The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Baltimore Ravens 23-16 on the road Sunday afternoon in Week 9 action and that win will keep them atop the AFC North division entering Week 10.
Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed 28 of his 47 total pass attempts for 270 yards and two touchdowns in Sunday’s win over the Ravens and running back James Conner chipped in 163 total yards from scrimmage and a receiving touchdown on his 31 total touches.
Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown caught the other touchdown pass that Roethlisberger threw during the game on his way to registering 5 total receptions for 42 yards. Fellow wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster led the team with 7 receptions against the Ravens for 78 yards.
While Roethlisberger was sacked once Sunday afternoon by the Ravens defense, that happened very late in the fourth quarter and on a 3rd and 11 play. Roethlisberger could have just thrown the football away on that play instead of taking the sack but smartly held onto it so that the game clock would continue to run as the Ravens had already used all their timeouts.
The Steelers defense did their part on Sunday as they held the Ravens offense to just 16 points of which 6 came in the first half as the Baltimore offense was shut down twice inside the Pittsburgh red zone. The Steelers defense also sacked Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco twice on Sunday with both of those coming in the second half. Flacco ended the game with 23 completions for 209 yards on 37 total attempts. The Ravens offense also only managed to convert 4 of their 12 total third down opportunities during the contest.
The loss by Baltimore now drops them to 4-5 on the season and they have now lost three games in a row as they enter their Week 10 bye. After the bye they will host the Cincinnati Bengals, who had their bye this week. The Bengals will exit their bye week with a 5-3 record and they’ll next play the New Orleans Saints at home next Sunday. The Saints, by the way, gave the Los Angeles Rams their first loss of the season on Sunday in New Orleans.
The other AFC North team, the Cleveland Browns, dropped to 2-6-1 on the season Sunday with their 37-21 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
In the loss, Browns rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield completed 29 of his 42 total pass attempts for 297 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception. Mayfield’s two scoring tosses went to running back Duke Johnson, who totaled 9 receptions in the game for 78 yards. He also rushed once for 8 yards. The Browns also rushed for 102 yards as a team.
The Browns defense, however, allowed Chiefs quarterback Pat Mahomes to throw for 375 yards and 3 touchdowns on Sunday. Two of his three scoring tosses went to tight end Travis Kelce. Additionally, Chiefs running back Kareem Hunt scored three touchdowns against the Browns defense on Sunday on his way to registering 141 total yards from scrimmage.
The Browns defense did manage to sack Mahomes twice on Sunday and intercept him once. Defensive end Myles Garrett and linebacker Genard Avery registered the Browns two sacks while cornerback Denzel Rice had Cleveland’s lone interception. Browns linebacker Jamie Collins led his team in total tackles Sunday with 7.
The Browns will now get ready to host the 4-4 Atlanta Falcons next Sunday.
As for the 5-2-1 Steelers, they will host the 6-2 Carolina Panthers on Thursday night at Heinz Field. The Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 42-28 at home Sunday afternoon.
