Ben Roethlisberger out of sorts as Steelers lose grip on AFC North
BALTIMORE — There is no need to remind Ben Roethlisberger of the blood-and-guts tradition present when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens play. He has absorbed enough battle scars over the years to know better than most.
Never mind that so many faces have changed. Ray Lewis, Hines Ward and other key participants are retired now. But much of the intensity they brought to the bitter AFC North rivalry remains.
No wonder Roethlisberger, who limped to the podium less than three weeks removed from arthroscopic knee surgery, seemed taken aback when someone asked whether he felt as good following the 21-14 setback as he did heading into the game.
“It’s a physical football game,” he said. “You never walk out of a Baltimore game feeling as good as you went in, but I still have a lot of adrenaline flowing. So we’ll see.”
Roethlisberger, who led the NFL with 16 TD passes when he suffered a torn meniscus in his left knee at Miami on Oct. 16, was undeniably rusty. The Steelers were being shut out and had just two first downs through three quarters as several of Roethlisberger’s throws didn’t come close to their intended targets. It would have been worse if Ravens defenders had hung on to should-have-been picks. And it didn’t help that Baltimore stuffed the daylight out of Le’Veon Bell and a Pittsburgh rushing game that finished with 36 yards, 2 yards per carry.
By the end, though, Roethlisberger seemed closer to himself. He passed for 210 of his 264 yards in the fourth quarter, when he extended several plays and sparked the rally that provided hope — if not for a miracle comeback, then surely for the rest of the season.
“Guys like that, you can only hold them down for so long,” said Ravens safety Eric Weddle.
Although the Steelers didn’t announce that Roethlisberger would start until roughly 90 minutes before kickoff, the Ravens knew he’d play, given circumstances that included the stakes of the game, the quarterback’s history as a fast healer and his presence in practice last week.
Some projections had him missing as much as six weeks.
“I know he was hurting out there,” Weddle said. “Not many guys would have been out there. We didn’t have any doubt he’d play. Should he have? I don’t know.”
Roethlisberger has missed at least one game due to injury in eight of his 13 NFL seasons, and his first games back haven’t always been pretty. Pittsburgh is now 2-6 in his return games. But he was in no mood for excuses after barely completing half his passes (23 of 45).
“I put it on myself,” he said. “I need to be better. I need to be more accurate.”
Said Bell: “I’m pretty sure he was going through some pain today. He fought through it.”
The same can be said of the AFC North race, which has flipped in a hurry. It is pure survival. The Steelers (4-4) will take a three-game losing streak into next weekend’s clash against the Dallas Cowboys. The Ravens (4-4) hadn’t won in more than a month, but in snapping a four-game winning streak are suddenly in first place. And the Cincinnati Bengals (3-4-1) are lurking.
“It’s crazy,” Ravens wideout Mike Wallace, who stung his former team with a 95-yard TD, told Paste BN Sports. “This just shows you how fast things can turn in the NFL.”
In a sense, the latest chapter of Ravens-Steelers — with the teams combining for 23 penalties and 19 punts — was a fitting snapshot. Baltimore has had every game this season come down to a margin of a single possession.
“That’s the Raven Way,” Weddle said.
It will continue to be tight, because the Ravens are far from convincing in their first-place slot. When coach John Harbaugh looks at the rushing output on Sunday (50 yards, 1.7 per rush) and sees improvement, he isn’t lying. In their previous game, before a bye, they had a franchise-record low 11 rushing yards against the Jets.
Then again, they are in a boat similar to Pittsburgh's in gutting it through from week to week and rolling with the punches.
While the Steelers got their quarterback back Sunday, the Ravens got back three huge pieces to their offense in wideout Steve Smith, all-pro guard Marshal Yanda and rookie left tackle Ronnie Stanley.
Smith, whose 2015 season ended with a torn Achilles, missed three games with an ankle injury. He was as feisty as usual, getting on track early with a 30-yard reception.
“Even though it may hurt on Wednesday, and it hurt a little less on Friday, when Sunday comes I know what the pain is like,” Smith told Paste BN Sports.
He can also attest that the pain feels better with winning.
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Follow NFL columnist Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell
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