Ravens loose to Steelers

The Baltimore Ravens lost 23-20 in overtime to the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Monday night. This game was back and forth and all about hard hits and playing defense. The Ravens dominated the Steelers in the first half but the Steelers turned the momentum around in the third quarter and scored two touchdowns in about 15 seconds. The first quarter ended 3-3 but Derrick Mason caught a pass from Flacco where I think he was in bounds but he was called out, it would have been a TD. The Ravens did not challenge and took the field goal on the next play. After another field goal by the Ravens, Flacco had a touchdown pass to TE Daniel Wilcox to end the half. At the start of the second half Ray Lewis popped RB Rashard Mendenhall hurting Mendenhall’s shoulder on the play and he had to leave the game. After the offense got the ball, Flacco had a huge play when he ran from sideline to sideline and then threw a pass to Derrick Mason for a 28-yard gain. The Ravens would end up punting the ball on that drive. The Steelers started to use the hurry up offense in the second half and it made the Ravens defense confused. The Steelers got some success on offense. On a first down play Ravens LB Jarret Johnson had a 15-yard personal foul play on Hines Ward. It gave the Steelers good field position moving into Ravens territory. Three plays later the Steelers scored a touchdown when QB Ben Rothlisberger hooked up with WR Santonio Holmes. When the Ravens got the ball back after the kick-off, the Steelers LB James Harrison sacked Ravens QB Joe Flacco. Flacco fumbled the ball while being sacked and the Steelers LB LaMarr Woodley picked up the fumble and returned it for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter the Steelers added a field goal to take a seven-point lead on the Ravens. Later the Ravens answered by scoring a touchdown after RB Le’ron McClain punched it in from 2-yards. The touchdown sent the game into overtime. The Ravens won the toss but had to punt it away after a three and out. The Steelers got the ball and drove it down the field for a Jeff Reed 46-yard field goal to win the game.

The Ravens did not play that bad of a game but they could not capitalize in overtime. I thought Flacco was very impressive in the drive where the Ravens put the game into overtime. Flacco showed great composer after the big shift in momentum went to the Steelers. Flacco was making more great throws and offensive coordinator Cam Cameron is only giving Flacco throws that he is confident in and Cameron is not trying to force anything. Flacco also looked impressive when moving around as he mad a couple of good throws outside of the pocket. Flacco went 16 of 31 for 192 yards for 1 TD. The touchdown pass was his first of his career. At running back Willis McGahee left the game with a rib injury in the first half. Also RB Le’ron McClain left late in the 4^th quarter after another solid performance. McClain seems to be developing into a nice power back to compliment McGahee. McClain is also splitting the fullback duties with Lorenzo Neal so McClain is on the field all the time. McClain had 16 rushes for 63 yards and 1 TD. As for the receivers Joe Flacco has developed a number one target in WR Derrick Mason. Flacco and Mason have very good chemistry and create a lot of plays together. The defense had another great game creating big hits and a turnover. The Ravens defense hit every Steelers player who touched the ball hard. The Ravens played as a unit and shut down the Steelers offense in the first half. They let up a little in the third quarter when the Steelers got the touchdown. They also gave up a couple plays in overtime, which led to the Steelers game winning field goal. Overall it was a pretty well played game by the Ravens they just did not come out with the win.

For more post-game coverage checkout Steelers blogger James Van Dusen’s blog.

Ty

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