The Steelers had more opportunities to win Thursday night that one could count, but in the end couldn’t finish in their first game without Ben Roethlisberger, and suffered one of their toughest losses in recent memory, losing to the Ravens in overtime 23-20.
Ravens kicker Justin Tucker hit a 52-yard field goal with 5:08 to play in overtime to give Baltimore their first win of the season against three losses.
The Steelers loss drops them to 2-2 on the season.
Pittsburgh very well may be looking for a new kicker following the loss, as once again Josh Scobee was awful, missing a pair of field goals from 49 and 41 yards.
The second field goal would have given the Steelers a 23-17 lead with with about a minute to play, and would have forced the Ravens to go for a touchdown instead of just needing a field goal.
Instead after the second miss the Ravens were able to drive down the field to get Tucker in field goal range to hit a game-tying field goal to send the game in overtime.
In the OT, the Steelers clearly didn’t want to give Scobee another shot, as they went fort on two fourth downs, both of which were on the Baltimore side of the field.
The first fourth down was a fourth-and-two and Michael Vick was stuffed on an option play. The second fourth down was a fourth-and-one and Vick threw an awful pass looking for Antonio Brown which was basically out of reach for the Pro Bowl wide out.
Vick was average at best, going 19-for-26 for 124 yards with a touchdown. He also ran the ball 9 times for 33 yards.
The second guessing will start with why Le’Veon Bell, who ran for 122 yards on 29 carries, a 5.9 yards per carry rush, didn’t get a shot on the 4th-and-1 in overtime to run the ball.
Bell had a 22-yard run to start the drive and set the Steelers up with what could have been the winning score. Instead they turned the ball over four plays later, and Flacco was able to drive the Ravens down for the winning field goal.
Justin Forsett ran for 150 yards on 27 carries for Baltimore. Flacco was 20-for-33 for 189 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
The Steelers offense put up just 263 yards, but built a 20-7 lead after Vick hit Darrius Heyward-Bey with a 9-yard touchdown five minutes into the third quarter after a Flacco fumble.
Flacco and the Ravens responded right away, driving down the field and the QB hit Kamar Aiken with a 15-yard touchdown to make it a 20-14 game.
The Steelers special teams held on a fake field goal, and also held on a pair of fourth downs, but were unable to stop the Ravens when it mattered the most.
A week from Monday the Steelers will go on the road to play the Chargers in San Diego.
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Austin
October 2, 2015 at 12:55 am
Okay, so here’s what NOONE else sees about our “beloved” head coach. I have never seen a situation where the sport of football hand wrapped and gifted a team more opportunities to win a game than the Steelers had opportunities tonight, but was thwarted by the inexplicable decision making of their head coach. Not the ravens, not the D (yes, our d-line depth or lack thereof, showed through on two drives after successive touchdowns on our part where the likes of Cam Thomas and rookie, Walton couldn’t stop the run—but that ain’t the reason we lost), not Vick, not Haley whose play calling has been somewhat questionable so far this year, not the offensive line (which, can someone please explain to me why we have a top three elite quarterback in Big Ben and his blind side is currently protected by a very weak seventh round draft pick left tackle and a very non athletic underrated left guard—-the fact that we had to babysit Beachum and Foster and, okay, Wallace to a degree, is the reason a blitz lane opened up thus injuring Ben), Not even our placekicker who is, by the way, highly culpable for this loss. Nope, any rational Steelers fan or observant fan of football in general would look at this game and rightfully and accurately opine that the head coach is responsiblele for this loss. Pundits and Tomlin apologists will point to Ben’s absence, Scobbe’s missed kicks (who, by the way, should be clearing out his locker right now), run defense breakdowns….Why won’t anyone of the brainwashed by the agenda setting media Steelers fanbase put this loss (and sooooo many others) rightfully on Tomlin. This coach has now succeeded in garnering a near .500 playoff winning percentage, poor clock management skills and the opposite of Belichickean situational football decision making. I think its time we as Steelers nation realized that the team will go nowhere with this guy running the show. If it weren’t for the players who do play hard for him, I think he would be out of a job in Pittsburgh. If that ever happens where the players quit on him, he will be fired. Tomlin is the new teflon don where no blame sticks to him and he has become the recipient of an organizational politic and the organization has become the victim of its own political protocol. He will spin this, in an attempt to save his own hyde, on Scobee. Now, I’m not banging any drum to keep Scobbee and, as mentioned before, feel and hope he is presently clearing out his locker, but, Tomlin had five or so opportunities to ice this game and did the following: decided to send out a very questionable kicker into a wind at the OPEN END of Heinz field where kickers perform dismally at best FOR A 49 YARDER!!!!!!!! INTO THE OPEN END OF HENIZ FIELD?!?!?!?; Then the defense plays great and gets him the ball back and he tries another one into the same end, they then rely on a rookie receiver with questionable hands to convert a third down, they never even think to flex Bell out of the backfield and mismatch him on a linebacker, they go for another third down play up the middle to melt clock when they could’ve done something creative, they go for it with Vick instead of giving the kicker a chance to redeem himself. Tell me this, what other coach with Bell and Williams cannot ice a game when you have two chances to get two yards?!?? The answer there is none! NO OTHER COACH WOULD HAVE ROYALLY F-CKED UP WHEN THE RAVENS WERE BEGGING TO BE 0-4!!!!! This isn’t just arm chair, Monday morning, banter. These are viable concerns that, as I’m sitting there watching, I am disagreeing with before they even happen just like MOST fans probably were! So why does this dude, get paid to screw up and suck at decision making like he does?!?! This game was in the bag and trust me, he will spin it as, “NO Ben, Kicker messed up,” maybe he takes some of the blame…BUT HOW COULD HE NOT!?! Like I said, I’ve never seen a game that was SO WELL in hand where all the head coach had to do was make an easy decision to pooch the ball and make Baltimore go like the length of the field for a tying field goal…WHAT, didn’t tomlin trust his D?!?! They were playing well!!!! They woulda stopped Flacco and indeed they did with a much shorter field after the missed ridiculous 49 yard attempt. This is not armchair quarterback, this is most people who have an iota about football can out coach Tomlin. He has gotten to the point where opposing coaches are now at an advantage when facing him in terms of the propensity to out coach the guy! But he’ll get yet another get out of jail free card because he’s black, (oops, I’ve just played the race card which now totally invalidates anything I have to say) or the players like him or whatever the reason it’s in material. The fact is, the dude can’t coach…He can get players to like him, but he can’t coach! The millisecond they (players) stop liking him is the moment his luck has run out! I almost wish that would happen NOW…Would much rather see Steelers pursue a real coach like Urban Meyer or or bring the asshole Jim Harbaugh in (yea, I know he at Michigan), or even the popcorn vending guy! Hell, even he woulda pooched it and relied on a stellar defensive performance. Shame that this guy is single-handedly turning this organization into one of mediocrity. Its hard, as well it should be, to get behind this team with him as our head coach. Tomlin, please, in the name of integrity and footballers everywhere, please step down! This is big boy football, the Pittsburgh Steelers! It not high school where your seeming commensurate level of football acumen lies!
Austin
October 2, 2015 at 12:56 am
*Undrafted instead of underrated for Ramon Foster.