PITTSBURGH — The Steelers were so close to being 4-0 without Ben Roethlisberger.
Only close doesn’t count in the Ravens-Steelers rivalry, where every game is tight and no lead is truly safe.
Joe Flacco withstood Pittsburgh’s late go-ahead touchdown and goal-line stand Sunday to throw an 18-yard scoring pass to T.J. Houshmandzadeh with 32 seconds remaining, and the Ravens won 17-14 to prevent the Steelers from going unbeaten without their suspended quarterback.
“You go and win it on the last drive, there’s no better way to win,” Flacco said. “There’s not too many better ways to win in Pittsburgh.”
A worst-case scenario for the Steelers, Roethlisberger’s four-game suspension, nearly became a perfect one.
Nearly.
The Steelers (3-1) took a 14-10 lead on Rashard Mendenhall’s 7-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. They appeared to seal it after Flacco twice threw incomplete from the Steelers’ 2-yard line with slightly less than three minutes remaining.
But a holding call on a punt gave Baltimore (3-1) the ball at Pittsburgh’s 40 with 55 seconds remaining. Flacco then found Anquan Boldin on two passes for 12 yards and Houshmandzadeh for 10.
Flacco, winning for the first time in four games in Pittsburgh, then froze the Steelers’ defense with a pump fake that freed up Houshmandzadeh in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
“Joe just chills,” an admiring Houshmandzadeh said. “Look at his face — he’s always calm.”
Now, instead of being two games down in the AFC North to Pittsburgh with Roethlisberger to go for the rest of the season, the Ravens are tied after winning at Heinz Field for only the second time in 11 games. Tight end Todd Heap called it “a huge win.”
“I think one of the reasons why we play so hard here is we hardly win here,” said Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata.
For the Steelers, it feels empty. Even without Roethlisberger and his two injured backups, Byron Leftwich and Dennis Dixon, they were within seconds of being 4-0 for the first time since 1979.
“We fought for perfection,” said Pittsburgh cornerback Bryant McFadden. “We tried to get as close to that as possible.”
