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Ravens Beat Steelers, Head to New England for Divisional Round Showdown

The Baltimore Ravens went into Pittsburgh and laid the hammer down on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the final wild card game of Saturday’s action.

Completely outplaying his AFC North counterpart, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco completed 18-of-29 passes for 259 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions in a mistake-free performance. Defensively, Baltimore got to Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for five sacks and intercepted him twice in a performance that brought back some memories of the Ray Lewis and Ed Reed-led defenses of yesteryear.

It was downright domination from the opening kickoff, as Baltimore forced three total turnovers and held the Steelers to 5-of-16 on third-down conversions. At one point late in the game, both Roethlisberger and former Pro Bowl tight end Heath Miller were forced to the sideline under NFL’s concussion protocol on consecutive plays.

This type of dominating performance in a 30-17 victory over Pittsburgh will definitely have the New England Patriots on edge in practice leading up to their home outing against Baltimore next Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium.

For Pittsburgh, the team was already under the proverbial eight-ball with Le’Veon Bell out of the lineup after he suffered an injury in Week 17. Without the All-Pro running back, Roethlisberger was forced to drop-back to pass 50 times. All said, Pittsburgh averaged just 3.6 yards on 19 attempts.

This game marks Flacco’s first win at Heinz Field in three career postseason outings. It also reminded us of his performances during the team’s Super Bowl run two years ago.

Photo: USA Today

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