Steelers in danger of joining Ravens on outside for playoffs

There were some upset people in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ locker room following the team’s stunning loss to the Baltimore Ravens.

The Steelers will make the playoffs if they beat Cleveland and the New York Jets lose to the Bills in Buffalo.

He helped the Baltimore Ravens to a 20-17 win over the Steelers, and the New York Jets are likely forever thankful as it means they are likely to earn a spot in the playoffs now.

“The scoreboard is going to be in the stadium so I think everybody is going to be looking at the scoreboard towards the end of the game”, Shazier said, “but we’ve got to handle our business first”.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak for Baltimore, and gave them a season sweep over their rivals for the first time in five years, and ended a three-game win streak for the Steelers. “We just didn’t have the ball that much early and when we did have it, we didn’t take advantage”.

If Denver falls to Cincinnati on Monday night, and then to the 4-11 Chargers in Week 17, the Chiefs would move up from the fifth-seed and win the AFC West. This would bump the Broncos all the way out of the playoffs because they would have the same record as the Steelers (10-6, assuming the Steelers win), and the Steelers would own the head-to-head from their Week 15 victory over the Broncos. The Ravens started their fourth quarterback of the season in Ryan Mallett in last week’s win against Pittsburgh.

The Steelers decision to go on fourth-and-1 at the Ravens 25 on the first possession of the game backfired when DeAngelo Williams was stopped for no gain.

The catalyst behind Pittsburgh’s lackluster performance was QB Ben Roethlisberger, who threw two interceptions, and was bailed out of a third-game clinching pick-six after Ravens OLB Courtney Upshaw was ruled offsides.

Seven days after he was benched following his second lost fumble in as many weeks, rookie running back Buck Allen had 114 yards of offense, took care of the ball on his 23 touches and scored the game’s decisive points on a three-yard TD run with 10 minutes 35 seconds left in the game. On fourth-and-15 at the Pittsburgh 37, a pass from Roethlisberger to Markus Wheaton fell incomplete following the two-minute warning. Carson Palmer threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns for Arizona (13-2).

The Falcons (8-7) spoiled the Panthers’ bid for a flawless season only two weeks after being humbled in a 38-0 loss at Carolina.

The Steelers had scored 30 or more points in six consecutive games, but that obviously went by the wayside in this one. Just over 2 months ago, we were wondering if Ryan Mallett would ever see the field again.

The Cincinnati Bengals have won the 2015 AFC North crown. Place-kicker Chris Boswell continued his stellar season, making his only field-goal attempt. The Packers (10-5) gave up nine sacks in all. Several times, Baltimore would appear to back itself up with a penalty only to wriggle loose by turning a second-and-long into third-and-short and ultimately a first down. 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.

“We’re not a group that lacks confidence”, Tomlin said Tuesday. The former Panther had 100 yards on 17 carries and two touchdowns.

Colts 18, Dolphins 12 – Visiting Indianapolis made a last-minute defensive stand, and the Colts (7-8) kept alive their faint postseason hopes. Moore went 13 of 31 for 186 yards with an interception. Both teams are 6-9. That cost them later in the game when Baltimore ran down the clock with a three-point lead.