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Joe Flacco helps Ravens pull away from Steelers

Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs, center, celebrates after intercepting a pass in the fourth quarter in Pittsburgh. (Associated Press)
Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs, center, celebrates after intercepting a pass in the fourth quarter in Pittsburgh. (Associated Press)
Will Graves Associated Press

PITTSBURGH – The Baltimore Ravens survived the tumultuous dismissal of Ray Rice, a sometimes spotty fall and a critical month without their suspended, all-everything nose tackle.

Winning in Pittsburgh in January hardly seemed too much to ask.

Allowed to hit the reset button in the playoffs, Joe Flacco and the NFL’s postseason road warriors are heading to New England with their swagger fully intact.

Rarely flustered in the face of a pass rush that barely laid a hand on him, Flacco tossed two second-half touchdowns as the Ravens pulled away from the Steelers 30-17 in the AFC wild-card game.

“That’s playoff football,” Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said. “That’s Joe Flacco. The best quarterback in football. I’ll take him every day of the week and twice on Sunday or Saturday night.”

Once was more than enough.

Flacco hit Torrey Smith for an 11-yard score in the third quarter and found Crockett Gillmore with a 21-yard pass in the fourth one play after Terrell Suggs picked off Ben Roethlisberger. The Ravens won a playoff game in Pittsburgh for the first time in franchise history, avenging postseason losses in 2008 and 2010 by quieting the NFL’s second-ranked offense.

Baltimore (11-6) sacked Roethlisberger five times and kept All-Pro wide receiver Antonio Brown largely in check. Roethlisberger passed for 334 yards, but the Steelers (11-6) settled for field goals while the Ravens kept scoring touchdowns.

“I didn’t play well enough,” Roethlisberger said. “I didn’t play well enough to win and guys look at me as the leader and the quarterback to make plays and do what it takes to win the game. I don’t believe I did that today.”

Flacco had no such problems. Baltimore heads to top-seeded New England on Saturday, a place where it upset Tom Brady and company two years ago on the way to the franchise’s second Super Bowl title.

The Ravens turned it over just once, scored on six of nine possessions and had an answer every time it seemed the Steelers were ready to grab momentum.

“The big thing is we have a good team and we didn’t hurt ourselves tonight,” Flacco said. “We didn’t have a lot of possessions early. We made the most of them by getting some kind of points.”

The Ravens won their third wild-card game as the sixth seed.

Flacco did what he always seems to do when the calendar flips to January. His seven road playoff wins are the most by a quarterback since the 1970 merger. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 259 yards and the two scores. The Ravens gained a measure of revenge after the archrival Steelers knocked them out of the postseason in 2008 and 2010 at Heinz Field.