PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jacoby Jones’ 63-yard punt return for a touchdown gave the Baltimore Ravens a 10-7 lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers at halftime of their AFC North showdown Sunday night.
It was the second consecutive week Jones had a return for a touchdown. He ran back a kickoff in a win over Oakland. Jones, who also had a kickoff return for a score against Dallas last month, has four career touchdowns on punt returns.
In addition to the special teams score, Baltimore’s defense set up Justin Tucker 26-yard field goal after Mike Wallace’s fumble and a 17-yard return by Ed Reed.
Tucker missed a 41-yard try less than a minute into the second quarter.
Steelers backup quarterback Byron Leftwich had a 31-yard touchdown run less than a minute into the game. Making his first NFL start in more than three years because of shoulder and rib injuries to Ben Roethlisberger, Leftwich was 7 for 17 for 85 yards at halftime.
Not known for his scrambling ability, the 250-pound former first-round pick took the second official snap of the game and scrambled out of the pocket, turned the corner, got a block, split two defensive backs at the right sideline and made it to the end zone for his 10th career touchdown rushing and first since 2008.
The play was a career-long run for Leftwich and the longest touchdown run of the season for Pittsburgh.
The Steelers (6-3) have Rashard Mendenhall in their lineup for the third time this season but he had only three carries for 8 yards at halftime. Backup Isaac Redman was knocked out of the game with a concussion. Jonathan Dwyer has 15 rushing yards.
Pittsburgh converted one of its eight third downs in the first half.
The Steelers have won four consecutive times to pull to within a game of their rivals. The teams will play again in two weeks in Baltimore.
Joe Flacco was 15 for 22 for 116 yards and Ray Rice had 10 carries for 13 yards at halftime for Baltimore (7-2).
Roethlisberger was knocked out of last Monday’s overtime win over the Kansas City, allowing Leftwich to make his first start with the Steelers over four seasons. It is Leftwich’s first NFL start since September 2009 with Tampa Bay. He hasn’t won a game he started in more than six years.
The Steelers have lost to the Ravens each of the past four times they played them without Roethlisberger.
The Ravens are missing three defensive starters of their own: linebacker Ray Lewis and cornerbacks Jimmy Smith and Lardarius Webb.
—
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL
Add A Comment