Baltimore Ravens' Game Winning Drive and 5 Things We Learned from It

Fourth Quarter. Fourteen seconds remaining. Joe Flacco pass deep right to T. Smith for 26 yards, TOUCHDOWN.

Simply put, an incredible ending to an even more incredible game. Baltimore sweeps Pittsburgh and climbs its way back into the divisional race.

I think this drive was defining for both teams' seasons, and showed to us five things that will definitely be a factor in the remainder of the season.

1. Joe Flacco has the cool we never thought he had.

Flacco marched his team the length of the field, with seven clutch completions, and should have had more, if his wide-receivers and tight-ends could catch. Facing a desperate Pittsburgh Steelers O-line, Flacco stepped up into the pocket, picked his targets, moved the chain, and won the game.

After recent performances against Jacksonville and Arizona, I thought Flacco had lost it. Turns out he was just storing up for when he needed it the most.

2. Anquan Boldin needs double coverage down the stretch.

In the final drive, Boldin caught five for 51 yards, and dropped one he probably should have taken. Not only was he making catches, he was burning his defenders and defensive coaches will need to find a cure for the way he has carried his team back to victory in the past two weeks.

3. The Steelers D should have questions asked about it.

Hear me out. I know the Steelers defensive unit as a whole had an almighty second half performance and restricted the Baltimore offense to minimal yards all half. However, that doesn't cut it.

Tony Polamalu cannot cover every play and the Pittsburgh corners need to make big plays if they want to win. Even the front line–for all its blitz reputation and notoriety–failed to put enough pressure on Flacco in the final minutes.

I understand the Baltimore O-line stepped up big time, but if we're honest, Pittsburgh needed more pressure on Flacco.

4. Teams don't have to go no-huddle to win football games.

I think this one is important. With teams like the Patriots and at times the Saints achieving such success from the no-huddle, fast-paced, defense-confusing style of play, we need to acknowledge that there is still a place for measured drives in football today.

In two and a bit minutes, with only the two minute warning and a lone timeout, the Baltimore Ravens marched 92 yards and 13 plays–only three of which were from the no-huddle. From the no-huddle, the Ravens only gained two yards.

I know there is a place for it, but teams must still remember they can still win games by keeping their cool, managing the clock, hitting receivers and getting out of bounds.

5. The Pittsburgh Steelers still don't have the killer instinct.

I thought after last week's great victory over the Patriots, the Steelers would have too much class for the Ravens down the stretch. They marched it all the way down to the Baltimore 29 and looked set to kick a field goal and stretch the lead to seven–giving them the security blanket of OT should they need it.

But with what can only be described as idiotic delay of game penalty, the Steelers were marched back five yards and forced to punt and leave the gap at four points.

I don't know if they would have made the field goal; that is simply speculation, but what I am saying is that if the Steelers truly had the killer instinct, they would have been more switched on and not been penalized.

Baltimore may still have scored, but it's the principle that if the Steelers really were title hopes and really did want to avenge the opening round beat-down they suffered and really didn't want to suffer a series sweep to the Ravens, they don't get penalized.

Steelers fans should still take heart, not only for how close the game was, but for how Ben Roethlisbereger and the offense marched their way back into the game.

But they should also note that other teams in this league are starting to step up, and if they look closely, they're in the bottom two of their division and will have to fight harder and longer if they want to achieve anything of last year's success.