Ravens Rally but Stumble in Overtime

Ravens fall to Steelers 23-20 on Monday Night Football

The game was there for the taking. The Ravens defense kept the game within reach. The rookie QB Joe Flacco stepped up his game a notch.

These are the things to take away from the Monday night overtime loss in Pittsburgh. Realistically most Ravens fans had this penciled in as a loss. That is largely due to the game being in Pittsburgh and the fact that the Baltimore Ravens are still a work in progress on offense. The Steelers are just a better team as a whole.

But not so fast said the Ravens. And honestly I had given them an outside chance to win this game if they capitalized on a few things. But the turnovers did not come the way you would have hoped. All though they did score enough points to make it interesting.

The story of this game was resilience. Actually from both teams. Willis McGahee gutted out 42 yards on 13 carries with difficutly seeing with his eyes. Le'Ron McClain continues to prove his value. He was good for 63 yards on 16 carries with a punishing TD run from 2 yards out. He also looked good on his 3 receptions for 26 yards. Derek Mason had a few nice catches also and had an All-Pro type line of 8 catches for 137 yards. That's a nice 17 yards per catch.

Baltimore had a day that teams usually don't have in Pittsburgh by rushing for over 100 yards. 103 to be exact. They held Pittsburgh to 69 yards rushing. Neither team had a good yards per carry however. But then again you didn't need a crystal ball to see that coming.

In the air the Ravens had some bright moments. Joe Flacco was a respectable 16 for 31 adding up to 192 yards. Now while that is not Dan Marino type numbers he showed tremendous composure, and a never say die presence. Taking into account this was only his 3rd NFL start he showed a lot of promise. There is reason to believe that maybe one day their may be offense in Baltimore again. Which you have to go back to the days of the Baltimore Colts to say that.

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Joe Flacco proved he also has a rifle of an arm and can throw with accuracy. He did make a couple rookie mistakes. There were at least 2 throws that if he pulls the trigger faster and goes down field with a little less rainblow in his throws, he would have himself a couple big plays. And he has the arm to make the those throws like an NFL QB.

The defense had it's usual day at the office and they can feel respected by their offense for reaching 20 points against a great defense and giving hope that they may do their part finally.

In the end Pittsburgh made the stops in overtime. I did think Harbaugh should have been more aggressive at the end of regulation. Although the rule of thumb is you play for the tie on the road and go for the win at home. So in that sense I can't second guess.

Then when Pittsburgh got the ball in OT, they were determined to end it right then. And it took a 46 yard field goal but they did it.

Next week they go home to prepare for the Tennessee Titans. Ouch! Expect deja vu here. Only the Titans are coming in with a healthy backfield of Chris Johnson and LenDel White. This will get Ray Lewis tail up. He and his defensive squad love to take on a rushing team of this caliber to see if they can live up to the challenge.

We will preview this game later this week.

By Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Baltimore Ravens Correspondent