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Ravens beat Steelers in wild-card game

 
Published Jan. 4, 2015

PITTSBURGH — The rarely flustered Joe Flacco tossed two second-half touchdowns and the Ravens dominated the Steelers 30-17 Saturday night in an AFC wild-card game.

Flacco hit Torrey Smith for an 11-yard score in the third quarter and found Crockett Gillmore with a 21-yard scoring pass in the fourth, one play after linebacker Terrell Suggs picked off Ben Roethlisberger.

The Ravens won in Pittsburgh for the first time in the postseason.

Baltimore (11-6) sacked Roethlisberger five times and kept the NFL's second-ranked offense off-balance. Roethlisberger passed for 334 yards, but the Steelers (11-6) settled for field goals while the Ravens kept scoring touchdowns against their AFC North rival.

Baltimore heads to top-seeded New England next Saturday.

"We have a good team,'' Flacco said. "We didn't hurt ourselves. For the most part we played a clean football game.''

Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said of Flacco: "Best quarterback in football.''

The Ravens led 20-9 after the third quarter.

Flacco bought himself time in the pocket and barely eluded linebacker James Harrison before firing his touchdown strike to Smith in the back left corner of the end zone with 4:13 left in the third.

Clinging to a 10-9 lead at halftime, Baltimore, helped by a pass interference call against corner Antwon Blake, extended its lead on Justin Tucker's 45-yard field goal with 10:06 left in the third.

Playing without injured Pro Bowl running back Le'Veon Bell, the Steelers couldn't establish anything on the ground and Roethlisberger was forced to throw more than normal. The third quarter ended with him being sacked by linebacker Elvis Dumervil — a play that summed up Pittsburgh's frustration.

The Steelers had drives in the first half but couldn't score a touchdown and settled for field goals of 45, 22 and 47 yards by Shaun Suisham.

Bernard Pierce's 5-yard touchdown run and Tucker's 28-yard field goal gave the Ravens their halftime lead.

Pierce blasted into the end zone with 12:28 left in the second quarter, and the Ravens had three sacks to slow Pittsburgh drives.

The Ravens are in the playoffs for sixth time in seven years under Harbaugh. He was visited before the game by his brother Jim, who was hired by Michigan this past week after stepping down as 49ers coach.