Steelers Suffer a Brown Out

By a foot, the Pittsburgh Steelers missed taking a firm grip on the AFC Central and hurting the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens’ chances of returning to the playoffs.

Kris Brown’s foot.

Brown, usually one of the league’s most dependable kickers, missed a 35-yard field goal try in the closing seconds and the Ravens got two field goals from Matt Stover in the fourth quarter to beat Pittsburgh, 13-10, Sunday in a matchup of the NFL’s two best defenses.

The Ravens (5-3), winning in Pittsburgh for the third straight season, were in danger of going three losses down to the Steelers (5-2) in the division. Instead, they got just enough offense to win on a day their No. 2-ranked defense had just enough left to keep from losing.

The Steelers had 21 first downs to the Ravens’ 10 and outgained them, 348-183, only to lose because the most reliable component of their offense broke down. Brown missed four of five field goal attempts on a breezy, 59-degree day.

Brown was 11 of 13 going into the game and had made nine of his previous 10.

“It just was a bad stroke,” Brown said, referring to his decisive miss with eight seconds remaining. “I lost the game for my team. I don’t have any excuses.”

After making a 38-yarder in the first quarter, Brown was wide right on a 41-yarder later in the half, and also missed a 33-yarder in the third quarter that was partially blocked.

Brown missed yet again, a 48-yard attempt at the windy end of Heinz Field with 4:22 remaining that would have put the Steelers ahead. His final miss also came at the open end, where winds blow in from Pittsburgh’s three rivers.

Stover followed Brown’s third miss by putting the Ravens ahead on a 39-yarder with 1:49 left, on a drive highlighted by Randall Cunningham’s 26-yard completion to Shannon Sharpe. The two also hooked up in the first half on a 13-yard pass for Baltimore’s lone touchdown, one set up by Jermaine Lewis’ 53-yard kickoff return.

Stover tied it at 10 with a 25-yarder he was forced to kick twice. Following a long conference, the officials decided the third quarter ended before he got the first kick off. That forced him to make it again at the protected end of the stadium.

“I don’t want to give Matt Stover too much credit--he’s a glorified soccer player--but I’ve got to give it to him,” Raven lineman Tony Siragusa said, laughing. “With the wind today, it was tough to kick field goals.”