Leave aside for a moment the varied and increasingly urgent implications for their eventual football fates in this borderline crazy NFL season, because instead we’ll need a hot minute to celebrate the enduring hypercompetitive ecstasy that is Steelers-Ravens.
In still another 60 minutes of abject traditional bedlam Sunday by the three rivers, the crown jewel that is the Pittsburgh-Baltimore rivalry shone again to its full luster.
When it ended with the game’s final pass slithering mischievously from the grasp of Ravens tight end Mark Andrews as he was ready to convert a two-point conversion attempt that would give Baltimore the victory, a Steelers team just a week removed from being routed and subsequently ravaged by its own alumni as an embarrassment and a lost cause had itself a 20-19 win that seemed to resuscitate its coach, its quarterback and even the historic franchise itself.
“I’m appreciative of the atmosphere that Steelers nation provided and working in the comforts of Heinz Field. I’m appreciative of the Ravens, man. It takes two to tango, and they bring the best out of us,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said in the moments after his team’s first win since Nov. 8. “Those games are always like that. I don’t think anybody that’s looked at them over the past 15 years or so is surprised by what transpired.
“Whether we like it or not, I’m talkin’ about us and the Ravens, we’re tied together. There’s been some significant games. It’s about the men that have played in these games, the standard that they hold the current players to. Hopefully, we made those Steeler alumni proud with our effort.”
The Steelers looked perfectly willing to go full Ravens alert from the opening whistle, but their skittish offense simply would not stay on the field. At halftime, Baltimore had more than 23 minutes of possession time, Pittsburgh barely six, yet the Ravens’ lead was a scant 7-3.
Ben Roethlisberger did not convert a third-down opportunity until well after dark, or about 24 hours after ESPN reported that the 39-year-old quarterback had been telling people this was his final season. That story included no quotes from the people he allegedly told, who probably would have responded, “Yes, we know,” or “Yes, we figured as much.”
But as non-stories go, it appeared to inspire Roethlisberger’s second half, in which he engineered a 17-point fourth quarter that catapulted Pittsburgh into a 20-13 lead with 1:48 to play, the 39th fourth-quarter comeback of his Hall of Fame career. The capstone 69-yard drive was set up by one of the defense’s seven sacks of Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. On that one, the virtually unstoppable T.J. Watt threw aside Ravens tackle Tyre Phillips like a ragdoll — OK, a 344-pound ragdoll — and floored the mercurial Jackson.
Asked how the whole presentation felt afterward, Watt said, “absolutely exhausting is how it felt. I was actually out of breath toward the end there, but I was really happy with the way we played with our backs all the way up against the wall all day.”
Watt hadn’t practiced all week in compliance with the league’s COVID-19 protocols, although he reported only minor symptoms. In the end, nothing kept No. 90 from flowing to six tackles, half the team’s seven sacks, three other tackles in the Baltimore backfield, and six hits on the beleaguered Jackson, whose brilliance always seems to get subdued against the Steelers.
They pressured him all day, they intercepted him, they sacked him seven times, but he was upright and firing confidently as the Ravens raced downfield in the final minute. He threw a 19-yard strike to Devin Duvernay that pushed the ball to the Pittsburgh 24 with 45 seconds left, then hit Sammy Watkins at the 11. With 12 seconds on the clock, Jackson found Watkins again in the Steelers end zone. The Ravens trailed by a point, 20-19.
Alarmed at the attrition of his battered pass defenders, Ravens coach John Harbaugh called for a two-point try, eschewing a virtually automatic extra point kick and a fraught overtime.
“I was a little surprised,” said defensive end Cam Heyward, starting to laugh, “because I ran off the field. We called a timeout, bought me a couple extra seconds.
“At first, I thought [Andrews] scored, cause he like had it in his hands, but he dropped it. One or two plays that go your way, that’s the difference. Our guys just kept fighting.
“Was it pretty? No.”
No indeed, it was beautiful.
It was everything that a desperate episode between the two franchises that have won 15 of the 19 division championships in the history of the AFC North ought to be.
And it’ll happen again Jan. 9 by the Inner Harbor, probably with even greater consequence. Guessing it’ll be epic.
Gene Collier: gcollier@post-gazette.com and Twitter: @genecollier.
First Published: December 6, 2021, 1:00 p.m.
Updated: December 6, 2021, 1:07 p.m.
