Ben is back: Ben Roethlisberger returned to the starting lineup, but he wasn't able to get the offense going until late in the game. At halftime Roethlisberger completed just seven of 14 passes for 50 yards, with a quarterback rating of 58.6. Roethlisberger finished the game completing 23 of 45 passes for 264 yards, one touchdown, and one interception and a 67.3 quarterback rating. He also added a rushing touchdown.
"We had a game plan coming in, and we got behind the chains a little too much," said Roethlisberger. "We were in third-and-long a lot. It's tough to convert against a good defense like that.
"It's frustrating. We don't take anything away from them. They are a good team. We did not make plays. I did not make plays. I did not convert third downs. I turned the ball over. It's frustrating. I hold myself to a higher standard."
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Sack master:** One of the few bright spots for the Steelers was the performance of William Gay. Harrison had two sacks, taking down Ravens' quarterback Joe Flacco. Harrison has 76.5 sacks in his Steelers' career, only half a sack shy of tying Jason Gildon as the team's all-time sack leader with 77.
Penalties hurt: Penalties were costly for the Steelers, with a total of 13 for 99 yards. At halftime the Steelers had 10 penalties for 84 yards, while only running 24 offensive plays for 66 yards in the first half.
"The bottom line is we put ourselves in a hole with some adversity, some of which was created by us," said Coach Mike Tomlin. "Largely we were a highly penalized group that created some third down situations that were insurmountable. We made the going tougher for us because of that."
Nowhere to run: Running back Le'Veon Bell had nowhere to run against the Ravens. Bell had 14 carries for just 32 yards. Bell had six receptions for just 38 yards.
"I think it was just us not executing," said Bell. "We stuck to our game plan and did what we did, but they had a good game plan, too. They kind of kept us off our rhythm, so you have to give those guys credit. Obviously, we can't allow it to keep on happening. We're not perfect guys; we make mistakes. We've got to go and correct them. Mistakes are going to cost us and dropped balls and turnovers, things like that."
Numbers game: The Steelers ended up outgaining the Ravens by just a small margin, with 277 yards of total offense to the Ravens 274 yards of total offense. But in the first half the Steelers were outgained 232-66. The majority of the Steelers yardage came in the fourth quarter when the offense, down 21-0, was playing catch-up.
Catching on: Roethlisberger went to Eli Rogers late in the game and the young receiver was there for him. Rogers, who didn't catch a pass until the fourth quarter when the Steelers almost solely went to the air game, caught six passes for 103 yards.
