AFC North in Week 3 next week at Cleveland in their first road contest of the season. With the game not until Sept. 21, Baltimore has an extra three days to prepare for the matchup. The Browns lost to the Steelers last week in Pittsburgh and host New Orleans this Sunday in their home opener.