The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t look great on defense or offense on Sunday, but it was enough to hang on and defeat the Baltimore Ravens 28-24.
The Steelers are now 7-0 and the only undefeated team in the NFL. And the fact that they were able to beat the very tough Ravens with a less than stellar performance on both sides of the ball should be a scary proposition to the rest of the NFL moving forward.
Despite giving up 457 yards to the Ravens on defense and converting only three of nine third downs on offense and running for less than 50 yards, the Steelers showed resilience and made big plays when they were needed.
While the defense was porous at times and gave up more yards than usual, the squad made big plays time and time again, registering four takeaways against the reigning NFL MVP, Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson.
The Steelers were down 17-7 at the half, which seemed like an insurmountable lead based on how ineffective the Steelers offense looked in the first half of the game. However, the defense stepped up with an interception by linebacker Alex Highsmith that gave the Steelers a short field and led to a touchdown pass from Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to his tight end Eric Ebron, which brought the team back to life.
A rushing touchdown then gave them a 21-17 lead. However, the Ravens came back, with Jackson throwing a three-yard TD pass to Marquise Brown to regain the lead. But the Steelers answered right back, marching 80 yards down the field and finishing their game-winning drive with a touchdown pass to rookie sensation Chase Claypool that sealed the 28-24 victory.
