Ben Roethlisberger threw six touchdowns for the second consecutive game as the Pittsburgh Steelers walloped the Baltimore Ravens 43-23 on Sunday Night Football.
The win puts the Steelers in first place in the AFC North while the Ravens fall into dead last.
It may not have been a work of art like last week for Ben, who threw for 522 yards and six scores against the Indianapolis Colts, but he and the offense did more than enough to win.
On the first play of their second possession, the Ravens took the lead when a 35-yard pass from Joe Flacco connected with Torrey Smith near the far sideline.
The Steelers’ offense struggled for much of the first quarter, failing to get a first down until the two minute mark when Roethlisberger connected with Brown for 13 yards. A run by Legarrette Blount gave the Steelers another first down and appeared to give the team momentum. However, three consecutive sacks after a ten yard penalty forced the Steelers to punt on 4th and 39 from their on 12 yard line.
As the Ravens were driving, Arthur Moats forced Lorenzo Taliaferro to fumble the ball around midfield. The ball was picked up by Mike Mitchell and returned to the Baltimore 27 yard line. Four plays later, Roethlisberger connected to Bell for a five-yard touchdown pass.
On the next play from scrimmage, Steve McClendon was called for unnecessary roughness after he drove the quarterback into the ground. While the Ravens gained 15 yards off the call, the hit may have rattled Joe Flacco, as he was intercepted on a pass thrown right to Jason Worilds.
Three plays later, Roethlisberger found Martavis Bryant on a 19-yard touchdown to give the Steelers a 14-7 lead.
Baltimore responded with a 46-yard field goal to draw within four with 1:44 remaining in the first half. During the drive, Troy Polamalu went down with a left ankle injury. He returned after the two-minute warning but was ruled out for the entire second half.
The Steelers came right back five plays later and scored their third touchdown of the half on a 47-yard pass from Roethlisberger to Wheaton. Punter, Brad Wing botched the hold on the extra point, picked up the ball, and found Matt Spaeth in the end zone for the two-point conversion.
During halftime, the Steelers honored Joe Greene by retiring his number 75. He is only the second player in franchise history to have his jersey retired; Ernie Staunter (70) is the other. Former Steelers Andy Russell, Franco Harris, John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, and Mel Blount were on hand to witness the event.
While the crowd was enthralled with Greene’s tribute, the current Steelers admitted that “Mean Joe” was a major inspiration heading into this game, particularly on defense.
The rivalry got ratcheted up midway through the third quarter when Terrell Suggs took a personal foul penalty for spring Blount in the lower back after the running back was stopped. The play drew a crowd in the middle of the field as both teams had to be separated.
After a scoreless third quarter, the Steelers added to their lead on Roethlisberger’s fourth touchdown of the game. Antonio Brown caught the ball by the near sideline and cut across the middle of the field to cap off a 54-yard touchdown. A successful extra point made the score 29-10 early in the fourth quarter.
The Ravens responded on the ensuing kick off with Jacoby Jones’s 108-yard kick return to bring the Ravens back within twelve.
But Pittsburgh stormed right back with a 9 play, 71 yard drive that was capped off when Roethlisberger found Bryant over the middle for an 18 yard touchdown; Ben’s fifth of the game and Bryant’s fifth in his first three games in the NFL.
Crockett Gilmore scored with 2:58 remaining in the game to make it 36-23 Steelers. The Ravens failed on the two point conversion and couldn’t recover the onside kick.
Roethlisberger then found Matt Spaeth for a 33-yard touchdown with just 1:51 remaining to mark his sixth touchdown of the game. He is the only player in NFL history to throw six touchdowns in back to back contests.
The Steelers’ next two games will be on the road against the Jets and Titans before the bye week.
Photo courtesy of Google Plus
