Wednesday, November 5, 2014

An Ass-Kicking Worthy of Mean Joe Greene: Steelers Win

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43


It was Mean Joe Greene night at Heinz Field and the Steelers absolutely delivered.


Things started slow when the Ravens picked up a few first downs which was enough for them to pin the Steelers deep in their own territory after Flacco makes a horrible throw on a 3rd down.

The Steelers go 3-and-out and the Ravens are set up near midfield.

Flacco goes into Elite mode and hits Torrey Smith down the sideline behind Brice McCain for 6 on the first play of the drive.

0-7

The Steelers fall into the same offensive pattern and go 3-and-out again.



The teams trade punts back and forth and James Harrison morphs back into 2008 form and mauls Flacco to force another punt.

The Steelers start off trapped deep in their own zone but start to get things rolling when they finally get the ball into AB's hands. LeGarrette Blount starts to get things rolling and get us out across the 30.

Second Quarter

The Steelers had started to build some momentum heading into the second quarter but it all evaporated in an instant when Ben was sacked on 3 consecutive plays.

The Ravens were able to get it out to midfield and things were starting to look bleak when Arthur Moats delivered a big hit on a Ravens back and the ball popped out. Brice McCain was on the spot and scooped up the ball one-handed and scampered inside the 30 before Flacco makes an elite tackle.


On one of the weirdest plays you'll see, Ben completed a 7-yard pass to AB and he got dragged down from behind. The Ravens were penalized 3 times on the play for defensive holding, roughing the passer and a horsecollar tackle. Ravens twitter went off the deep end for some reason.



Three plays later, Ben hit Le'Veon on a backshoulder fade in the front corner of the end zone to tie it all up.


7-7

Steve McLendon apparently thinks we're playing baseball and roughs Flacco in retaliation for Ben getting roughed, or something. On the next play, James Harrison stunts around and scares the Elite out of Flacco who throws a pass right to Jason Worilds who takes it back to the 30.



After Dri moves the sticks, Ben hits Bryant on a corner post for six.
14-7

POINTS. OFF. TURNOVERS.

The Steelers defense continues to roll with momentum and James Harrison makes two short-yardage stops but the Ravens go for it on 4th down and Flacco makes an elite dive to pick it up. James Harrison got rolled up on in the pile and came off the field. On the next play, Flacco hits some RB out of the backfield who gets them into field goal range. Troy's leg got rolled up on as well and limped off the field. The bigger news than the Ravens kicking a field goal was James Harrison lumbering back out onto the field.


14-10

With just under 2 minutes to go, Ben goes to work. He hits AB across the middle who is able to make a move and get out of bounds near the 40. Three plays later, Ben hits Le'Veon out of the backfield who owns CJ Mosley and picks up the first down. After a timeout, Ben goes doooowntoooown and hits a streaking Markus Wheaton for the score.


On the extra point, Brad Wing fumbles the snap and has the presence of mind to roll out and hit Matt Spaeth to turn the extra point into a two-point conversion. Spaeth had no catches this year but catches a two point conversion on a broken play.



22-10



King Arthur Moats sacks Flacco and sends us to halftime.




Halftime

Mean Joe Greene's jersey was retired.

Third Quarter

The Steelers get the ball out of the half but can't really do anything with it and have to burn a timeout.

During the half, Owen Daniels reminded Joe Flacco that he existed and Flacco decided to throw him the ball a few times and get a couple first downs. The Ravens got to 3rd and 3 across midfield but James Harrison took things over and sacked Flacco.
Tomlin had to challenge to get the sack to count, and it did on some strange NFL rule that a shin counts as being down. The sack forced a punt.

The Steelers didn't really do much with the ball, but the Ravens defense completely melted down after Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil both took personal foul penalties for late hits. The refs stopped the game to talk to both benches and Terrell Suggs spent some time yapping at the Steelers bench.







The Steelers don't do anything with it and punt it back to the Ravens who can't overcome a holding penalty and punt it back to us.

Ben completes a few passes then hits Le'Veon to move the chains with CJ Mosley in coverage.

Fourth Quarter

The Steelers are totally in the Ravens heads and Elvis tries to leave the building early by jumping offsides. The penalty puts the Steelers in 3rd and 9 rather than 3rd and 14. Ben makes them pay by hitting AB on a comeback route down the right sideline. AB cuts it back away from two Ravens, stiff arms another out of the way...


...and is off to the races ALL THE WAY TO THE HOUSE.



29-10





BELIEVE THAT


Just when you think things are settling down and the Steelers are ready to pull away, Jacoby Jones takes the kickoff 108 yards untouched back the other way.



29-17

Big Ben got to come back out and went right back to work on the Ravens defense. The Steelers totally abandoned the running game because it wasn't working but it really didn't matter because Ben was in the zone. Ben spread the ball around and picked up a first down on his own on 3rd and 1 with a QB sneak. The Ravens challenged it and it seemed like there might be enough evidence to overturn it but the refs let it stand. Ben finally found Heath for a big completion down the middle to get us into Ravens territory then AB again to get us into the red zone. Three plays later, Ben undresses the Ravens defense with a pump fake and slings one to Bryant on a deep post at the goal line for Bryant's second touchdown of the night.





FIVE TOUCHDOWNS FOR BIG BEN.



FIVE



36-17

11 TDs in TWO WEEKS.



The Ravens offense gets to come back on the field and Timmons sacks Flacco on 3rd down, continuing his excellent string of play after blowing chunks against Houston.


Ben fumbled a bad snap on the next drive, but at this point the bigger factor was taking 2 minutes off the clock.

The Steelers defense continues to play hard but gives up a 4th down conversion to let the Ravens drive stay alive and Antwon Blake gets called for a pass interference call to set the Ravens up at the 1. Flacco hits some tight end who spikes the ball into the crowd for a touchdown. Okay then.

36-23

The Ravens go for 2 and the defense stacks it up and stuff them.



The Steelers knock the onside kick out of bounds and take over with 3 minutes left, basically just needing one first down to run it out. Blount gets stopped on 3rd and 1 before the 2-minute warning so Tomlin sends the offense back out to convert a 4th and 2 and finish them.


And finish them we did. Ben goes play-action and lobs one to Matt Spaeth streaking down the field who makes an over-the-shoulder catch and stumbles into the end zone for Ben's SIXTH TOUCHDOWN of the night.




That touchdown pass was basically payback for the 2011 game in Baltimore when the Ravens called a designed fake extra point and ran it in for a two-point conversion when they were up by 35.



43-23

Rather than just running the ball and getting out of Dodge, the Ravens were dicks and called their last timeout and spiked the ball with 2 seconds left.
Audible "Ravens Suck" chant from the Heinz Field crowd.

Game.

BIG BEN.

Posted by The Steelers n'at Staff at 5:56 PM
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