In just over two weeks, real football will make its glorious return to our lives, starting with the Pittsburgh Steelers reporting to training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe to kick off another edition of training camp on those hallowed grounds at Chuck Noll Field.
Until then though, it’s a bit of a slow time in the NFL landscape, so I thought it would be a good time to start a new series here at Steelers Depot, looking at the best single-game performances in Steelers history within each position group.
Today, I’m going to start with the quarterback, obviously.
With Ben Roethlisberger, there are plenty of games to choose from when it comes to the best ever. In his 18-year career, Roethlisberger threw for 500-plus yards four times, and had six touchdowns twice. Both of those six-touchdown games I highlighted last week, so I am going to go slightly off script here and look at the second-best game of Roethlisberger’s career, that being the 506-yard performance against the Baltimore Ravens on an emotionally charged night December 10, 2017 at Heinz Field in a 39-38 comeback win.
Those 506 passing yards are the second-most in Roethlisberger’s career in the regular season, right behind the 522-yard performance against the Indianapolis Colts at home in 2014.
The 506 passing yards meant more though as the Steelers won a shootout, climbing all the way back from a 31-20 hole by scoring 19 points in the fourth quarter to win a 39-38 thriller just one week after the tragic injury suffered by linebacker Ryan Shazier on Monday Night Football on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.
With signs of #Shalieve and “Pray For 50” dotting the stands, the Steelers believed and mounted the comeback, thanks to Roethlisberger’s right arm.
Things started pretty fast that night as the Steelers came out riding the wave of emotions, jumping out to a quick 14-0 lead on the rival Ravens.
After an interception by safety Sean Davis stopped Baltimore’s first drive of the game, Pittsburgh went on the attack. Roethlisberger hit tight end Jesse James for gains of 11 and 9 yards. Then running back Le’Veon Bell ripped off a 9-yard run, setting up Pittsburgh in the red zone.
Lined up out wide, Bell ran a perfect slant route and beat safety Tony Jefferson for the catch before then slipping between safety Eric Weddle and linebacker C.J. Mosley for the 20-yard touchdown from Roethlisberger.
What a weapon Bell was. You don’t see many — if any — running backs doing that today.
Up 7-0 midway through the first quarter, Pittsburgh got another stop defensively, giving the ball back to the offense. Thirteen plays later, it was 14-0 Steelers.
Roethlisberger found tight end Vance McDonald early in the drive for a gain of 19 yards and then later hit Antonio Brown deep down the right sideline for a gain of 28 yards, showing Baltimore what was coming over and over again later in the game.
What a ball from Roethlisberger and what a catch along the sideline from Brown. Those two produced quite the magic together during their time in the Black and Gold.
Following Brown’s catch to set Pittsburgh up at the Baltimore 6-yard line, Pittsburgh went backwards due to a false start on right guard David DeCastro. Baltimore bailed out Pittsburgh though as cornerback Maurice Canady was called for pass interference on Martavis Bryant in the end zone, setting up a 1-yard touchdown from Bell on the ground for the 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.
After that, Baltimore found its footing.
Quarterback Joe Flacco heated up through the air, finding running back Javorius Allen for 20 yards and later connected with wide receiver Chris Moore for a 30-yard touchdown, making it a 14-7 game.
Pittsburgh came right back though, thanks to Roethlisberger hooking up with Brown.
Roethlisberger aired it out for Brown down the right sideline again, this time hooking up for 43 yards past veteran cornerback Brandon Carr, putting Pittsburgh deep in Baltimore territory.
After that though, the drive stalled as Roethlisberger was sacked, Bryant lost a yard on a screen and Roethlisberger fired incomplete to McDonald, resulting in Chris Boswell drilling a 52-yard field goal for a 17-7 lead with 4:18 left in the first half.
Baltimore fired right back as Flacco found Mike Wallace for 18 yards and running back Alex Collins took over. Collins hauled in a 37-yard catch and run from Flacco and later scored from 18 yards out on the ground, making it 17-14 with two minutes left in the first half.
Pittsburgh wasn’t done though.
In the two-minute drill, Roethlisberger was absurd. He found James for 11 yards, later found Eli Rogers for 16 yards and McDonald for 18 years, eventually getting Pittsburgh into scoring position for a 43-yard field goal from Boswell, sending the teams into the locker room with the Steelers holding a 20-14 lead.
Coming out of the half, Pittsburgh couldn’t get going and allowed Baltimore to really take over.
On the first drive of the second half Flacco found Wallace for 40 yards, eventually leading to a 47-yard Justin Tucker field goal, making it a 20-17 game.
Pittsburgh then went three and out and Baltimore took advantage.
Flacco found wide receiver Jeremy Maclin for 19 yards, hit Allen for 12 yard and then Collins ripped off a 17-yard run, setting up Allen’s 1-yard touchdown run, giving the Ravens a 23-20 lead over Pittsburgh midway through the third quarter.
The Steelers went three-and-out again and the Ravens seemingly put the game out of reach as they took over offensively.
Collins ripped off a 21-yard run on the first play from scrimmage and added 15 more yards after a penalty on Sean Davis for unnecessary roughness. A pass interference penalty on Steelers cornerback Artie Burns two plays later gained 31 more yards for Baltimore, setting up a 6-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to fullback Patrick Ricard, making it a 31-20 game.
That woke the Steelers up.
Roethlisberger responded by hitting Bell for 12 yards, Bryant for 9 yards and then James for 18 yards. After that, he found Brown for 12 yards and James again for 10 yards as the Steelers marched right down the field.
Four plays later, Boswell hit a 24-yard field goal, making it a 31-23 game early in the fourth quarter.
At that point the comeback was on.
Baltimore went three and out on the next possession and Roethlisberger got red-hot.
The future Hall of Famer found Brown for 57 yards on a catch and run over the middle, igniting the Steelers offense.
Brown was an exceptional player, one who was always open and a nightmare for defenses after the catch.
Look at the space he created here against Carr. Baltimore had no answer.
Two plays later, Roethlisberger found fullback Roosevelt Nix for a 1-yard touchdown over Jefferson, making it a 31-29 game after a failed two-point conversion.
This one was far from over, too.
The Ravens reposed with a 9-yard touchdown from Allen aided by a 20-yard pass interference penalty on Burns, making it 38-29 Baltimore with 6:44 left in the game.
Pittsburgh wouldn’t go away though.
Roethlisberger came out firing again, finding Brown for 22 yards and 11 yards, then hitting Bell for 10 yards and Rogers for 9 yards before Bell raced off right guard for an 11-yard touchdown, making it a 38-36 game with 3:29 left.
Needing one stop after getting gashed much of the night, the Steelers defense got one.
Baltimore went three and out, giving Pittsburgh life.
The final drive for Pittsburgh didn’t start well as Roethlisberger was sacked for a 9-yard loss by menace Terrell Suggs, but after that it was on.
Roethlisberger hit James for gains of 6, 16 and 6 to move the chains. He then dialed up the trusty deep ball to Brown — again.
On third and five, Brown cooked Carr off the line and Roethlisberger dropped it right into the bucket for the 34-yard gain. It remains truly wild that Baltimore didn’t double Brown in this situation.
Following the big gain, the Steelers stalled out, but it led to Boswell drilling a 46-yard field goal with 46 seconds left, giving the Steelers a 39-38 lead.
Baltimore had one last chance, but rookie pass rusher T.J. Watt sealed the win with a chasedown sack and strip of Flacco with the ball rolling out of bounds, ending the game and giving the Steelers an emotional win. The win over Baltimore was Pittsburgh’s eighth straight and moved the Steelers to 11-2 on the year.
Roethlisberger was outstanding, completing 44-of-66 passing attempts for 506 yards and two touchdowns. No turnovers on that many drop backs is remarkable.
Bell finished with 48 yards and two touchdowns on 13 carries and added nine receptions for 77 yards and a score. Brown had one of his best games every, finishing with 11 receptions for 213 yards, while James added 10 catches for 97 yards.
For Baltimore, Flacco finished 20-of-35 passing for 269 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while Collins finished with 120 rushing yards and a score on 18 carries, adding two receptions for 46 yards. Allen chipped in with 25 yards and two scores on the ground on six carries and added two receptions for 32 yards. Wallace led Baltimore with three receptions for 72 yards.
Defensively, safety Sean Davis had the best game of his career with 12 tackles and an interception, adding two tackles for loss. Mosley led the Ravens with 14 tackles.
The win over Baltimore will go down as a special one for the Steelers considering the emotions involved following the Shazier injury. It will be remembered for that, along with Sean Spence’s serious struggles in place of Shazier. But it should also be remembered as one of the finest games of Roethlisberger’s career.
He was as good as ever in that win, and it came against a longtime rival. One for the record books.
