Steelers vs. Ravens: Score and Twitter Reaction for Thursday Night Football

The Baltimore Ravens recovered well from their Week 1 defeat, picking up a big 26-6 home win over the division-rival Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday night.

After losing to the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-16, Joe Flacco offered withering criticism of his team's performance.

"It's tough to look at it too many ways other than the fact that we lost the game and overall we didn't play very well," he said, per USA Today's Gary Mihoces. "As a player you don't look for good things in losses. It was a bad day."

As one of the leaders of the team, it's up to Flacco to help right the ship, and that's exactly what he did on Thursday night.

Flacco had one of the more efficient games of his career, completing 21-of-29 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns. Bleacher Report's Mike Tanier wondered if the Ravens quarterback ever had a performance like that:

Many wondered how the Ravens running game would perform following the departure of Ray Rice. Baltimore didn't lose a step, with Bernard Pierce and Justin Forsett combining to gain 152 yards on the ground.

After the game, Ryan Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette had thoughts from the Ravens locker room:

Flacco's counterpart, Ben Roethlisberger had a much tougher time, going 22-of-37 for 217 yards. It's the first time in 31 games that "Big Ben" failed to throw a TD, per SportsCenter:

Roethlisberger didn't receive a lot of support from his running game, which went for 99 yards on 18 carries.

Ron Musselman of Muscle Media had more from Roethlisberger:

Pittsburgh as a whole looked out of sorts for much of the game, and for every step forward it took, it followed with one step back. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin lit into his team after the game, per Chris Bradford of the Beaver County Times and ESPN.com's Scott Brown:

The Steelers had possession to begin the game, and things looked to be going well until Antonio Brown was forced to exit the game temporarily. Brown was hammered over the middle by Darian Stewart and returned slowly to his feet.

Pittsburgh announced that the star wide receiver was tested for a concussion. Although Brown returned later in the game, his absence was felt for much of the first half:

Two plays after Brown went down, Justin Brown fumbled on the Baltimore 16-yard line. DeAngelo Tyson recovered the ball, helping his team dodge a massive bullet and giving Baltimore a chance to draw first blood.

Flacco drove the Ravens 85 yards in 6:26, connecting with Owen Daniels in the end zone for a two-yard TD pass to take a 7-0 lead near the end of the first quarter. Coincidentally, Daniels's last TD came nearly one year ago to the day, per ESPN.com's Jamison Hensley:

Baltimore had a defined game plan to attack the Pittsburgh secondary, and it involved lots of short passes, per ESPN Stats and Info:

Sports Illustrated's Chris Burke believed that the Ravens were looking much better on the offensive side of the ball this week, while the Steelers defense was still stuck in neutral from Week 1:

The game leveled off in the second quarter, with neither team ceding much ground. Justin Tucker hit a 30-yard field goal with 8:01 left in the half to give the Ravens a 10-0 lead. Shaun Suisham followed up with a field goal of his own to make it a seven-point game again, 10-3, with 2:50 until intermission.

Although the Steelers were down after two quarters, they arguably were the better team, out-gaining the Ravens by almost 80 yards. B/R's Curt Popejoy felt that too many penalties and Brown's fumble were the difference in the game:

Pittsburgh also received some good news in the form of Antonio Brown's return to the field. Steelers.com's Bob Labriola reported that the WR passed the necessary concussion protocol:

As if that wasn't enough, the Ravens were without Asa Jackson for the entire second half after Baltimore announced he suffered a concussion:

Baltimore was already without Lardarius Webb, per the team, so losing Jackson was a big blow to an already depleted secondary.

The Steelers started their comeback attempt on their first drive of the third quarter. After holding Baltimore to a three-and-out, Suisham hit his second field goal of the game, closing the gap to four points, 10-6, with 10:30 in the third.

The Ravens didn't panic, however, with Flacco leading the offense on another time-consuming drive that resulted in a touchdown. Rather than going for the big play, Baltimore was content to matriculate the ball down the field, using 12 plays and 6:32 before Daniels caught his second touchdown of the game, making it 17-6 in favor of the home team.

Only five tight ends in the last decade have recorded at least two receiving touchdowns against the Steelers:

CBSSports.com's Josh Katzowitz highlighted how differently Daniels' 2013 and 2014 have unfolded:

After the Baltimore defense kept Pittsburgh in check on the next drive, Justin Tucker added his second field goal of the game, putting the Ravens ahead, 20-6, with 14:11 left in regulation.

On the first play from scrimmage after that field goal, Heath Miller caught a short pass from Ben Roethlisberger and promptly fumbled. C.J. Mosley recovered, giving the Ravens great field position at the Pittsburgh 20-yard line.

Although Baltimore settled for another field goal, increasing its lead to 17 points, 23-6, it was more than enough to put the game out of reach. Once Tucker hit his fourth field goal of the contest in the fourth quarter, the eventual outcome of the clash was clear for all to see.

The Steelers have their second road game in as many weeks ahead when they meet the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte. Over the last six quarters of football, Pittsburgh has really struggled. B/R's Matt Miller thinks that may be more emblematic of the team's performances going forward:

The Ravens hit the road for the first time in 2014 when they travel to Cleveland to take on the Browns. Baltimore, conversely, needed a half before it finally got going against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 1. Over the last game and a half, the Ravens have played very well and will look to continue that against Cleveland.

The teams meet again in Week 9 in Pittsburgh.