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BALTIMORE -- The Pittsburgh Steelers set the tone early against the Baltimore Ravens by establishing an effective running game. The Ravens were playing without defensive tackle Brandon Williams and defensive end Brent Urban (on injured reserve). With those two out of the lineup, Pittsburgh exploited Baltimore's defense.
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Le'Veon Bell had 144 yards on 35 carries with two touchdowns. He also caught four passes for 42 yards. The Steelers amassed 173 rushing yards in the game, which helped them maintain the majority of possession time in the 26-9 victory.
"We did a good job sticking to the run," Bell said. "The offensive line kept digging at it. They blocked really well and our receivers blocked really well. The holes got bigger as the game went on."
The Steelers had the ball for 35:29, compared to 24:31 for Baltimore.
The effective running attack also took some pressure off quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was 18 of 30 for 216 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Pittsburgh was 7 of 13 on third-down conversions.
It was an all-around encouraging performance by the offense that took advantage of Ravens mistakes. Entering the game, the Steelers had scored just six offensive touchdowns in the past 12 quarters. A lot of the issues -- penalties and turnovers -- were corrected against Baltimore.
The key is to keep that momentum going next week against Jacksonville.
"Not a perfect game, but a great team effort by us," Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said. "We're moving in the right directions in a lot of areas: run game development, taking care of the football."
While the game was a step in the right direction, Roethlisberger sees room for further improvement and that starts with him.
"I still feel I personally didn't make all the plays," Roethlisberger said. "My goal this week was to take what they give us, don't turn the ball over, and punting isn't a bad thing. And I thought we did a pretty good job of that."
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The Ravens struggled to move the ball for the second consecutive game.
Quarterback Joe Flacco was under pressure for much of the game and was limited to mostly check-downs. He was 31 of 49 for 235 yards with a touchdown and two costly interceptions. He has thrown an interception in 10 consecutive games, the longest streak in the NFL. Flacco was also sacked four times.
"I stunk," Flacco said. "It wasn't good. We have to be better off early in games. I wasn't good enough to get us back in the game."
For the season, Flacco has completed just 73 of 118 pass attempts (61.9 percent) for 601 yards with four touchdowns and six interceptions.
Baltimore receiver Mike Wallace had a pair of costly drops, including a pass that would have picked up at least 30 yards in the second quarter. Breshad Perriman also could not come down with a pass that would have cut the margin to 19-7 in the third quarter.
The Ravens are trying to develop more balance, but Flacco has been forced to throw more over the past two weeks because they trailed. Last week, Flacco had the worst game of his career in a 44-7 loss to the Jaguars. He completed eight of 18 pass attempts for a career-worst 28 yards with two interceptions. Flacco finished with a passer rating of 12.0.
Baltimore faces another tough game next week in Oakland. Head coach John Harbaugh is just trying to keep the team focused.
"You can get frustrated all you want," Harbaugh said. "You can kick over trash cans if you want, but it's not going to make you better. We have to work. We have good guys that work hard and can find a way to improve. We've been worse than 2-2 before and come back and gone to the AFC championship. So, that's what you do."
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Pittsburgh's pass rush kept quarterback Joe Flacco on his heals for most of the game.
The Steelers managed four sacks and dominated Baltimore's offensive line. Flacco was forced to check down most of the time because he didn't have time to look downfield.
Defensive tackle Cameron Heyward led the way with two sacks and two tackles for loss. The Ravens managed just 69 yards in the first half.
Linebacker Ryan Shazier and cornerback Mike Hilton each had an interception.
"They were huge," Shazier said about the turnovers. "Not only does it take the ball away from them, it gives our offense better field position. Even if we don't score, turnovers help us win the battle of field position. We were glad to get them."
One week after giving up 220 rushing yards to Chicago, the Steelers were able to contain Baltimore's ground attack for the most part.
Pittsburgh held Baltimore to just 82 rushing yards, 50 of which came on one run by Alex Collins.
Heyward forced a fumble by Collins in the second quarter that led to a Steelers touchdown.
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Baltimore running back Alex Collins got the start after being activated from the practice squad on Sept. 16. However, he has to do a better job protecting the football or he might be looking for a new place to play.
Collins finished with 82 yards on nine carries, including a 50-yard scamper midway through the third quarter that helped set up the Ravens for their lone touchdown. However, Collins also had a fumble on his own 28-yard line that led to a Steelers touchdown. He also had a fumble against the Browns in Week 2.
"He was in there for certain plays, and I decided to stick with him," Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said. "He's not going to keep putting the ball on the ground, though. He won't get any more opportunities -- the leash is not going to be long on that."
Collins also returned two kickoffs for 50 yards.
