Steel Strong

Pittsburgh’s James Harrison says it best. The Steelers just go out there and do what they have to do. Harrison and the Steelers are moving on to the AFC Championship game after bashing Baltimore 31-24 at Heinz Field Saturday afternoon. It will be Pittsburgh’s fifth AFC Championship game in the past decade. Meanwhile, Ray Lewis and the Ravens can’t seem to overcome their playoff woes against their Pittsburgh foes. Despite a two touchdown lead at halftime, the Ravens’ Superbowl aspirations were shredded again by the men in gold and black. Lewis, the twelve time All-Star, has suffered three losses in the post-season to the Steelers. Pittsburgh is a win away from a return to their third Superbowl in six seasons.
The Ravens forced mistakes in the first half and made the Steelers pay for each one as the top-notch defense capitalized on Pittsburgh miscues. Baltimore jumped out to a 21-7 lead after scoring on two short touchdown drives. Turnovers, penalties and defense were the story of the game on both sides of the ball. The Ravens managed just 125 yards against Pitt’s vaunted defense. Baltimore committed three turnovers in the second half after an impressive thirty minutes of football. The Ravens pressured quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger all day. Big Ben was sacked six times yet went without an interception and threw for 226 yards in the win. Joe Flacco did not fare as well as his counterpart Big Ben. Flacco fumbled and was intercepted in the one-touchdown performance. Lawrence Timmons led the Pittsburgh defense with seven tackles and Harrison had three sacks. Lewis had six tackles for defensive-minded Baltimore, while Terrell Suggs matched Harrison in sacks.
Rashard Mendenhall got the Steelers rolling with a touchdown on Pittsburgh’s first possession of the game. The running back had two touchdowns despite rushing for just 46 yards. The one touchdown home lead evaporated quickly. Baltimore scored 21 unanswered points to close out the first half on top. Ray Rice ran 14 yards to cap off a Ravens’ drive with 1:20 left in the first quarter. The Ravens scored less than a minute later after Pittsburgh coughed up the ball on a Roethlisberger incompletion. Cory Redding scooped up the ball and ran it back for the Baltimore touchdown. In the second quarter, Mendenhall fumbled at the Steelers’ 16 yard line and on the next drive, Flacco found a wide open Todd Heap for a four yard touchdown grab. Tight end Heap led Baltimore with 43 receiving yards. The half ended with a missed field goal by Pittsburgh kicker, Shaun Suisham. The Ravens entered the locker room with the most points they scored against the Steelers since 2007.
Heath Miller hauled in a nine yard pass from Roethlisberger five minutes into the third quarter as the Steelers began their cutthroat comeback. The Steelers needed four plays to reach the end zone. Pittsburgh took over at the 23 yard line following a Rice fumble and Mendenhall scrambled for a 14 yard gain to set up Roethlisberger’s strike to Miller. The home team got the ball back after Flacco was picked off. Pittsburgh tied the score at 21-21 on Hines Ward’s eight yard touchdown reception. Safety Ryan Clark was credited with stripping the ball from Rice and intercepting an overthrowing Flacco for a 17 yard return the other way. Baltimore committed a third turnover in the third quarter on the next possession, much to the delight of the Heinz Field faithful. Matt Birk’s snap was too early for Flacco and Brett Keisel recovered for Pittsburgh. But the game was still knotted at 21 heading into the final stanza.
Baltimore and Pittsburgh traded fourth quarter field goals. Suisham hitt one from 35 yards and Billy Cunduff tied the game again with a 24 yard kick with 3:54 left on the clock. Pittsburgh executed a dramatic drive to finish off their comeback. The Steelers faced third-and-19 at their own 38 yard line when Roethlisberger uncorked a 58 yard pass to rookie Antonio Brown deep in Raven territory. It took Mendenhall three tries, but he managed to break through the Baltimore defense into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown with 1:33 left to play. The final was not secured until T.J. Houshmandzadeh dropped a Flacco pass that would have given Baltimore a first down on Pittsburgh terrain. Roethlisberger completed 19-of-32 passes for two touchdowns as the Steelers stymied their division rivals yet again.

Parting Points: Aaron Rodgers is playing out of his mind this post-season, much to nobody’s surprise I suspect.