NFC Divisional Round Recap: Pittsburgh Steelers Rally in 2nd half to beat Baltimore Ravens

This playoff game between the brutal, smash-mouth rivals known as the Ravens and Steelers was a tale of two halves.

If a random person who did not watch the game and merely saw the final score (Steelers 31, Ravens 24), he/she would assume that the game was a back-and-forth contest between two high-powered offenses.

Instead, each half had a common theme: turnovers and field position. In each half, one team gave up the ball deep in its own territory and the other scored points off the turnover.

In the first half, the Ravens took advantage of two Pittsburgh turnovers, scoring a touchdown off each one. Suggs forced a Ben Roethlisberger fumble in the second quarter that Redding scooped up and returned for a touchdown before most players figured out that the play was not called an incomplete pass.

Then Rashard Mendenhall fumbled deep in Steeler territory, setting up a Flacco-to-Heap connection that resulted in a touchdown. At halftime, the Ravens held a surprising 21-7 lead.

Big Ben was sacked three times in the first half and completed only 7-12 passes for a meager 78 yards. Mendenhall led the Steelers' rushing attack with 10 carries for 27 yards.

In the second half, it was the Steelers' turn to take the ball away. The turnover parade began its turnaround when Ray Rice fumbled a pass completion, setting up the first of two touchdowns scored by the Steelers in the third quarter.

The second, and tying, touchdown was set up by a Flacco interception to Clark. The Ravens offense, as well as giving up the pigskin twice in the third quarter, could only produce -4 yards total in the quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Pittsburgh capitalized on yet another turnover (Flacco fumbled the snap, and the Steelers recovered) with the go-ahead field goal.

Overall, this was not a good offensive day for either team. Flacco completed 16-of-30 passes for only 125 yards while Rice only got 32 yards on 12 rushes.

For the Steelers, Roethlisberger passed for 226 yards while Mendenhall ran for 46. The only reason why this game was so high-scoring was that the offenses had short fields to work with due to the turnovers.

However, you have to give these offenses some credit. After all, each turnover turned into points, which is not something you can say for every game.

And when the Steeler offense needed to make the big play, it rose to the occasion.

On third-and-19, Big Ben completed a 58-yard bomb to Antonio Brown to set up a red-zone touchdown for Mendenhall.

The Ravens' offense had a similar chance to deliver when the ensuing kickoff was returned to Pittsburgh territory. However, they turned the ball over on downs after only four plays.

In the end, therefore, this is why the Steelers will be moving on to the AFC Championship Game: they made one more big play than the Ravens.