Shaun Suisham kicked a game winning 42 yard goal and the Pittsburgh Steelers are staying a float, beating the Baltimore Ravens, 19-16, at Heinz Field. The Steelers improve to 2-4, while the Ravens fall to 3-4.
The Steelers remain in a big hole but have some life with two wins in a row and head to Oakland (2-4) next Sunday in a winnable game, though Oakland has been a thorn in the Steelers side the past couple years.
The Steelers red zone offense remains an issue and the offense scored just one touchdown for the second straight week, a 3 yard Ben Roethlisberger shovel pass to Heath Miller, but a big development was the rushing attack.
The Steelers controlled the line of scrimmage and the O-line as a whole had a very good day and were downright dominant at times in running situations. Guy Whimper filling in for the injured Marcus Gilbert even had a very strong game.
The Steelers rushed for 141 yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. Le’Veon Bell led the way, rushing for 93 yards on 19 carries, including a long-run of 11. Bell showed great patience waiting for holes to open and even ran some wildcat.
The Steelers never trailed in the game but Joe Flacco led the Ravens down the field on a 16-play, 73 yard scoring drive late in the 4th quarter to tie the game at 16-16 with 2:02 left to play, connecting with Dallas Clark for a 1 yard TD pass.
The Steelers responded and got a 44 yard kick return from Emmanuel Sanders that setup the Steelers at the 37 yard line and the Ben Roethlisberger/Antonio Brown connection burned the Ravens on the drive as Brown caught passes of 11 and 13 yards to setup Suisham’s game winning field goal.
Brown had a down statistical game, hauling in 6 catches for 50 yards, but came up with with big plays down the stretch as his excellent route running ability was on display.
Roethlisberger was efficient and did not turn the ball over for the second straight game, going 17/23 for 160 yards and 1 touchdown. He posted a 107.2 QB rating.
Defensively, Lawrence Timmons had a monster game with 17 tackles. William Gay made two big pass breakups and Troy Polamalu had 8 tackles and 1 tackle for loss in another strong game as Polamalu continues to play more like a linebacker this season than a safety being used in the front-seven.
LaMarr Woodley had the Steelers only sack, his 5th of the season.