Mark Clayton could only sigh and shake his head as he stood by his locker and reflected on his team’s inability to score a touchdown in any of its three trips inside the Steelers’ 20-yard line.
“It’s like being a little mouse, chained up and they got that cheese dangling in front of you and you can’t get it,” he said as he dried himself with a towel following a 13-9 loss to the Steelers. “We understand that when we get in those situations, we can’t settle for three points.”
But that’s exactly what the Ravens (9-5) did each time instead of scoring seven. It enabled the Steelers (11-3) to remain in the game and ultimately stun the record-crowd of 71,502 and clinch the AFC North Division title and first-round bye in the playoffs.
Baltimore entered the game ranked 16th out of 32 teams in touchdown percentage in the red zone (52.6), as it has crossed the goal line just 20 times in 38 chances.
Compare that to league-leading Indianapolis (10-4), which has 27 touchdowns and eight field goals in 39 trips, a 69.2 percentage.
“That’s a good defense we were playing,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “They did a nice job on us in the red zone.”
The team’s scant chances were magnified even more by its inability to move the ball against the league’s top-ranked defense. Pittsburgh entered the game first in total defense (241.9 yards per game), rush defense (73) and pass defense (168.9). The unit was even better on Sunday, as the Ravens mustered just 202 yards and just 90 rushing on 36 carries.
Quarterback Joe Flacco looked like a rookie for the first time in weeks, as he struggled to read coverages. He completed just 11-of-28 passes for 115 yards with two interceptions. The Ravens had a meager 12 first downs.
“They were playing some soft stuff and when we dumped off the ball underneath they came up and made the tackle,” Flacco said. “It was a tough game and that’s the way it’s going to be in December.”
Steelers linebacker James Harrison, who finished with five tackles, said making Flacco produce in the red zone was part of the game plan.
“We wanted to put their quarterback in some tough situations and make him beat us,” he said. “That’s how we were able to hold them to three field goals.”
Pittsburgh’s game plan even kept the Ravens from picking up a first down inside the Steelers’ 10-yard line, as they never had a goal-to-go situation, drove no closer than the 8-yard line and settled for field goals of 28, 28 and 26 yards. The closest the Ravens came to scoring a touchdown were two incompletions to running back Willis McGahee in the end zone.
“It’s all about execution,” fullback Le’Ron McClain said. “They weren’t stopping us — we were stopping ourselves.”
