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| ESPN.com |
Alfalfa and Cris Collinsworth on the call for NBC; the immortal Clete Blakeman at referee.
FIRST QUARTER
I can't believe Ben Tate is getting significant touches for Pittsburgh, but he gets the first two, and a screen to Markus Wheaton gets them out to the 37 with their first 1st down. Did we ever see Tavon Austin run that route this year, btw? Ben Freaking Tate up the middle for another 7. Ramon Foster pushed Chris Canty around and opened up a big hole. Tate plows off right guard for another 7-8 and fumbles, but it bounces to Antonio Brown at the BLT44. That fumble brings Josh Harris in off the Cornelia Marie, but he gets stuffed up the middle. Ben Roethlisberger's line gets him all night to throw on 2nd down but he throws one away deep. Brown gets away from Ladarius Webb on a very short slant and sprints to the marker at the 34 for another 1st. Steelers are making this look easy. No, Ben can't find any of his 5 WRs open on 2nd down and Haloti Ngata's attention span has obviously improved since he got the sack, beating Foster. Heath Miller drops a 3rd down pass that would not have gotten the 1st anyway but might have put the Steelers in FG position. Good work by the Raven secondary to stop that drive. Pittsburgh downs the punt at the 7.
James Franco has Torrey Smith wide open on a comeback route but misses him badly. He trips over center Jeremy Zuttah trying to hand off on 2nd down and has to run for his life on 3rd down, chased for 9 yards by James Harrison. The punt's a strong 49-yarder, but the Steelers will still start at their 40, and this game is starting out a lot like the first one today.
Well, I sure don't know how the Rams are even going to slow this Steeler offense down when they play next season. Ben's getting the ball quick, hitting Brown and Martavis Bryant with a couple of quick passes for nice gains, then he hits Bryant with a back-shoulder throw for 22 down to the BLT20 in a blink. They follow that, though, with a screen to Harris that gets nothing, a dumb handoff to Tavon Austin-sized Dri Archer that Terrell Suggs eats alive for a loss, and a sack by Elvis Dumervil beating Marcus Gilbert fairly easily. Former Ram Shane Suisham puts Pittsburgh on the board from 45. That drive had a lot more potential. Pittsburgh 3, Baltimore 0
As Al Michaels points out James Hurst is the first undrafted rookie ever to start a playoff game at LT, James Harrison smokes Hurst for a near-sack. Flacco goes deep for Jacoby Jones, who is defended well by Brice McCain, but cheap-shot artist Mike Mitchell shows up with a cheap shot and a 15-yard penalty. Play-action rollout to Owen Daniels for 18 across midfield. Big hole for Justin Forsett off LT - Hurst stoned Harrison there - gets him 9 as a pretty brisk first quarter runs out.
SECOND QUARTER
Forsett gets one first down and Flacco gets all night to hit Daniels for another. Forsett gets another 7, with Hurst turning Harrison, and into the red zone. Forsett gets another huge hole, on the right this time between Zuttah and Marshall Yanda, and gets 14 down to the 5. They continue to run on Pittsburgh with shocking ease as Bernard Pierce vultures a 5-yard TD. Dick LeBeau helped them out there by leaving a huge gap in front of LG, which Pierce basically ran through. Why the HELL do defensive coordinators do that? Baltimore 7, Pittsburgh 3 Outstanding drive for the Ravens, especially their offensive line. Took it to them.
Sorry for the rest of this quarter - worthless Firefox crashed for no good reason and Blogger was even more worthless by autosaving NOTHING. Thanks, technology!
A dumb return decision by Wheaton started Pittsburgh at their 14 but Brown got them out of the hole with a 18-yard comeback. Ben pulls a rabbit out of his hat on 3rd-and-10, pump-faking deep and then hitting wide-open HEATH Miller on the far sideline for 30. After faking end-arounds to Bryant 2 of the last 3 plays, they actually do run one for 6. Harris gets three off the left side, then on 3rd-and-1, Blakeman's crew erroneously stops the game because they miscounted the number of Ravens on the field. Brilliant! You knew Pittsburgh's next play would now fail, and it did. Brown broke wide open on the goal line, but Ben put too much air under the throw and ex-Ram Darian Stewart got there in time to force Brown out of bounds and save a TD. THAT's how you're supposed to make that play, RODNEY MCLEOD.
And, never mind, on the FG attempt, Baltimore DOES have 12 on the field, handing Pittsburgh a 1st down on 4th-and-1. What is it with the special teams idiocy in the playoffs so far? Rashaan Melvin then knocks himself out drilling Tate helmet-to-helmet on a dumpoff and rightly gets a penalty he probably won't remember in the morning. It sets Pittsburgh up at the 9. The Baltimore d-line then pushes the Pittsburgh o-line about right over Ben, though, with Brandon Williams picking up the sack, and that keeps the Steelers out of the end zone. They settle for a chip shot FG. Baltimore 7, Pittsburgh 6
And OF COURSE the game with Ryan Lindley and the Carolina passing game in it goes over today while the game with James Franco and Big Ben (#2 QB in league) and Antonio Brown (#1 WR in league) is WAY under close to halftime. Why do I even bother.
About 5:30 left till halftime. Flacco hits jackass Steve Smith on a deep cross for 25. Zuttah and Yanda continue to plow open holes for Forsett, getting him 6 across midfield. At the end of that play, Jason Worilds clearly throws a punch at Crockett Gilmore but gets only a 15-yard penalty for it instead of getting ejected like he should have been. Baltimore goes pass-wacky from the PIT30, dumb given how well they've been running, but the Steelers also refuse to cover Owen F. Daniels tonight, and he beats Troy Polamalu for 19 down to the 11. Baltimore settles for a FG, though; Cameron Heyward hits Flacco on 2nd down to force a bad pass, and William Gay gets away with leaving Marlon Brown (is EVERY WR in the NFL named Brown?) wide open in the back of the end zone by swatting a pass down at the goal line. Justin Tucker extends the lead. Baltimore 10, Pittsburgh 6
Ben hits HEATH out to the 30 and Bryant at the 43 at the 2:00 warning. C.J. Mosley bends Archer in half at the end of a screen at midfield but he survives. Ben hits Darius Heyward-Bey at the BLT43 at 1:20. Wheaton gets another 10 on a drag route. The Raven secondary holds strong from there again, though, and good pass rush by Mosley and Dumervil force quick throws from Ben, forcing Pittsburgh to settle on a long Suisham FG. Baltimore 10, Pittsburgh 9 Baltimore kneels out the half after the kickoff.
HALFTIME SHOW
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| Steelers fan Sofia Vergara (E!) |
Both secondaries are having their way in the first half. Antonio Brown isn't going nuts and I don't think Torrey Smith has even been targeted. Is he even playing? If the Steelers had any kind of handle on Daniels, they'd be shutting Baltimore out.
Baltimore has this game within their grasp, though, because they can control the ball on the ground and the Steelers can't. I'd encourage a run-first attack from them in the 2nd half. I'd encourage the same for the Steelers, if they had a running game. I don't know how they get one without Bell. Josh Harris has not exactly been the deadliest catch. They're going to have to trust Tate. They're also overdue to try Bryant deep.
THIRD QUARTER
Baltimore's first move after halftime is to go to Daniels, but Worilds breaks up the pass. Zuttah trips Flacco for the 2nd time tonight and they nearly blow a handoff, losing 4. 3rd-and-long, though, here's Torrey Smith finally, burning Antwon Blake for 16 on a slant. Blake runs over Smith on a long sideline route on an ensuing 3rd-and-2, and though the DPI flag is way late, it is earned. Tee the Ravens up at the PIT31. I may not predict any games right this postseason, but I at least got a halftime adjustment here. Big play for Pittsburgh next: Sean Spence dog-blitzes the A gap and twists Flacco down back at the 45 for a sack and dorky-looking fumble that Baltimore gets very lucky to recover. Flacco tried to cock his arm to throw and lost the ball off Zuttah's head. Zuttah at least recovered the loose ball. Steve Smith salvages a FG attempt with a crossing route down to the 27. No troubles for Tucker from there. Baltmore 13, Pittsburgh 9
Josh Harris keeps his Berings and weaves up the middle for 9 and a 1st down. Tate follows with 3 more; I think Pittsburgh's smart not to abandon the run here. Ben gets all night on 2nd down and goes deep for Bryant, but too much air under it again! It lets Webb catch up and the two tangle feet and Bryant goes to the ground. Absolutely correct no-call there. Ben gets all night to throw again on 3rd-down but it's off HEATH's surprisingly unreliable hands at midfield. Collinsworth has crowed about the Raven secondary all this half. Hey, try to keep up, buddy!
Steve Smith opens the next drive with a terrific deep catch down the near sideline, going up over McCain. 40 yards and Baltimore's immediately inside the PIT30. Should have been DPI there, too. Quick hitch to Smith for 5 more, then Kyle Juszczyk's wide open on a rollout for another 11. Flacco ends a scramble with an Austin Davis-quality slide at the 9. Pittsburgh bottles up a Forsett sweep and Lawrence Timmons drops him for a loss on 2nd down. Flacco scrambles back and forth out of trouble on 3rd down, though, and the Steelers leave Torrey Smith (yes, EVERY WR in the NFL is named either Smith or Brown) wide open in the back of the end zone. Baltimore 20, Pittsburgh 9 Steelers have been unable to get a stop here in the 3rd quarter and may have played their way out of the game.
After a completion to Wheaton and a couple of touches for Harris, Roethlisberger actually LOSES yardage on the worst QB sneak attempt I have ever seen. Fullback Will Johnson does plow across to convert on 4th-and-1 out to the 45. Another handoff to Harris for 2, and we're starting to hear a lot of impatient Steeler fans in the stands. Ben goes deep for Brown but it's way out of bounds and he's blanketed by... Darian Stewart? On 3rd-and-8, Elvis Dumervil - um, Todd Haley, you may want to BLOCK HIM - comes in untouched and drops Ben for a big loss. The quarter's over and so probably is Pittsburgh's season.
FOURTH QUARTER
Time for Hurst and Kelechi Osemele to shine, and look what happens when a team that can run successfully to the left keeps doing it and doesn't waste snaps running into the teeth of the defense! Forsett for 8, setting up a pass to Steve Smith out across the 40. McCain BLOWS a deep interception on 2nd-and-8 when a Polamalu blitz hurries Flacco into a dumb throw. Polamalu and Vince Williams then stop Forsett barely short of the 1st down on a dumpoff at midfield. Baltimore goes for it on 4th-and-6-inches and Flacco sneaks it across behind Yanda and John Urschel with relative ease.
The gamble doesn't pay off, though. Next play, Forsett runs into his own man Daniels in the backfield and loses the ball. Stephon Tuitt recovers for Pittsburgh. The fumble's really created by Harrison creating a great edge against Daniels.
Steeler ball at midfield. AND THERE'S OUR DEEP BALL. Roethlisberger immediately goes deep for Brown, who gets great separation in zone coverage and makes the 45-yard catch between three Ravens at the goal line for the TD.
Or, no, Blakeman reviews and re-spots the ball inside the 1. NBC shows that's a correct ruling, so no problem. Except for Pittsburgh when David DeCastro false starts. Ben was bootlegging there and would have had it. The next play is a fade route to Bryant for the TD anyway, with Webb going off on the officials afterward looking for a pushoff call. Both teams have gotten away with stuff tonight that should have been personal fouls. Matt Elam picks Roethlisberger off on the 2-pointer. That's a big play but Pittsburgh is back in it. Baltimore 20, Pittsburgh 15
11:00 left. Shamarko Thomas stupidly goes all Alec Ogletree on Jacoby Jones on the kick return and sets Baltimore up at the 37. Flacco is THROWING and grounds one into a crowd of Steelers downfield. Vince Williams blows up Osemele and drops Forsett for a loss. Pittsburgh has taken a big swig of momentum juice. On 3rd-and-13, though, IT'S OWEN F. DANIELS AGAIN, burning Mike Mitchell on a crossing route for 23. Clutch D there, Pittsburgh. They call a bomb for Torrey Smith on 3rd-and-1? He nearly catches it in the back of the end zone but they settle for a Tucker bomb from 51. Baltimore 23, Pittsburgh 15
The next possession is just a disaster for Pittsburgh. On 3rd-and-4, the Ravens blitz out of a 3-man stack over LT, DARIAN STEWART nearly sacks Ben and rushes him into a bad dumpoff throw for Tate. It's too high, off his hands and picked off by Suggs. Start the bus, Mike Tomlin.
Hee, Suggs ended up trapping that ball between his knees to secure the catch. One play later, Flacco squeezes the last of the ketchup out of Heinz Field with a rollout pass to Gillmore for a 21-yard TD. Baltimore 30, Pittsburgh 15
Steelers in hurry-up mode. It's slowed down by holding on Brown and an injury to Gilbert, but Ben hits Wheaton at the 40, Brown for another 20, then scrambles down inside the BLT25. He finishes with another Austin Davis-quality slide. They lose a TD pass to Archer on another hold. The home team has 104 penalty yards tonight, the road team 14. Courtney Upshaw then whips Mike Adams, who'd come in to replace Gilbert, and now Roethlisberger's down, hitting his head on the ground pretty good. That sends in, of all people, BRUCE GRADKOWSKI, while Ben counts fingers on the sideline. But Gradkowski finds HEATH wide open over the middle for 18 inside the 20. HEATH got a whack in the helmet and had to leave the game, too. 4th-and-3, Gradkowski hits Brown over the middle at the 14 for the 1st. Stand by your phone, Frank Reich. Gradkowski puts one up into the end zone for Bryant between a double-team, but he knocked it off his own helmet trying to pull it down. Ben returns the next play, but throws much too soft a pass into a double-team of Brown, and it's picked off by... DARIAN STEWART! Maybe Pittsburgh should have stuck with Gradkowski.
Ravens ball, 2:57 left. Pittsburgh stops them on 3 carries and forces a punt at the 2:00 warning.
Ooh! A little excitement! A Scott Wells-quality snap to punter Sam Koch gives Thomas time to come in and block the punt. Just Pittsburgh's luck tonight, though, it bounces out the back of the end zone for a safety. More special teams brilliance this postseason from Baltimore.
More importantly, I GOT THE OVER/UNDER RIGHT thanks to that safety!!!!!!!
Baltimore 30, Pittsburgh 17
We get a sideline shot of Ravens secondary coach STEVE SPAGNUOLO, along with Collinsworth telling us what a great job he's done coaching up their DBs. You know who'd look great on the 49ers' sideline next season replacing Jim Harbaugh?
And it's old Spagnuolo hand DARIAN STEWART sticking the final fork in Pittsburgh. Daryl Smith strips HEATH on a 4th-down dumpoff and Stewart pounces on the loose ball.
Final score: Baltimore 30, Pittsburgh 17
POSTGAME SHOW
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| ESPN.com |
That idiocy aside, while Dumervil had two sacks and Suggs was similarly dominant, there's really only one person RamView can pick as POTG. He had an INT, a pass pressure that created another, a fumble recovery, a pass defense (see picture) that saved a TD... none other than Darian Stewart!
I'm rooting for Baltimore next week - I'd root for ISIS against the New England Patriots - but unlike the Steelers, the Patriot offense isn't missing a vital star player. Their secondary should do a better job of taking Flacco's targets away than the Steelers did. But Baltimore has had playoff success there in the past, and Patriots LT Nate Solder has played like a lightweight lately and could be a sieve next Saturday night. Think I'll like Baltimore and the points even not knowing how many they'll get.
Like Arizona, Pittsburgh looks more than set for a deep run next season after getting stopped by key injuries this year. They'll be smart to get a serious veteran RB in free agency who can back up Bell. With players as old as Harrison and Polamalu getting significant snaps on their D, I'm thinking those are positions to upgrade in the draft.
On to Sunday's games, and bad news, Colts fans, I'm changing one of my picks for tomorrow...
-$-
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