BALTIMORE, Maryland December 27 - With the Ravens up by ten points against their arch-rivals and time starting to run out, Ben Roethlisberger drove his team to the Baltimore one-yard-line. It was first and goal. Roethlisberger threw into the endzone, but the receiver, All Pro Anthony Brown, saw the ball richochet off of his hands. Jimmy Smith picked it out of the air and took off down the sideline. No one caught him. No one even came close. It should have been game, set, match. But in keeping with this worst of seasons for the Ravens, an official said Courtney Upshaw had lined up in the neutral zone. The breath-taking play was called back. Two plays later, the Steelers scored even though Upshaw was held out in the open so obviously that the perpetrator had already started to walk ten yards back up the field. But remember, NFL officials do not call holding against teams the Ravens play - it has been eleven straight games since one was called - and no penalty was called. This TD, the one for the Steelers, counted. Now, the Ravens lead was cut to three.
To the credit of the Ravens offense, they sustained a time-consuming march into Steelers territory before stalling at the Pittsburgh 45. A Sam Koch punt put the ball at the Steeler 20 and now all the Steelers needed was a FG to send this one into OT. On the other side of the ball, a defense that had been torched two straight weeks looked anything but sure of themselves. Or did they? They had intercepted Roethlisberger tbree times counting the one that was called back. They had sacked him three other times and dumped him to the ground several other times. The maligned defensive backfield had kept All Pro speedster Anthony Brown in relative check. This time, the Ravens came up big because their defense came up big. The Steeler drive never got started. A few hapless plays later, Baltimore had, indeed, won the season series from Pittsburgh.
After the game, Buck Allen, the Ravens' rookie running back, who ground out 79 critical yards and his first NFL rushing TD against the Steelers' vaunted run defense, couldn't say enough about the Ravens' offensive line. All five of them are All Pros in my mind, he told a radio interviewer. It was like any other Raven v. Steelers game, Allen said, intense, mean, tough. And fun. John Harbaugh couldn't say enough about the crowd, which was loud just like all those other seasons when the Ravens were driving for the playoffs.
In a season of downers, Ryan Mallett was a huge upside story on this last Sunday in December. Appearing for the first time as a Raven, the five-year-pro outplayed his celebrated opponent, going 28 of 41 for 274 yards and a TD and one interception. Allen was surprised how sure of himself Mallett was in the huddle, and how confidently he played. He will also start the Ravens' season finale next week in Cincinatti. The Ravens improved to 5-10 while the Steelers dropped to 9-6. If the season ended today, the Steelers would not be in the playoffs.
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