Ravens, Mallett shock Steelers 20-17

Allen ran for 79 yards, added 35 yards receiving and scored his first career touchdown.

Mallett threw for a career-high 274 yards and the Ravens shocked the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 20-17 victory on Sunday. The host Ravens swept the season series against their division rivals. “It’s an emotional time, but it’s been fun”.

Matthews caught an 8-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone from Ryan Mallett, who was making his first start in place of injured Joe Flacco.

“It’s a great win, it really is”, Head Coach John Harbaugh said.

On the season, the Baltimore Ravens average 265.5 yards in passing and 92.7 yards in rushing. To that point, Williams had carried the ball three times for 46 yards and former Raven Fitzgerald Toussaint had two carries for six yards. Make the move, grab the BIGGEST play of week-16, Scott’s 5% NFL MISMATCH GAME OF THE MONTH! Instead, it allowed the Steelers to score two plays later to cut it to three with 6:33 left. The only good thing going for them is they’re playing at home.

The Steelers now own the sixth seed in the AFC but with the Jets and Chiefs also in the mix, Pittsburgh needs a win badly today against the Ravens at 1:00PM ET.

“They were completing shorter passes and got onto a good rhythm, and we didn’t get off the field when we needed to”, Steelers defensive end Cameron Heyward said.

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed 23 of 33 passes for 272 yards and two interceptions.

DeAngelo Williams ran for 100 yards and had six catches for 53 yards. “The turnovers hurt us today”.

Even though both Ben Roethlisberger and Ryan Mallett were wearing No. 7 jerseys, Mallett looked every bit the poised veteran that Roethlisberger has been throughout this season. Mallett did stretch the field a bit for his best ball of the day: a 39-yard dart between defenders to Chris Givens, setting up a critical late touchdown.

Up 20-10 with just over seven minutes left, the Ravens appeared to clinch the game when Jimmy Smith ran 101 yards with an interception for a touchdown.

“Obviously, each quarterback brings a little something different to the table, in terms of individual skill sets”, coach Mike Tomlin said. “We didn’t secure the ball, we didn’t get the ball”.

After Sunday’s loss, Pittsburgh (9-6) no longer controls its destiny with the Jets (10-5) one game ahead and in position for the final wild-card spot.

The Ravens got some early confidence when they stopped Williams on a 4th and 1 on the opening possession. The first giveaway by Tennessee (3-12) came less than two minutes into the game, a fumble that Quintin Demps returned 33 yards for a touchdown. Antonio Brown had a quiet game, after an early touchdown was negated by replay because the National Football League clearly doesn’t know what is or isn’t a catch.

The ramifications of this loss loom large as Week 17 approaches, which is the harsh reality for a team that many had pegged as a strong contender to run the AFC postseason table. It’s us as a whole.

Despite the Ravens’ record, the game being flexed out of primetime television, and there being so many new faces on Baltimore’s side, it still had the same physical feel of any other Ravens-Steelers clash. Alex Smith threw two TD passes. He did not have a carry….

With the season a lost cause, the Ravens felt it was the right time to go with Mallett, their fourth starting quarterback within a single season, a franchise first.