WHAT WENT RIGHT
* On the Ravens’ first offensive play, Joe Flacco used play-action and a brief roll to his right to escape the Steelers pass rush and go deep to WR Jacoby Jones who had gotten behind CB
* It was a third-and-6 on the Steelers’ second offensive possession when
* Ben Roethlisberger was responsible for creating two first downs on a possession in the middle of the second quarter. His 11-yard scramble earned the first set of new downs, and then he converted the ensuing third-and-9 with a 15-yard pass to
* Before the first half ended,
* On third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, Ben Roethlisberger bought time by stepping up into the pocket and finding Emnmanuel Sanders wide open in the middle of the end zone for the touchdown that cut Baltimore’s lead to 13-7 midway through the third quarter.
* Facing a third-and-10 from the Ravens’ 27-yard line, Ben Roethlisberger threw a perfect pass that allowed Antonio Brown to come back to the ball for a 19-yard gain to set up a first-and-goal at the 8-yard line with 10:01 left in a 19-7 game.
* It was another great throw from Ben Roethlisberger and a nice catch from Heath Miller to get the ball inside the Baltimore 1-yard line with 1:52 left. ILB Josh Bynes was underneath Miller, but the throw came in before he could turn around, and Miller made the catch before taking a hit from James Ihedigbo.
WHAT WENT WRONG
* Three plays after his opening play attempt to attack down the field was unsuccessful, Joe Flacco again used play-action to get a receiver deep. This time it was Torrey Smith, whose 54-yard catch put the ball at the Pittsburgh 1-yard line. Smith was being covered by
* A sack by Jason Worilds brought up a third-and-goal for the Ravens from the 7-yard line, and Flacco again was looking for Smith. Running a slant after lining up in the slot, Smith got inside Taylor who didn’t get any help from the linebacker level and the touchdown gave the Ravens a 7-0 lead with 9:11 remaining in the first quarter.
* It was a third-and-7 for the Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger used a hard coiunt to draw OLB Elvis Dumervil offside. With a free play, Roethlisberger saw Emmanuel Sanders run past CB Jimmy Smith and he laid the ball out there perfectly. But Sanders dropped the ball.
* Midway through the second period after gaining a first-and-10 at the Ravens’ 36-yard line,
* On the third down following the Steelers’ botched field goal attempt, the Ravens faced a third-and-7 from their own 47-yard line. Joe Flacco again attacked deep, he again went after Ike Taylor, who was flagged for interfering with Torrey Smith. The 26-yard penalty moved the ball to the Steelers’ 27-yard line, and the Ravens ended up with a 43-yard field goal to extend their lead to 10-0 with 3:01 left in the first half.
* The Ravens received the second half kickoff, and they extended their lead to 13-0 with another Justin Tucker field goal. Depending upon the passing of Joe Flacco almost exclusively, the Ravens ran 13 plays to move the 52 yards needed to get into easy field goal range, and they consumed 5:39 of the game clock in doing so.
* The kickoff following Emmanuel Sanders’ touchdown catch was returned 73 yards by Jacoby Jones, with
* On a third-and-4 from the Baltimore 40-yard line, Joe Flacco caught the Steelers in a blitz and dumped the ball into the flat to Ray Rice, who turned it into a 22-yard gain to the Pittsburgh 38-yard line. The possession ended with a 48-yard field goal by Justin Tucker that gave the Ravens a 22-14 lead with 5:37 left.
* The Steelers had two touchdowns overturned on replay in the final 90 seconds. The first was a ruling on Heath Miller’s catch, and the ball was placed at the 1-yard line. On the next play, Le’Veon Bell had his helmet torn off by a hit from Ravens OLB Courtney Upshaw as he was falling across the goal line. Both plays were ruled as touchdowns on the field, and both were overturned on replay.