It was without a doubt the most important game of the season for both teams, with the winner having a solid chance of making the playoffs, and with the loser having to regroup and start looking at how to improve for next season. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 22-20 last week forcing the Steelers front office to start looking toward how to improve the team for next season, while the team will try to avoid its first losing season since 2003 when they went 6-10 under Bill Cower.
At 5-7 the team will have to win its remaining 4 games against the Miami Dolphins (6-6), Cincinnati Bengals (8-4), Green Bay Packers (5-6-1) and the Cleveland Browns (4-8). But a loss to any one of these teams will drop them into another 8-8 season, and two loses, well you know. I predict they will go 3-1 to finish with another 8-8 season. The Ravens will not catch up with the Bengals, nor will they make the playoffs. Their final four games are: Minnesota Vikings(3-8-1), Detroit Lions (7-5), New England Patriots (9-3), and the Bengals . If they win out they deserve to be in the playoffs, but they could very easily lose two of the four or even three of the four. They are favorites only over the Vikings. The Lions and Patriots are playing great ball right now and the Bengals should be super fired up to eliminate their arch rival. Cincinnati on the other hand has an easier schedule as they face the Indianapolis Colts(7-5), Steelers, Minnesota Vikings and the Ravens. This game could be huge if the Ravens win out and the Bengals drops one or two before the clash.
The Steelers Ravens game was as expected close and dominated by the two outstanding defensive units. Ben Roethlisberger had an average game going 28 of 44 for 257 yards and 2 touchdowns. While Flacco did pretty much the same going 24 of 35 for 251 yards and 1 touchdown. The running games were pretty much held in check with Le’Veon Bell picking up 73 yards on 16 carries while Ray Rice and Bernard Pierce combined for only 67 yards on 21 carries.
While Ben stayed with the short and midrange passes Flacco aired it out several times. Torrey Smith had 6 catches for 92 yards and Jacoby Jones 4 for 53. On the Steelers side once again Antonio Brown started off hot but for some reason Ben stopped calling his number in favor of Emmanuel Sanders, 6 for 43, Bell, 7 for 63; and Heith Miller, 8 for 88 yards. All very talented but not Brown who finished with only 5 catches for 59 yards. He’s a game breaker, but only if the ball is thrown his way. Brown has 85 catches for 1103 yards on the year.
