Ravens Week 13 Recap

    The Ravens played at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football. Many predicted that this would be a closely contested game since both teams had strong defenses. If the Ravens came out victorious in the game, they would have had a huge advantage over the Steelers and would pretty much be guaranteed first place in the AFC North for the remainder of the season. 
    In the first quarter, both teams started slowly as each teams' defense looked strong. As time was expiring in the first quarter, the Ravens were able to drive the ball 92-yards down the field. This drive was capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Joe Flacco to Anquan Boldin, which gave the Ravens a 7-0 lead after one quarter of play. In the second quarter, the defensive struggle continued as the Steelers and Ravens could only manage to score three points each. The Ravens led at the half, 10-3. 
    In the third quarter, both defenses remained strong and did not allow any points to be scored. In the third quarter it seemed like the Ravens offense began to fade much like the last two or three games this season, as they were very ineffective. 
    In the fourth quarter, the Steelers pushed to within 4 points with a 19-yard field goal with 13 minutes left in the game. With just over 3 minutes, the Ravens had the ball with a chance at running out the clock. On a second down play, Joe Flacco dropped back to throw, but was hit by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, which caused the ball to fall out of Flacco's hands. The Steelers recovered the fumble and were able to take advantage of the costly turnover with just a few minutes left in the game to give them their first lead. Flacco and the offense couldn't get down the field to tie the game, as a fourth down pass fell short of tight end Ed Dickson to end any hope for the Ravens. The final score of the game was Steelers 13, Ravens 10. 
    With the loss the Ravens record falls to 8-4, 5-1 at home. Once again the offense played played well in the first half, but disappeared in the second half of the game and had a costly fumble, which cost them the game. The defense played well, only allowing 13 points. Joe Flacco also had a solid game as well. Unfortunately, the loss drops the Ravens out of first place in the AFC North. They will need the offense to play well for an entire game to have any shot at winning the AFC North. Next up for the Ravens is a Monday night showdown with the Houston Texans.


- Charlie Rachel