BALTIMORE -- The Steelers heard the talk that came out of the Ravens' locker room after they had won in Pittsburgh earlier this season. They heard Joe Flacco say it wasn't the most physical game he had played against the Steelers. They saw the Ravens celebrate after that 26-14 win Sept. 30, after holding the ball for over 35 minutes in the game.
And they were intent on changing things around this time.
The Steelers did exactly that, dominating the Ravens in a 23-16 win Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium that wasn't as close as the final score might indicate.
How dominating were the Steelers?
They outgained the Ravens, 395-268, in total yardage, holding a 36:29-23:31 advantage in time of possession. They also ran 20 more plays, with only three defensive pass-interference penalties aiding the Ravens in scoring 13 of their points.
It was yet another strong game from a defense that seems to be coming into its own, having held its past four opponents to 21 points or less.
"Our best game? It’s up there," said Sean Davis. "One touchdown and three field goals, right? It’s up there."
To be sure. And as a result, the Steelers find themselves at 5-2-1 at the midway point of the season, completely in control of their own playoff hopes in the second half.
Baltimore, meanwhile, falls to 4-5 and, having lost four of its past five games since beating the Steelers earlier this season, is in some trouble.
"I could sit here and say all of the corny lines, but our backs are to the wall now," said Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith. "There's no room for error at all. We had to win this game and we didn't."
The Ravens didn't lose the game as much as the Steelers took it from them. Cam Heyward talked earlier in the week about playing "Bully Ball." The Steelers did just that.
They only sacked Flacco twice, but they hit him six times despite the Ravens doing a good job of getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands quickly to help cover for the fact they were missing starting offensive tackles Ronnie Stanley and James Hurst.
"I’m sore today. Flacco had better be sore," Davis said.
The Ravens had won that previous meeting by going 8 of 16 on third downs while limiting the Steelers to just two conversions on 12 attempts. The Steelers flipped the script on them in this one, going 10 of 16, while the Ravens were only 4 of 12.
And they established their running game early. James Conner, limited to 19 yards on nine carries in the first meeting, gained 38 yards on his first three carries, including this 25-yard gain that helped set the tone for the offense:
But it was the defense winning on third downs and getting the ball back to the offense that made this such an easy victory.
"We knew if we got off the field on third downs, the offense would be able to put up points," Mike Hilton said. "Our job was to try to get them on a short field, try to give them as many possessions as possible. We did that."
And three of those possessions ended inside the Steelers' 20, with two getting bogged down inside the 10, as the Ravens settled for field goals.
Hilton was a big part of that, coming up with a big pass breakup in the end zone and also dropping Lamar Jackson for a loss on a Wildcat keeper in the first half:
"You talk about what the Ravens' offense does uniquely well, they were third or fourth in red zone offense in the NFL," said Mike Tomlin. "So to hold those guys to field goals in the first half was significant. I think those were the two most significant elements to the game, holding those guys to field goals and us being able to convert on third down in the second half."
Leading 14-6 at the half on touchdown catches by Conner and Antonio Brown, the Steelers got the ball to open the second half and went on a 15-play, 75-yard drive capped off by Ben Roethlisberger scoring from the 1 on a QB sneak.
The Steelers converted three third downs on the possession, all of which were third-and-6 or longer.
"Our first drive of the second half was awesome," said Roethlisberger. "We used up most of the third quarter and got a touchdown out of it. And we converted a bunch of third downs, and they weren't easy ones to convert."
The game wasn't without its dicey moments. The Steelers got a big scare early in the fourth quarter when, leading 20-13, Roethlisberger had the wind knocked out of him when he was tackled from behind on a scramble by Za'Darius Smith.
But with Roethlisberger on the sideline regaining his composure -- and air -- backup Josh Dobbs came in and threw a 22-yard strike to JuJu Smith-Schuster from the Steelers' 5.
"That was awesome," Roethlisberger said. "It's very hard for anyone to come into a game off the bench when facing second down and 20 at the five. But I'm not surprised. Josh prepares like he's the starter every week."
Roethlisberger re-entered the game, and two plays later connected with Jesse James down the sideline for a 51-yard gain. The Steelers would go down and kick a 29-yard Chris Boswell field goal to make it a two-score game again.
And they continued to run Conner -- who had 107 yards on 24 carries -- and get enough third down conversions from Roethlisberger to ice the game away.
"The Ravens were playing with a lot of resolve," said Tomlin. "It's great to get an AFC North road victory under those circumstances. We weren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but I just loved the spirit and the competitiveness of the group. I'm just very grateful to get out of here with a win."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE GAME BALLS
My top three performers:
1. Ben Roethlisberger
Steelers quarterback
Roethlisberger completed 28 of 47 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions while also rushing for a score.
2. Joe Haden
Steelers cornerback
Haden locked up on Ravens receiver John Brown, who had caught three passes for 117 yards and a touchdown in the first meeting, and limited him to three catches for 17 yards on six targets.
3. James Conner
Steelers running back
Conner rushed for 107 yards on 24 carries and matched Smith-Schuster for the team high in receptions with seven for 56 yards and a touchdown.
THE GOOD
The defense, which took a good deal of heat early in the season, limited the Ravens to 268 total yards, its third-straight game holding an opponent under 300 yards. And the Steelers didn't allow big plays, as they had in the earlier loss to the Ravens, allowing a long run of 10 yards and a long pass play of 30.
Haden's shutdown of Brown was key.
"Boom. That’s what I like to hear," Davis told me.
Was Haden getting a lot of help or was he matched up one-on-one with Brown?
"Just Joe. That’s it," Davis said. "He didn’t catch any deep balls like he did the last time and we win the game."
Brown was frustrated by the day.
"Joe Haden followed me and they had help over the top," he said. "They basically took me out of the game plan. That's just something we have to figure out and get right."
The Steelers felt if they made the Ravens put together long scoring drives they would be just fine. They trust in their red zone defense, which limited Baltimore to one touchdown in four trips and has now allowed just 15 TDs in 28 trips inside the 20 this season.
"We bow-up down there. If you walk away with three, that’s cool down there," Hilton told me. "We’d prefer to not let them down there at all. But if they do get down there, we’re only giving up three. That’s been our mentality, especially these last couple of games. Now that we’re finding our rhythm and everyone’s healthy, we’re showing what kind of defense we can be."
THE BAD
Penalties were again a problem, as the Steelers had eight for 103 yards compared to five for 25 yards for the Ravens.
But as noted in the game preview, referee Craig Wrolstad's crew came into the game calling more penalties on road teams (69 in seven games) than it had against the home team (38).
That was of little consolation to Tomlin, especially considering four of the penalties were pass interference calls -- three on the defense and one on Antonio Brown.
The Ravens' touchdown drive and two of their field goal drives were aided by the pass interference calls.
"I don't think we helped ourselves with the penalties," Tomlin said. "We'll look at those and see what they are. We'll analyze that and look at what we're doing in an effort to be cleaner out there."
THE PLAY
Simply put, Dobbs' big pass.
THE CALL
The Steelers' final third-down conversion of the game was a big one and came right after the two-minute warning.
The Ravens inexplicably allowed more than 30 seconds to run off the clock after a second-down run by Conner gained four yards to set up a third-and-four. Baltimore still had all three of its timeouts.
"We could have done it either way," Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. "Once the time went down a little bit, we knew we could call it after the (two-minute warning). We'd get the ball back with some amount of time."
The key, of course, was getting a stop on third down.
Baltimore brought everyone up to the line of scrimmage and Roethlisberger connected with Smith-Schuster for a seven-yard catch to convert the first down and force the Ravens to use their timeouts on a pair of Conner runs, and what was essentially Roethlisberger dropping back and taking a sack -- the only one recorded by the Ravens -- to keep the clock running.
"We kind of thought they might do that," Roethlisberger conceded of the straight man-to-man coverage.
And Smith-Schuster beat his man, Anthony Levine, off the snap.
"It was a big play," Smith-Schuster said.
THE OTHER SIDE
With the loss, the Ravens dropped to 44-45 since winning the Super Bowl in 2013. And rumors are now swirling about Harbaugh's future with the team, which has missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons.
"I was hoping we'd be 7-2 at this point," Harbaugh said. "That was the goal -- that was the idea -- and we could be. You just feel disappointed. It has been nothing but a joy and privilege to come to work with these coaches and players. It has been one of the best seasons that way, ever."
Harbaugh was asked about the rumors his seat is getting hot.
"I've never been someone who's worried about keeping a job," he said. "It's always been, for me, about doing the job. ... We'll keep fighting. That's what we do."
THE INJURY UPDATE
• Ben Roethlisberger, quarterback, had the wind knocked out of him after Smith fell on him on a tackle from behind. "I didn't know how badly I was hurt. First thing you notice is that you can't breathe right away. Then you start doing an inventory, and I realized I was OK. Once I got up, I knew I'd be all right."
• Marcus Gilbert, right tackle, remained out with a knee injury. He was replaced again by Matt Feiler.
THE SCHEDULE
Tomlin will hold his weekly news conference at noon Monday as the Steelers have a short week to get ready to face the Panthers Thursday night at Heinz Field.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Steelers team page for everything from this game.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers at Ravens, Baltimore, Nov. 4, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS