Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh
Ravens Dominate Second Half to Score First Playoff Win Over Rival Steelers to Tie Road Wins Mark
At halftime, it looked like it would be another classic duel between these divisional rivals in the postseason. But in the second half, Joe Flacco threw two touchdown passes as Baltimore owned the final 30 minutes, leading the Ravens past the hated Steelers 30-17 at Heinz Field in an AFC Wild Card playoff matchup.
With the Ravens up 10-9 at halftime, the visitors went on a 20-6 run to take a 30-15 lead midway through the fourth quarter. The Steelers could only muster a safety off a blocked punt the rest of the way, giving Baltimore a confidence-boosting win at the most critical time of the year.
“This is a very special victory for us, not just because it's a playoff win and we get the chance to advance, which is the most important part, but also because of who it comes against, which is our most respected rival,” head coach John Harbaugh said after the game.
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After a regular season filled with highs and lows, Joe Flacco continued his excellent play in the postseason after leading Baltimore to a Super Bowl title two seasons ago. Flacco was 18-of-29 for 259 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions, leading the second half charge.
“I think he had a perfect quarterback rating in the third quarter. That's playoff football. That's Joe Flacco,” Harbaugh said. “He's the best quarterback in football. We'll take him any day of the week, twice on Sunday or Saturday night if that be the case.”
Steve Smith, who proved to be a fantastic pickup by gaining more than 1,000 receiving yards this season, had five catches for 101 yards in this game. Torrey Smith was held to just two catches for 28 yards, but he did have a touchdown reception. Crockett Gillmore caught the other touchdown pass.
The running game wasn’t especially effective, as Justin Forsett had 16 carries for 40 yards. Bernard Pierce scored a 5-yard touchdown on his only carry of the game. Place kicker Justin Tucker was also 3-for-3 in field goals with a long of 52.
"The big thing is we have a good team and we didn't hurt ourselves tonight," Flacco said. "We didn't have a lot of possessions early. We made the most of them by getting some kind of points.”
The defense did a good job of not breaking in the first half, keeping the Steelers to three field goals in the first half. Overall, the defense forced three turnovers—interceptions by Terrell Suggs and Darian Stewart, and Stewart also recovered a fumble. Elvis Dumervil had two of the team’s five sacks.
“Whenever my time is done on the field, they could say I never beat the Steelers in the playoffs. They can't say that now,” Suggs said after the franchise’s first win over the Steelers in the postseason. “It was a great achievement, but it's short lived. We're going to enjoy the plane ride home. But we all know who we're dealing with next.”
Of course, the New England Patriots await, but Baltimore will be undaunted as they continue on the road, where they have now won three straight in the playoffs dating back to the 2012 Divisional round. The Ravens tied the NFL record for most playoff wins on the road with 10, tying a record set by Green Bay. Baltimore, however, needed just 19 years to do it, while the Packers’ franchise has been around for 94 years.
GAME RECAP
The Steelers elected to receive the opening kickoff after winning the coin toss and drove to the Ravens’ 34-yard line, but a sack of Ben Roethlisberger by Haloti Ngata pushed Pittsburgh out of field goal range and were forced to punt after nearly a seven-minute drive. The Ravens went three and out and handed the ball back to Pittsburgh, who got to the Baltimore 27 before settling for a field goal. Considering that Baltimore ran three plays on offense with 1:34 remaining in the first quarter and were only down 3-0, that has to be considered a success.
Baltimore took advantage of their next possession, starting with a gift for Pittsburgh by way of an unnecessary roughness call. Owen Daniels had two completions on the drive while Forsett ran for 32 of his 40 yards on the drive. It ended with Pierce’s five-yard touchdown run to make it 7-3 Ravens.
Pittsburgh again had a fruitful drive, but the Ravens stopped the Steelers four yards shy of the end zone, again keeping them to a Shaun Suisham field goal to cut the lead to 7-6. Both teams traded field goals before halftime, as Baltimore had a 10-9 lead at the break.
Baltimore began the third quarter with a five-minute drive that resulted in points—a 45-yard field goal from Tucker to extend the lead to 13-9.
After a Pittsburgh punt, Flacco connected with Steve Smith for a 40-yard gain on the first play of the drive, sending the ball inside the Steelers’ 30. Five plays later, Flacco connected with Torrey Smith for an 11-yard score, bringing the lead to 20-9.
Baltimore got the ball back after a punt, but the drive was short-lived, as Forsett fumbled at midfield for the Ravens’ only turnover of the game. Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown for a 44-yard completion on the very next play to get the ball to the 6-yard line, and the Steelers scored one play later to make it 20-15 after a failed two-point conversion.
A Tucker field goal put the lead back to eight, and then Suggs intercepted Roethlisberger on the next drive, putting the Ravens in business at the Pittsburgh 21-yard line. Flacco needed just one pass to score again, as Gillmore caught a 21-yard pass to put the game out of reach at 30-15.
UP NEXT
With the Steelers out of the way, the Ravens turn their attention to another postseason rival in recent years—the New England Patriots. The Patriots were 12-4 this year and are the top seed in the AFC. The Ravens are 2-1 in the playoffs against New England, splitting a pair of AFC Championship games in 2011 and ’12 and winning a Wild Card matchup in 2009.