Ravens stun Steelers, 20-17, behind Ryan Mallett, solid defense

While it may seem inappropriate to mention after what occurred Sunday afternoon in Baltimore, the Steelers still have a chance to make the playoffs.

Safety Mike Mitchell also left the game after aggravating a shoulder injury sustained early this season. After three consecutive incompletions, Jamil Douglas appeared to snap the ball prematurely and Ryan Tannehill was sacked by three Colts.

The Chiefs, who improved to 10-5 on Sunday, after winning a much more demanding 17-13 tussle than they might have been expecting from the Cleveland Browns, can still overtake (10-4) Denver for the top spot in the division.

Now they need help – Ryan and the Buffalo Bills to beat the New York Jets – to get in, and if history is any indicator, assistance isn’t something on which the Steelers can count. It’s not far-fetched at all. Their attention can’t be divided between what’s going on in their game and the Bill-Jets game in Buffalo. Pittsburgh saw its grasp on a playoff berth vanish in a loss to Baltimore on Sunday. Plus, there is the Rex Ryan factor.

As Yogi Berra said, it ain’t over till it’s over.

“I feel that if we get in that we are a unsafe football team”, Roethlisberger said on his weekly segment on 93.7 FM.

“It makes this season because obviously we can’t go to the playoffs”, Smith said.

“I think we ran out of time”, Tomlin said. But I also thought there were some critical instances where we had them in second-and-long situations where we played poorly. Now, they’re on the outside looking in and Roethlisberger talked about how he believes they will still be a risky team if things fall their way this week and they get into the postseason. Their performance in Baltimore, considering all the circumstances, was among their worst.

Not one person would have lifted an eyebrow if Brees had taken this week and next off to keep the injury from getting more serious.

Brown said his teammates need to remember what happened the past two years and develop more intensity, if not dislike, for the Ravens.

“We didn’t handle the business in the stadium today, so we’re left to look around at other stadiums”, coach Mike Tomlin said.

They showed that to be the case again against Baltimore. Vincent Rey leads he Bengals in tackles with 93, Carlos Dunlap has 13.5 sacks, and Reggie Nelson has eight interceptions. There was no such excuse for that Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium.

With this being such a shocking and disappointing loss, Roethlisberger was asked if he or the team would be dwelling on the game or if they are singularly focused on their big matchup with the Browns in the season finale.

While an oasis likely awaits in Cleveland – where the Steelers are 12-4 since the Browns returned in 1999 – Pittsburgh will spend the playoffs (if the Steelers even make it) crisscrossing North America.

The Baltimore Ravens already put a dent in the Pittsburgh Steelers playoff chances by sweeping them this year. All with one of the best quarterbacks in the league at the helm. One week they have no touchdowns, the next week they score all the touchdowns, and then back to no touchdowns this week. If they do, it’s a whole new ballgame. “We just didn’t execute what we needed to execute”. “I didn’t even know James” name got into it until Monday…I asked him, “Is your name in this or something?’ and he kind of told me some stuff about like, yeah he doesn’t understand why or whatever, so I don’t know enough about it. All I can say is that I’ll back my guys, because that’s my brother”.