Oct 20, 2013 4 min read

PITTSBURGH – Given how the first month and a half of the 2013 season had gone, who would have thought an opposing team would fear the Steelers’ offense?

That’s exactly what happened Sunday in Pittsburgh’s 19-16 victory over the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.

Trailing 13-9 after kicking a field goal early in the fourth quarter, Baltimore attempted a surprise onside kick. Pittsburgh’s Vince Williams not only recovered the loose ball, the Ravens also were penalized for being offside on the kick.

The Steelers took possession of the ball at the Baltimore 38 – just the second possession this season that has started in an opponent’s territory – and moved into position for a field goal that put them ahead 16-9.

“My first reaction was that they didn’t trust their defense,” said Steelers rookie running back Le’Veon Bell, who had 93 yards rushing on 19 carries. “We took that as a confidence boost. They didn’t feel like they could stop us.”

That had certainly not been the case for the Steelers’ running game this season. Pittsburgh came into Sunday’s game averaging just 61 yards rushing per game.

When your quarterback has a higher completion percentage – 65 percent – than you average per game on the ground, it’s definitely not a good thing.

On Sunday, Bell matched that total in the first half by himself as the Steelers ran for a season-high 141 yards on 29 bruising carries.

“The credit goes to the offensive line,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “They did such a good job opening holes. … When there were holes, the running backs got to it. Even when there weren’t, they got pushes. There were times that Le’Veon or whoever was in, was stacked up for a two-yard gain, and you saw our whole line push it for another three to four yards. To me, that’s just an attitude and a mindset.”

All too often in recent years, the Steelers had not been able to produce that mindset. Injuries on the offensive line and inconsistency at running back added up to just five 100-yard rushing games as a team in 2012. It had been nearly a year since their last 100-yard effort, Nov. 4, 2012 in a win over the Giants.

But in Bell, a second-round draft pick, the Steelers feel like they have a running back capable of taking over games and helping them control the clock. All told, Baltimore had just seven offensive possessions. Pittsburgh had eight, the final one ending with Shaun Suisham’s game-winning field goal.

That in turn, helps the defense, limiting possessions and consuming valuable time off the clock.

“They had some long drives, and we were struggling to get possessions and get our offense on the field,” said Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh of his reasoning for attempting the onside kick.

It’s been a tried-and-true formula for victories for a number of years.

“Although our team has changed from year to year, that’s been our formula,” said safety Troy Polamalu.

The Steelers even tried some new wrinkles to make that formula work, running some Wildcat plays with Bell – a former high school quarterback – taking a shotgun snap and handing off to wide receiver Antonio Brown or keeping the ball and running it himself.

“We’ll do anything to win football games,” said head coach Mike Tomlin. “That’s just the state we’re in.”

At 2-4, the Steelers haven’t completely made up for a forgettable opening month. But having now put together a pair of wins against two AFC contenders – the Jets and the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens – they at least appear to be on the right track.

Now, if they can start finishing some of those long drives with touchdowns rather than field goals, they might actually have something.

They’re taking baby steps. And if those steps happen to include stacking up some wins along the way, all the better.

F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com