Steelers notebook: Third consecutive loss to Ravens hurts for Brown

Baltimore Ravens defeated Pittsburgh Steelers 20-17.

The Steelers (9-6) are just 3-4 away from Heinz Field, including a surprising loss at Baltimore last Sunday.

Brown said his teammates need to remember what happened the past two years and develop more intensity, if not dislike, for the Ravens. For the game, the Steelers rushed for 110 yards on 20 carries, but that one missed opportunity on fourth down could haunt them over the offseason if they fail to make the playoffs.

But those are things we thought might be an issue at times going into this season. “It’s Pittsburgh. So records, scoring, it doesn’t matter how good they were playing coming in”.

Smith limited the unsafe receiver Antonio Brown to 61 yards, part of a strong defensive effort that gave Baltimore its first season sweep of its AFC North rivals since 2011.

However, fans do need to understand that this is a typical case of a team overlooking a divisional opponent who wants nothing more than to ruin your playoff chances.

Ryan Mallet threw for a career-high 274 yards in his first start with Baltimore and led the Ravens to a 20-17 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in one of the biggest upsets of this contentious rivalry. The Steelers were in the driver’s seat until a seemingly outmatched Ravens team stunned them last week in Baltimore with Ryan Mallett starting at quarterback.

And when the Steelers did get them backed up a couple of times, Tomlin noted that they allowed them out of those situations, including giving up a long pass down the sideline on second-and-23, one of the few deep passes Mallett attempted. “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”. At 1 p.m. kickoffs Sunday, the Steelers will play in Cleveland and the New York Jets will play Buffalo in Orchard Park, N.Y. Additionally, the usual veterans will get their rest as typical of this time of year. “The turnovers hurt us today”. “We just didn’t take care of business”.

“When you get people behind the chains, we have to work hard to keep them behind the chains”, Tomlin said Tuesday during his weekly news conference.

Baltimore, which came in with a minus-15 turnover differential, had two takeaways and did not commit a turnover. But Baltimore’s Courtney Upshaw lined up offside on the play, negating the TD, and Williams scored his second touchdown with 6:33 left.

The Ravens may not have technically deserved an A for their defenses performance, but if you hold the Steelers to 17 points with the talent they have on the field, anything less than an A is unfair. Ben Roethlisberger completed 24 of 34 passes for 215 yards with two interceptions.

The Dolphins (5-10) had a first-and-goal at the 5 with 40 seconds left, but after three consecutive incompletions, rookie center Jamil Douglas appeared to snap the ball prematurely, and Ryan Tannehill was sacked by three Colts (7-8). Smith got called for two costly pass interference penalties.

Later in the quarter, the Ravens put together a 13-play drive that concluded with a punt. “We controlled our destiny, but we gave the ball away and we can’t do that”.

Roethlisberger went 7 for 12 for 66 yards and an interception in the first half, a 38.9 quarterback rating.

The Cowboys (4-11) lost in quarterback Kellen Moore’s first career start. He threw for just 215 yards, did not throw a touchdown and was intercepted twice.