Steelers Beat Ravens Again And Packers Were Near Flawless

All I got to say is, "Wow, what a football game." It was everything you expected out of a Steelers-Ravens game and more. It was a tale of two games. The first half looked as though Baltimore was going to run away with it. Baltimore's defense, Suggs in particular, brutalized Roethlisberger. It ended with the Ravens sporting a two touchdown lead. Then the second half started and from there it was all Pittsburgh in the third quarter, returning like for like on Flacco and capitalizing on Raven mistakes. They traded field goals and then it happened. A huge pass play put the Steelers in striking range and Mendenhall bullied his way for a touchdown and the lead. A personal foul gave the Ravens a ray of hope and the kick return went to mid-field. With a fourth down and the game on the line Houshmandzadeh couldn't put away a near perfect throw from Flacco. Both teams played their hearts out, but somebody had to lose and that somebody was Baltimore, again. Final tally was 31-24.

Ben Roethlisberger struggled, but got the job done in his usual fashion, hard-nose football. Roethlisberger accumulated 226 yards and two touchdowns. Rashard Mendenhall toughed out 46 yards on the ground and scored two hard fought touchdowns. Wallace and Ward saw very little in the way of big catches, but when it comes to Hines Ward you got to love the way he plays the game, full of enthusiam. He scored one touchdown. Brown and Sanders accounted for the bulk of reception yardage. Pittsburgh's defense kept the Steelers in the game and forced crucial game altering mistakes.

Joe Flacco gave it his best shot. You can't fault him. A potential touchdown pass was dropped at the goal line and a pivotal game saver was muffed at the end that could have put the Ravens in a position to put the game into overtime. He didn't put up big numbers and dropped passes were of no help. Rice was relatively controlled running for only 32 yards with an equal amount of reception yardage. Rice did score one touchdown. Heap topped the receivers with 43 tards and a score. So why was the game so close? It was defense. The Ravens defense had 6 sacks plus 8 hits on Roethlisberger. They scored on one of the strangest looking plays. With the ball laying on the ground after Roethlisberger was hit, everyone was standing around in a fog, until Redding smartly went over, picked it up, and trotted in for the score.

Atlanta and Green Bay were trading touchdown for touchdown to start and then all hell broke loose on Atlanta. Atlanta was making a bid on the goal line when a Matt Ryan attempt fell slightly short of its mark in the end zone and was picked off. The ball was now in the hands of Rodgers who methodically moved down the field for a touchdown. Some plays later, again Ryan was picked off by Tramon Williams, this time returned 70 yards for a score. That was half time and that was it. Green Bay never looked back. Rodgers and Company flat out dominated. Atlanta's misery ended at a 48-21 drubbing.

What can you say? "It's a beautiful day in the Atlantahood, it's a beautiful day in the Atlantahood. Would you be my neighbor?" Mr Aaron Rodgers and the Packers were anything but neighborly with the Falcons. Rodgers put in one of his best performances. He only missed on 5 passes out of 36 attempts. That is one of the best ratios I have ever seen. He threw for 366 yards and three touchdowns adding another on the ground. Four of his receivers had over 75 yards each with Greg Jennings topping out the group at 101 yards. The Packers defense forced four turnovers. Tramon Williams once again shined with two picks, taking one to the house.
 
Atlanta's numbers, well we just won't go there. Matt Ryan and Company were undoubtedly releived to see this one finally come to an end. The empty stadium with four minutes left was an eerie reminder of what just happened. Oh, one highlight worth mentioning was Eric Weems record setting kick off return of 102 yards for a touchdown.