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Pittsburgh wide receiver Hines Ward celebrates after a touchdown catch against the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.

Along the sideline, the Ravens had the look of a team that couldn't believe it had squandered the lead — and couldn't figure out how to get it back. They never did.

"We felt good at the half," Rice said. "Our defense had them stopped and I thought we were going to come out and handle our business. But then the situation happened — fumble, turnover, another turnover."

Roethlisberger went 19 of 32 as he beat the Ravens for the seventh successive time in a rivalry in which both teams had won twice by 3-point margins during the last two seasons. The asterisk: Roethlisberger didn't play in either Steelers loss.

Baltimore turned it over for the third time in nine minutes as center Matt Birk snapped the ball early to Flacco, who never got his hands on it, and Keisel recovered at the 23.

The drive stalled, but Shaun Suisham, who had missed earlier from the 43, converted a 35-yard field goal with 12:15 remaining to give Pittsburgh its first lead since its opening drive at 24-21.

An apparent Lardarius Webb punt return touchdown was negated by a holding penalty on Marcus Smith, but the Ravens — with only 36 yards of offense in the half to that point — tied it at 24 on Billy Cundiff's 24-yard field goal with 3:54 remaining. That was too much time for Roethlisberger, who excels in fourth quarter comebacks.

Each team took advantage of a long pass interference penalty to score during a penalty-filled first quarter. Josh Wilson's 37-yard penalty for yanking on Mike Wallace led to Mendenhall's 1-yard touchdown run on the Steelers' first possession.

On a third-and-15 play, Steelers backup Anthony Madison's 33-yard pass interference penalty set up Rice's 14-yard TD run up the middle.

Then it really got interesting.

After Roethlisberger threw incomplete on the Steelers' first play following the kickoff, Terrell Suggs knocked the ball loose from the quarterback as he tried to get off a pass. Roethlisberger pump faked but, before he could bring his right arm forward, the ball came out.

As Suggs celebrated the apparent incompletion, the ball lay on the turf for one, two, three full seconds. Haloti Ngata was closest to it but no one touched it until an alert Redding — realizing the whistle hadn't blown — picked it up and ran it into the end zone from the 13.

Mendenhall fumbled on the Steelers' subsequent possession, Ed Reed recovered and Flacco threw a 4-yard TD pass to Heap.

Notes: Mendenhall was the game's leading rusher with only 46 yards on 20 carries. ... Pittsburgh lost to New England 39-26 and to New York 21-16 during the season. ... There were 11 sacks in the game, six by Baltimore, including three by Suggs. Pittsburgh LB James Harrison also has three sacks.

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