BALTIMORE — The Pittsburgh Steelers roared from behind to remain the lone unbeaten team in the NFL, outlasting their scorned rivals to escape with a feel-good victory that solidified their grip on first place in the AFC North.
What better way to spend a rainy day in Baltimore?
Ben Roethlisberger threw two second-half touchdowns, and the Steelers beat error-prone Lamar Jackson and the Ravens 28-24 Sunday to match the best start in franchise history.
Pittsburgh (7-0) trailed by 10 points at halftime before rallying behind Roethlisberger, a crafty 38-year-old who missed most of last year with an elbow injury. After completing only four passes for 24 yards in the first half, Big Ben finished 21 for 32 for 182 yards.
He was much more happy with the result than his numbers.
“Nothing about this game was pretty from an offensive perspective until the end and we looked at the scoreboard,” Roethlisberger said.
Jackson threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles, miscues that helped Pittsburgh stay within striking distance until its offence finally got on track.
“The turnovers, I feel, is the reason we lost the game,” Jackson said. “I put that on me.”
Beyond losing ground in the division, Baltimore lost All-Pro left tackle Ronnie Stanley for the season with a severe ankle injury. The mishap occurred in the first quarter after he was accidentally undercut by Pittsburgh’s T.J. Watt.
“That’s a tough loss,” coach John Harbaugh said. “I feel bad for Ronnie.”
The Steelers led 28-24 when the Ravens (5-2) faced a fourth-and-3 at the Pittsburgh 8 with 2 minutes left. Jackson ran a quarterback draw and lost the ball while being stopped short.
Baltimore got the ball back and moved to the Pittsburgh 23 before Jackson’s pass in the end zone was broken up on the final play.
The only other time the Steelers started 7-0, in 1978, they went on to win their third Super Bowl in five years.
They aren’t talking about a championship yet, but the players feel pretty good about where they stand at this point.
“We’re happy to win,” Watt said. “We don’t care if it’s good, bad or ugly, as long as it’s a win right now.”
The Steelers took full advantage of Jackson’s mistakes. Robert Spillane took an interception back 33 yards for a score to end Baltimore’s first possession; Jackson lost a fumble inside the Pittsburgh 5; and Alex Highsmith set up a Steelers touchdown by picking off a pass on Baltimore’s initial offensive play of the second half.
Jackson went 13 for 28 for 208 yards and two interceptions, the most he’s had in a regular-season game since throwing three against Pittsburgh in October 2019.
After Highsmith’s pick, Roethlisberger threw an 18-yard TD pass to Eric Ebron. The Steelers then went ahead 21-17 on a 1-yard touchdown run by James Conner.
Baltimore had scored in every quarter this season before being blanked in the third period.
The Ravens regained the lead with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown with 11:52 to go, but Roethlisberger answered with an 80-yard drive capped by an 8-yard TD pass to rookie Chase Claypool.
“That’s the Ben Roethlisberger I came here for,” said Ebron, who left the Colts to come to Pittsburgh.
The game carried the intensity expected when longtime division rivals clash in a showdown for first place. There were hard hits, late hits and head butts, the latter occurring when Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters popped Steelers receiver Diontae Johnson during a confrontation away from the play.
That brought players from both teams near the Baltimore sideline. Late in that fray, Ravens linebacker Matthew Judon was ejected for making contact with an official. It appeared as if the slap to the arm occurred while Judon was trying to break free from the grasp of an assistant coach.
“I would never intentionally make contact with an official,” Judon said.
A heavy rain let up just before the opening kickoff, but the combination of a wet field and two strong defences resulted in a first quarter with three turnovers — two by Jackson.
STREAKS EXTENDED
The Steelers stretched their streak of games with at least one sack to 64, and Baltimore’s run of games with a takeaway reached 20 when Peters forced a fumble by Claypool in the first quarter.
FANS RETURN
The announced crowd was 4,345. It was the first time the Ravens had fans at a home game after previously making around 250 seats available to the immediate family of players, coaches and front office personnel.
INJURIES
Steelers: NT Tyson Alualu left in the first quarter with a knee injury. That left Pittsburgh thin up front after DE Chris Wormley went on IR Saturday. … DB Mike Hilton (shoulder) was inactive.
Ravens: RB Mark Ingram (ankle) was inactive. … RG Tyre Phillips (ankle) left in the first quarter and did not return, leaving Baltimore without two starters on the O-line.
UP NEXT
The Steelers play the last of three straight road games at Dallas next Sunday.
The Ravens travel to Indianapolis on Sunday, the first meeting between the teams since 2017.
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NEW YORK – Toronto Blue Jays reliever Chad Green and Canadian slugger Tyler O’Neill of the Boston Red Sox were named finalists for the Major League Baseball Players’ Association’s American League comeback player award on Monday.
Chicago White Sox left-hander Garrett Crochet was the other nominee.
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge, Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. were named player of the year finalists.
The award winners, selected via player voting, will be named Saturday before Game 2 of the World Series.
Green, who missed most of the 2022 and ’23 seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was a high-leverage option for the Blue Jays this past season and filled in at closer over the second half of the campaign.
The right-hander converted his first 16 save opportunities and finished the year with a 4-6 record, 17 saves and a 3.21 earned-run average over 53 appearances.
O’Neill, a native of Burnaby, B.C., also endured back-to-back injury-plagued seasons in ’22 and ’23.
After being traded to the Red Sox in the off-season, O’Neill set an MLB record by hitting a homer in his fifth straight Opening Day. He finished with 31 homers on the year and had an OPS of .847.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
NEW YORK – Florida Panthers centre Sam Reinhart was named NHL first star of the week on Monday after leading all players with nine points over four games last week.
Reinhart had four goals, five assists and a plus-seven rating to help the Stanley Cup champions post a 3-0-1 record on the week and move into first place in the Atlantic Division.
New York Rangers left-winger Artemi Panarin took the second star and Minnesota Wild goaltenderFilip Gustavsson was the third star.
Panarin had eight points (4-4) over three games.
Gustavsson became the 15th goalie in NHL history to score a goal and had a 1.00 goals-against average and .962 save percentage over a pair of victories.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Deshaun Watson won’t finish the season as Cleveland’s starting quarterback for the second straight year.
He’s injured again, and the Browns have new problems.
Watson ruptured his right Achilles tendon in the first half of Sunday’s loss to Cincinnati, collapsing as he began to run and leading some Browns fans to cheer while the divisive QB laid on the ground writhing in pain.
The team feared Watson’s year was over and tests done Monday confirmed the rupture. The Browns said Watson will have surgery and miss the rest of the season but “a full recovery is expected.”
It’s the second significant injury in two seasons for Watson, who broke the glenoid (socket) bone in his throwing shoulder last year after just six starts.
The 29-year-old went down Sunday without being touched on a draw play late in the first half. His right leg buckled and Watson crumpled to the turf. TV replays showed his calf rippling, consistent with an Achilles injury.
He immediately put his hands on his helmet, clearly aware of the severity of an injury similar to the one Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers sustained last year.
As he was being assisted by the team’s medical staff and backup Dorian Thompson-Robinson grabbed a ball to begin warming up, there was some derisive cheers and boos from the stands in Huntington Bank Field.
Cleveland fans have been split over Watson, who has been accused of being sexually inappropriate with women.
The reaction didn’t sit well with several Watson’s teammates, including star end Myles Garrett, the NFL’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year, who was appalled by the fans’ behavior.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves as Browns and as fans to boo anyone and their downfall. To be season-altering, career-altering injury,” Garrett said. “Man’s not perfect. He doesn’t need to be. None of us are expected to be perfect. Can’t judge him for what he does off the field or on the field because I can’t throw stones for my glass house.
“Ultimately everyone’s human and they’re disappointed just like we are, but we have to be better than that as people. There’s levels to this. At the end of the day, it’s just a game and you don’t boo anybody being injured and you don’t celebrate anyone’s downfall.”
Backup quarterback Jameis Winston also admonished the uncomfortable celebration.
“I am very upset with the reaction to a man that has had the world against him for the past four years, and he put his body and life on the line for this city every single day,” he said. “The way I was raised, I will never pull on a man when he’s down, but I will be the person to lift him up.
“I know you love this game. When I first got here, I knew these were some amazing fans, but Deshaun was treated badly and now he has to overcome another obstacle. So I’m going to support him, I’m going to lift him up and I’m going to be there for him.”
The injury is yet another twist in Watson’s tumultuous time with the Browns.
Cleveland traded three first-round draft picks and five overall to Houston in 2022 to get him, with owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam approving the team giving Watson a fully guaranteed, five-year $230 million contract.
With a solid roster, the Browns were desperate to find a QB who could help them compete against the top AFC teams.
The Browns had moved on from Baker Mayfield despite drafting him No. 1 overall in 2018 and making the playoffs two seasons later.
But Watson has not played up to expectations — fans have been pushing for him to be benched this season — and Cleveland’s move to get him has been labeled an abject failure with the team still on the hook to pay him $46 million in each of the next two seasons.
Watson’s arrival in Cleveland also came amid accusations by more than two dozen women of sexual assault and harassment during massage therapy sessions while he played for the Texans. Two grand juries declined to indict him and he has settled civil lawsuits in all but one of the cases.
Watson was suspended by the NFL for his first 11 games and fined $5 million for violating the league’s personal conduct policy before he took his first snap with the Browns. The long layoff — he sat out the 2021 season in a contract dispute — led to struggles once he got on the field, and Watson made just six starts last season before hurting his shoulder.
Cleveland signed veteran Joe Flacco, who went 4-1 as a starter and led the Browns to the playoffs.
Before Watson got hurt this year, he didn’t play much better. He was one of the league’s lowest-rated passers for a Cleveland team that hasn’t scored 20 points in a game and is back in search of a franchise QB.
