Kevin Gorman's Take 5: Five thoughts on Steelers 39, Ravens 38

1. The Steelers gave symbolic salutes before their Sunday Night game against the AFC North archrival Baltimore Ravens to inside linebacker Ryan Shazier, who remains hospitalized following spinal stabilization surgery.

Where some Steelers wore their hearts on their sleeves — with T-shirts with Shazier's No. 50 on the front — 15 wore them on custom cleats adorned with Shazier's image and #Shalieve. James Harrison took it a step further, emulating Shazier by wearing a tassel cap and going shirtless for pregame warm-ups.

The greatest gesture came when Bud Dupree held Shazier's No. 50 jersey during introductions, and Dupree and Cameron Heyward carried it while walking to the Steelers sideline.

While the Steelers displayed their affection for Shazier, they couldn't hide the hole the absence of their signal caller and leading tackler created in the middle of their defense.

Sean Spence, who was out of a job six days earlier, got the starting nod at inside linebacker and split snaps with converted outside linebacker Arthur Moats. The Ravens repeatedly attacked the soft spots the speedy Shazier could have covered.

Which made me wonder: If Joe Flacco and Alex Collins can exploit the Steelers with such ease, what will Tom Brady and the New England Patriots do to this defense?

2. How about this statistical gem, tweeted by Steelers PR man Dom Rinelli? The Steelers had a 61-2-1 record when entering halftime with a lead of six points or more in regular-season home games at Heinz Field since the stadium opened in 2001.

The Steelers took a 14-point lead on Bell's 1-yard touchdown run at 13:11 of the second quarter, and Chris Boswell's 33-yard field goal with 1 second left gave them a 20-14 halftime lead.

That's a six-point cushion.

So the Steelers should have been safe.

Somehow, that became an 11-point deficit — a 25-point scoring swing — as they trailed 31-20 to start the fourth quarter.

3. Sean Davis got off to a good start, picking off Flacco's third-and-4 pass at the Steelers' 6 and returning it 35 yards to the 41.

That turnover gave the Steelers momentum for their first touchdown drive of 59 yards, capped by Le'Veon Bell's 20-yard touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger.

But it was a rough night for Davis, who was beaten for a 30-yard touchdown pass from Flacco to Chris Moore to cut it to 14-7 in the second quarter and a 40-yard pass to a wide-open Mike Wallace in the third quarter that put the Ravens in position for a Justin Tucker 47-yard field goal to cut it to 20-17 early in the third quarter.

The blown coverage was bad, but his biggest transgression came after a 23-yard run by Collins. When Collins stepped out of bounds on the Steelers sideline, Davis popped him with a shoulder that knocked Collins off his feet and drew a 14-yard penalty flag for unnecessary roughness.

Instead of getting the ball at midfield, the Ravens moved to the Steelers 38. Following a pass-interference penalty by cornerback Artie Burns on Wallace, the Ravens threw a 6-yard scoring pass to Patrick Ricard for a 31-20 lead.

Davis made another major gaffe in the fourth quarter, lifting tight end Benjamin Watson off his feet and body-slamming him to the turf after an incomplete pass to draw another unnecessary roughness flag.

It's one thing to get beat, another to beat yourself.

4. It wasn't much better for Burns, who twice drew pass-interference penalties while covering Mike Wallace.

The first came late in the third quarter, when Burns got his arm tangled with Wallace on a play that free safety Mike Mitchell nearly intercepted at the goal line.

The Ravens got the ball at the Steelers' 6, and Flacco threw a scoring pass to Ricard on the next play for a 31-20 lead.

The second, on a deep pass down the left sideline, followed Davis' personal foul. It was questionable call, one that saw an infuriated Burns remove his helmet and argue with officials.

The Ravens picked up 20 yards and scored four plays later, on a 9-yard run by Javorius Allen for a 38-29 lead with 6:44 remaining.

Once the strength of the Steelers defense early this season, it has been unsettling to see how the secondary has become unglued since cornerback Joe Haden was injured at Indianapolis.

5. Somehow, the Steelers answered the Ravens in the fourth quarter and rallied to regain the lead.

They started with an 80-yard drive capped by Boswell's 24-yard field goal to cut it to 31-23 with 12:16 left.

Antonio Brown had an amazing 57-yard catch-and-run to the Ravens' 10, then drew a holding penalty on cornerback Brandon Carr to put the Steelers at the 1.

Heinz Field went ballistic for the next play.

Roethlisberger found fullback Roosevelt Nix in the end zone for a touchdown, the first of Nix's NFL career and one that cut the deficit to 31-29 with 9:15 remaining.

Bell was stopped short on the 2-point conversion attempt, and the Ravens took advantage of the Davis and Burns penalties to score on the next drive.

But the Steelers scored again, this time capping a 68-yard drive with Bell's 11-yard touchdown run to cut it to 38-36 with 3:29 left.

And then they scored again, after Roethlisberger fired a bullet to James for a 16-yard gain on third-and-13 from the 14 and dropped a picture-perfect pass to Brown along the right sideline for 34 yards on third-and-4 from the 36 to position Boswell for a 46-yard field goal and a 39-38 lead.

Only one problem: The Steelers left 42 seconds to spare.

But the defense did what it struggled to do all game, stopping the Ravens when time ran out after T.J. Watt sacked Flacco and forced a fumble.

That's eight consecutive victories, the fourth on a field goal in the final minute in the past five games.

Shalieve that?

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at kgorman@tribweb.com or via Twitter @KGorman_Trib.