Ravens, up 21-7, lose 31-24 to Steelers

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers stood around as the Baltimore Ravens scored an inexplicable first-half touchdown. Then it was the error-prone Ravens who watched helplessly as the team they love to beat most came back to defeat them when it mattered most.

Four plays after Ben Roethlisberger hit rookie Antonio Brown with a 58-yard pass on third-and-19, Rashard Mendenhall scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run with 1:33 remaining to give the Steelers a 31-24 comeback victory over the Ravens in an AFC divisional game yesterday.

The Ravens' Billy Cundiff had kicked a 24-yard field goal with 3:54 remaining to tie the score at 24.

The Steelers, 9-0 against division teams in the playoffs, will play in the AFC Championship Game for the fifth time in 10 seasons next Sunday. They'll face the Jets or Patriots.

Just before his biggest pass of the season, Roethlisberger - who threw two touchdown passes - said he told offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, "Let's send him. Let's just chuck it deep. If they pick it, it will be a pick way down there, just as good as a punt . . . I just throw it as far as I can.' ''

The Ravens' last chance to beat the Steelers - they haven't in three postseason tries - ended when T.J. Houshmandzadeh dropped Joe Flacco's fourth-down pass at the Steelers' 38 with 1:03 remaining.

The Steelers trailed 21-7 at halftime after turnovers created two Ravens touchdowns. But they came back with the help of three Baltimore turnovers in the third quarter. It was so bad that the Ravens' minus-4 yards in offense wasn't the worst of it. The Ravens became the eighth team in NFL playoff history to fail to gain at least 100 yards in the first three quarters. All eight lost.

The Ravens scored two touchdowns in less than 30 seconds in the first half. Defensive end Cory Redding returned Roethlisberger's fumble 13 yards for a touchdown on a play that both teams thought was an incomplete pass, but that wasn't nearly enough on a day when the Ravens offense did so little.

"What better way to put the Ravens out of the tournament," the Steelers' Hines Ward said. "They keep asking for us and we keep putting them out of the tournament. They're going to be ticked about this for a long time."

With Baltimore up 21-7, Ryan Clark forced a rare fumble by Ray Rice on a screen pass, and LaMarr Woodley recovered at the 23. Mendenhall ran for 14 yards before Roethlisberger's 9-yard scoring pass to Heath Miller made it 21-14.

"You know what, our offense went in there [at halftime] and said, 'We played terrible; we gave them the ball in prime position too many times,' " Roethlisberger said. "We had to do something about it."

Later in the quarter, Flacco overthrew tight end Todd Heap and Clark returned the interception 17 yards to the 25. Three plays later, Roethlisberger found ol' reliable Ward, absent in the offense most of the day, for an 8-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 21.