In the fourth quarter last night, with a tenuous 23-15 lead and the playoff game hanging in the balance – a wild card playoff game the uneven Ravens barely squeaked into – defensive coordinator Dean Pees dialed up an exotic blitz.

Linebackers Terrell Suggs and C.J. Mosley and safety Darian Stewart lined up in a triangle formation on the left side of the line. Ben Roethlisberger snapped the ball and quickly spun away to escape Stewart’s kamikaze run at him.

Almost in the grasp of Mosley, he threw the ball towards his running back Ben Tate who tipped it into the air. The third head of the blitzing Cerberus, Suggs trapped the ball between his legs and pulled it into his arms as he rolled for a game-sealing interception.

It was vintage T. Sizzle. Only Suggs could make a crazy two-legged catch like that that matched his personality. And it was vintage Ravens, this digging deep and finding the grit and smarts needed to do something that the Super Bowl-winning team had never done – beat the rival Steelers in a playoff game.

Expect the Unexpected

The 30-17 win over the Steelers left Pittsburgh fans furious, but many Ravens fans wouldn’t have bet on it happening.

After solid mid-season success, the Ravens haven’t resembled a playoff-caliber team in the past month. They were soundly beaten in Houston two weeks ago and squeaked by the Cleveland Browns after being down in the 4th quarter last weekend.

In those games, their defensive secondary was suspect and their offense flat. They had limped into the playoffs because the Chiefs beat the Chargers. Many fans believed the playoffs would be a “one-and-done” affair. For some, a 10-6 playoff season wasn’t good enough.

But that was last year.

Last night, the Baltimore Ravens dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball with a ferocious intensity and played their best football of the season in the Steel City against their arch-enemies.

In their biggest victory since the 2012 Super Bowl season, they minimized their weaknesses, outplayed their greatest rivals and delivered a long awaited gift. After 19 seasons, they beat the Steelers in a playoff game.

“We put it all together for four quarters,” said wide receiver Steve Smith, Sr. after the game.

One-two Punch of Flacco and Suggs

But it wasn’t as easy as the final score suggests. That three-man blitz ending with Suggs’ between-the-legs interception was emblematic of a night where key plays were made when it counted.

On the next play, Joe Flacco hit tight end Crockett Gillmore for a touchdown to extend the lead, 30-15. Then the Ravens defense took over, delivering crushing hits that knocked both Roethlisberger and tight end Heath Miller out of the game temporarily.

It came down to the one-two punch of Suggs and Flacco, and the Steelers never recovered.

Joe Flacco looked relaxed and sharp all night, filling the Pennsylvania mountain air with surgical strikes to Torrey Smith, Owen Daniels and Smith, his line protecting to allow him to connect on multiple critical third down passes. He passed for two touchdowns and fit the ball into tight crevices all evening.

“Flacco had a perfect quarterback rating in the third quarter, said coach John Harbaugh. “That’s playoff football, that’s Joe Flacco.”

Criticized for his lackluster play at times during the season, Flacco just continues to pile up playoff victories. Flacco is 10-4 in the postseason, with seven road wins. He’s thrown 13 touchdowns without an interception in his last five playoff games.

Silencing Critics

The Ravens have dealt with adversity to make the playoffs for the 6th time in the last seven years. And it’s beginning to look a lot like two years ago when the Ravens also overcame a number of obstacles to win on the road and hoist the Lombardi trophy.

This season they faced a tsunami of negative criticism in the wake of the Ray Rice incident and his subsequent release. Tight end Dennis Pitta was lost for the season early, along with cornerback Jimmy Smith. Haloti Ngata was suspended four games for using a banned substance.

The Ravens thrive on being counted out and then silencing their critics. They are once again playing their best football at the right time.

“We are getting better each time we take the field,” Joe Flacco said. “We wanted to come in here and go for it. You gotta play these games to win. You have to let everything go. We’re fighting for one big prize.”

There’s nothing better than playoff football in Baltimore and the Ravens gave the city one more week of it in stunning fashion. The commute will be pleasant on Monday morning and purple will be in abundance next Friday.

Two years removed from a Super Bowl victory, the Ravens will advance to play New England in Foxborough on Saturday. Are we headed for another Super Bowl run? With the purple and black, anything is possible, and as we know, stranger things have happened.
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Keys Factors in Last Night’s Win

By The Brew staff

(Be sure to check out Dean Bartoli Smith’s pre-game analysis – 7 Keys to Beating Pittsburgh Tonight, on his blog, “Never Easy, Never Pretty.”)

• Gary Kubiak’s smart play calling confused Pittsburgh and builds up the score, placing pressure on Pittsburgh’s offense

• Flacco’s big throws and toughness kept the momentum going the Ravens’ way

• An offensive line patched with two rookies and two stars excelled. (Justin Forsett gets kudos for picking off blitzers)

• The defensive line and linebackers applied Dean Pees’ schemes and overpowered Pittsburgh’s line

• The much-maligned secondary gave up yards to the potent Steeler passing game, but kept them out of the endzone. (Credit Ozzie for picking Rashaan Melvin off a practice squad.)

• The Ravens stayed poised on the road, quieting the terrible towel crowd at Heinz Field. With this 10th road playoff victory, they tied the Green Bay Packers for the most in NFL history.