Joe Flacco

Pittsburgh – The Baltimore Ravens go on the road in the NFL Playoffs and win – it’s their specialty under head coach John Harbaugh – and Saturday night was no different as they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 30-17 at Heinz Field. Quarterback Joe Flacco was an efficient 18-of-29 passing for 259 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions as Harbaugh joins New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin and former Dallas Cowboys headman Tom Landry with seven career playoff road wins – the most in NFL history.

“Joe Flacco, what can you say?” said Harbaugh after the Ravens first-ever postseason win in Pittsburgh. “I think he had a perfect quarterback rating in the third quarter. That’s playoff football. That’s Joe Flacco. He’s the best quarterback in football. We’ll take him any day of the week and twice on Sunday or Saturday night.”

In the first half, the Steelers were able to move the but had to settle for three Shaun Suisham field goals. While they dominated in time of possession (20:55 to 9:05) they trailed on the scoreboard thanks to a 5-yard touchdown run by Temple product Bernard Pierce and field goal by Justin Tucker.

“We’re down by one at the half,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. “You don’t like settling for field goals. This is a stingy red zone defense. They were number two in the red zone in the NFL. We knew it was going to be tough sledding.”

As Harbaugh said Flacco was excellent in the third quarter, he completed eight of his nine passes and led two scoring drives that extended the Ravens lead to 20-9.

“We were on top of our game today,” Flacco said. “We played a nice patient football game and we were able to break through in the second half.”

Two key plays in the quarter, were a sack by Steelers linebacker Sean Spence (Pittsburgh’s only sack of the night) that resulted in a fumble by Flacco but center Jeremy Zuttah fell on the ball to prevent a turnover and allow a Tucker field goal. On their next possession, Flacco avoid the rush of James Harrison on a third down play from the Pittsburgh 11-yard line and found wide receiver Torrey Smith in the back left corner of the end zone.

Early in the fourth quarter, a fumble by Justin Forsett gave the Steelers life. One play after defensive end Stephon Tuitt made the recovery, Ben Roethlisberger connected with All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown for 44 yards to set up the Steelers only touchdown, a six-yard pass to Martavis Bryant. A two-point conversion failed and the Ravens would go back up eight, at 23-15, after a 52-yard field goal by Tucker that ended the ensuing possession.

The Ravens final touchdown, a 21 yard pass from Flacco to Crockett Gillmore, was set up when Terrell Suggs made one of the strangest interceptions you’ll ever see. A Roethlisberger pass went off of running back Ben Tate’s hands and through the hands of the veteran linebacker but he was able to keep the ball from hitting the ground by squeezing it between his legs.

The Steelers would get a safety when they blocked a punt but would also commit two more turnovers before the end of the game.
“We didn’t do enough to win the game, obviously,” said Steelers free safety Mike Mitchell. “We couldn’t get enough stops in the red zone like we needed to. We only got the one turnover, that’s not enough.”

The Ravens advance to meet the New England Patriots in the Divisional round of the NFL Playoffs.

Email Rock Hoffman at Rock@footballstories.com