The Pittsburgh Steelers’ postseason chances suffered a painful blow when the Super Bowl champions were edged 20-17 in overtime by a resurgent Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.
Newly acquired Billy Cundiff kicked a 29-yard field goal with 6:42 left in the extra session to energize the Ravens’ playoff push and hand Pittsburgh a third straight loss.
“We will not go gently,” Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters. “We will unleash hell here in December because we have to. We won’t go into a shell. We’ll go into attack mode.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
The loss drops the Steelers (6-5) two games behind the front-running Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC North and into a dogfight with several teams for a wild card berth.
“It hurts,” Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward said. “Three games in a row. We’re not accustomed to that around here. We have to find a way to get back on the right track.”
Pittsburgh played without quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, the Super Bowl-winner who suffered a concussion last week against Kansas City when he took a knee to the head.
Dennis Dixon, a reserve who had thrown one pass since coming into the league two years ago, played reasonably well but did not have the firepower of Roethlisberger.
He completed 12 of 26 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown, plus ran 24 yards for a score to give the Steelers a 17-14 fourth quarter lead. However, he committed a costly turnover in overtime that gift-wrapped victory for the Ravens (6-5).
Ravens linebacker Paul Kruger picked off an errant Dixon pass and returned it 26 yards to the Steelers’ 28. Six plays later, Cundiff kicked the game winner.
“He did everything that coach asked him to do — and more,” Roethlisberger, who was suited up on the sidelines, said of Dixon. “He played with the fire and intensity we’ve seen from him in practice every day. He played his heart out.”
The Ravens reached the AFC championship game a year ago but, like the Steelers, have had their problems this season. The victory over Pittsburgh, however, put them back into the playoff hunt.
Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis called the win “huge.”
“We knew it was going to come down to the wire,” the 10-time Pro Bowler said. “Last year, we lost games in the last 10 seconds. This time, we kept our composure as a team. Every conversation on the sideline was about, ‘Let’s finish.’ And I think we did a great job finishing tonight.”
COLTS 35, TEXANS 27
At Houston, Texas, Peyton Manning threw for three touchdowns as the Indianapolis Colts rallied from a 13-point halftime deficit on Sunday to clinch the AFC South with a 35-27 win over the Houston Texans.
It was their 20th straight regular-season victory Indianapolis, leaving the Colts one win short of the New England Patriots’ NFL-record 21-game run from 2006 to 2008. The Colts can tie the record if they beat Tennessee at home this weekend.
Manning threw two first-half interceptions, but had a pair of second-half TD passes, including a 4-yarder to Dallas Clark that gave the Colts a 21-20 lead with about nine minutes left.
Houston’s third straight loss dims their chances of earning their first playoff berth.
In other NHL games, it was:
• Titans 20, Cardinals 17
• Chargers 43, Chiefs 14
• Vikings 36, Bears 10
• 49ers 20, Jaguars 3
• Bengals 16, Browns 7
• Eagles 27, Redskins 24
• Falcons 20, Buccaneers 17
• Bills 31, Dolphins 14
• Jets 17, Panthers 6
• Seahawks 27, Rams 17
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