Bell: More Ray Rice, less Joe Flacco might have earned Ravens key win

• Flacco still hasn't proven he's an elite quarterback
• Losing to Steelers could cost Ravens bye and home-field advantage
• If teams meet again, advantage Steelers

BALTIMORE — In the aftermath of another down-to-the-wire clash between bitter AFC North rivals, as players mingled on the field at M&T Bank Stadium — and the head coaches had their abrupt postgame handshake moment — Ed Reed got an earful from some of the Pittsburgh Steelers basking in the glory of the huge upset.

Reed, the Baltimore Ravens all-pro safety, maintained that he couldn't remember specifically which Steelers made the remarks. But the message stuck.

"Those guys said, 'See you soon,' " Reed recalled while leaving the locker room after the 23-20 Steelers upset. "They're confident, man. But it's all respect. They're the Steelers."

It would be fitting for another meeting to occur in January, after each team won a three-point grudge match on their rival's turf within a 14-day span. After all, they had a rubber match in the playoffs twice within the past four years. Both times the Ravens were eliminated by the Steelers.

That's the underlying theme with the see-you-soon promise.

"I don't know, but it would not surprise me to see them again," Reed said, "because they put themselves in a good spot by winning against us."

The Steelers (7-5), with No. 3 quarterback Charlie Batch subbing for injured Ben Roethlisberger, showed much grit in snapping a two-game losing streak to maintain their hold on the AFC's final playoff spot.

Yet the most revealing takeaway from Sunday's outcome was what the Ravens (9-3) didn't accomplish as they had their league-best 15-game home winning streak extinguished by the last team to beat them here. In addition to failing to clinch a playoff berth, they blew the chance to inflict a major blow to the Steelers' hopes.

Fumbled a 10-point lead, too.

"It sucks to let this one go," summed up safety Bernard Pollard.

Weeks from now, this could come back to haunt the Ravens — who would be hosting the Steelers in a first-round opener if the playoffs began today.

At the moment, though, the Ravens are troubled by themselves. A week after scratching out an overtime victory at San Diego that was stamped by Ray Rice's brilliance in converting a checkdown pass on fourth-and-29, Rice didn't have a single touch in the fourth quarter of Sunday's setback.

Shouldn't there be a Maryland law against that?

Sure, the Steelers controlled the clock in the final quarter and held onto the football for the last 6 minutes, 42 seconds to set up Shaun Suisham's 42-yard field goal as time expired. But on eight offensive snaps amid two full possessions and a portion of a third in the fourth quarter, Rice's number wasn't called once by offensive coordinator Cam Cameron.

"My touches go with the game flow," Rice said, diplomatically, afterward.

No, his touches can change the flow of a game.

In the third quarter, he started up the middle on a carry, then bounced outside left end and wasn't touched on a 34-yard touchdown.

"Obviously ... we could have run the ball a little more," Rice added. "But you know what? Situational football came into play."

You'd think there would be no situation bigger than winning a game that could make the difference between having a bye week and second-round home game in the playoffs or not. For this, however, the Ravens put it on the arm of Joe Flacco.

This was not a pretty sight.

Flacco had the type of outing that adds to the long-running debate about whether he is an elite quarterback — and when you have to ask, well, Peyton Manning,Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are not subject to such debates.

On the final possession, it was a good thing that he overthrew Torrey Smith on a first-down pass, because the receiver was double-covered. On the series before that, he couldn't get rid of the ball fast enough as James Harrison barreled in for a strip-sack that led to Heath Miller's game-tying seven-yard touchdown catch-and-stretch.

In the second quarter, Flacco escaped a rush from Ziggy Hood but threw an ugly pass downfield for tight end Dennis Pitta that was intercepted by safety Ryan Clark.

On the day, Flacco completed just 16 of 34 passes for 188 yards, with a passer rating of 61.9. He had help with the struggles. Just before Rice's TD, the usually-reliable Smith dropped a pass in the end zone.

Afterward, Ravens coach John Harbaugh defended his quarterback like he's supposed to, while every once else in the room wondered.

"It's a group thing, a team thing," Harbaugh said. "It's not our job to stand up here and assign blame to any individual. It starts with me, putting guys in positions to make plays."

The Ravens are still positioned to win a second consecutive AFC North crown with a two-game lead on the Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals.

But then what?

This does not have the look of a team that can be trusted on an AFC playoff landscape that will feature strong contenders in the Denver Broncos, New England Patriots and Houston Texans. With an injury-stung 25th-ranked defense, Baltimore needs the frequently inconsistent offense to dictate flow.

Then consider that five of their victories were nail-biters that could have gone either way. That resilience gets a stiffer test in January.

Linebacker Ray Lewis could be back. Projected to be lost for the season when he suffered torn triceps in mid-October, the heart-and-soul leader could return to practices as early as Wednesday. But for all of the emotional lift and coach-on-the-field presence that Lewis provides, he's 37 and in his 17th season. Before the injury, he was not as dominant as he used to be.

So that's a wait-and-see development.

Now there's another injury to watch. Linebacker Terrell Suggs left Sunday's game in the fourth quarter with an apparent biceps injury. Suggs, the reigning defensive player of the year, made a remarkable comeback in October after tearing an Achilles' tendon in May. As he seeks to recapture his quarterback-crunching mojo, there's a setback.

In the locker room Sunday, Suggs downplayed his fresh injury. He told the reporters that gathered at his locker, "I'll be alright."

Maybe so. But that does not seem to be the prognosis for the Ravens' chances to win a championship.