T.J. Watt sack seals one-point win over Ravens for AFC North title

by Christina "Tina" Rivers (3Rivers_Writer) on December 11, 2017

Welcome to “Quick Yinzing”, a fast reaction article where a member of the SCU staff gives their initial post-game impressions without digging into any films, stats, or other analysis. It’s as real as that car ride home or sobering down at the bar following the game!

If you’re a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, you probably feel like you need to down about 3 bottles of antacids and need a new Terrible Towel because you chewed it to shred as the Baltimore Ravens pushed the entire sixty minutes. In a game that the team dedicated to injured Ryan Shazier, on a night the hashtag #Shalieve became a top trend on social media, the Steelers came back from a flat performance in the second half for a one-point win thanks to a sack of Joe Flacco by rookie linebacker T.J. Watt and the ball rolling out of bounds as time expired.

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The Steelers kicked off after winning the toss and the Ravens looked like they were going to have an easy time driving down the field. Sean Davis, who had several mental breakdowns in the game, grabbed an interception early that flipped the field and got Ben Roethlisberger into the game. The Steelers marched down the field with a combination of rushing from Le’Veon Bell, catches by tight end Jesse James and then scored on a pass to Bell. Bell would go on to get three touchdowns in the game.

Antonio Brown had several nice catches in the game, especially when picking on Ravens corner Brandon Carr. His big-play ability kept things moving when the offense sputtered, especially in the second half. He had help getting open when James, Vance McDonald, Martavis Bryant and Eli Rogers got involved as well in the offense.

The Ravens kept coming back, however, as the Steelers defense was slashed by the running of Alex Collins. There was a concern entering the game that the Ravens would be able to get the run game going strong without Shazier in the lineup. At one point, head coach Mike Tomlin pulled the defense together and gave them a dressing down on the sideline about not tackling better. The defense would rally only to see both Davis and Artie Burns make sophomore mistakes due to frustration (and drawing subsequent penalties).

Cam Heyward was an emotional leader on and off the field, keeping the energy alive even on the sideline to get his teammates to step up and play aggressively.

Kudos the the Steelers’ offensive line – especially Chris Hubbard who worked his rear end off in the first half – for keeping ‘Big Ben’ relatively clean and allowing Bell to get nice yardage on the ground. They were pivotal in keeping Terrell Suggs and the Ravens defense from being able to completely dictate the pace of the game based on their consistent rush.

https://twitter.com/steelers/status/940042561275576320

Give fullback Roosevelt Nix a pat on the back for a fantastic end zone catch for a touchdown as he bounced on the chest of Tony Jefferson (a guy Bell trucked and ran over several times during the game).

As pretty as a Rosie.@Dat_Dude_Nix making things happen.#ProBowlVote pic.twitter.com/urdv5bnCz8

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) December 11, 2017

Once again, placekicker Chris Boswell was clutch for the Steelers. He didn’t have to win the game for the team this week, however. Instead, T.J. Watt made a last second sack as Flacco rolled to his left – grabbing the veteran quarterback from behind and forcing him to fumble the ball forward and out of bounds. The game clock ticked and the Steelers came away with a Heinz Field win and earned AFC North divisional champion status.

GO HEAD AND END IT THEN @_TJWatt !!!!!!!!!!!!

— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 11, 2017

Roethlisberger really deserves a game ball for sticking in there and being able to take a hit or two to keep the offense focused even when they were forced to punt the ball back to Baltimore several times in the second half.

Overall, tonight’s game was an ugly one that really exposed how poor the Steelers’ run defense is against rushers that can break things outside like Collins and Javorius Allen was able to. It’s something that the team will need to address as they finally get permission to look ahead to the New England Patriots next weekend.

Ben Roethlisberger (506 pass yards) now has 3 games over 500+ pass yards in his career, the most by any quarterback in the Super Bowl era#BALvsPIT

— NFL Research (@NFLPlus) December 11, 2017