Five things we learned from Steelers 17, Ravens 10:

1. Comeback kids

Trailing by a touchdown as the third quarter expired? The Pittsburgh Steelers had the Baltimore Ravens right where they wanted them.

Overcoming the 10-3 deficit as the fourth quarter began Sunday, the Steelers won for a fourth consecutive occasion in which they entered the final quarter trailing by seven points or fewer. The Steelers also came back from down 22-19 to the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 18 to follow up their wins during Weeks 16 and 17 last season in which they rallied to win home games against the Las Vegas Raiders and Ravens while trailing by a touchdown each time.

Each of those victories were directed by quarterback Kenny Pickett, who also was at the helm for a comeback win at the Indianapolis Colts last November in which the Steelers entered the fourth quarter down by a point.

Since the start of the 2020 season, the Steelers are 13-19-1 when trailing by any margin at the end of the third quarter. Their 13 victories in such circumstances are the most in the NFL in that time frame, as is their .409 winning percentage (minimum 15 such opportunities).

2. Two-and-whoa

Coupled with the aforementioned 26-22 victory against the Browns last month, the Steelers are 2-0 in AFC North play so far this season. Oddly enough, for a team that has not had a losing record in division games in any of the past 13 seasons, this is just the third time since 2010 that the Steelers started out 2-0 against AFC North rivals.

The Steelers of 2020 won their first four division games (they lost the final two), and the 2017 Steelers were perfect within the AFC North — the only time since realignment created the division in 2002 that the Steelers swept all six games against their rivals.

Since the turn of the century, the only season in which the Steelers had a losing record within their division was 2009, when they went 2-4.

3. First start of many?

Lost in the drama and the oddities associated in the rivalry game was that the Steelers’ first-round pick made his first NFL start. At No. 14 overall, Broderick Jones is the second-highest drafted player by the Steelers since they took Ben Roethlisberger with the 11th pick in 2014 (Devin Bush went No. 10 overall in 2019).

Jones’ first start should have generated hoopla. Instead, not once during an opening statement nor throughout 15 questions did coach Mike Tomlin mention Jones’ name during the postgame news conference. Pickett wasn’t asked about the men who protected his blind side, either.

When you’re an offensive lineman, anonymity typically means good things. That appears to have been the case with Jones on Sunday.

According to Pro Football Focus analysis, Jones did not allow a sack or a hit of Pickett during any of his 38 pass-blocking snaps. He was charged with one hurry of Pickett.

PFF’s subjective grades rated Jones as the seventh-best left tackle among the 26 who started during Week 5 headed into Monday night. PFF also gave Jones its fourth-best grade among left tackles in run blocking over the weekend.

4. Life without Cam

Another rookie who made his first NFL start was defensive tackle Keeanu Benton. The Steelers’ second-round pick had career highs in defensive snaps played (33) and share of total defensive snaps played (47%) during the win against Baltimore.

Benton’s deployment has remained relatively constant over his first five NFL games. His production is showing, too. Over the past three games, Benton has a sack, another QB hit, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and eight tackles.

Benton started alongside veterans Larry Ogunjobi and Montravius Adams as the Steelers played their fourth consecutive game without perennial Pro Bowl defensive lineman Cameron Heyward (groin). For the second time this season, Adams played the most snaps among Steelers defensive linemen.

Adams, Ogunjobi and Benton handled the lion’s share of the work. Armon Watts chipped in with 18 snaps, and Isaiahh Loudermilk played 13.

5. Missing man

Of note along the D-line, though, was that Breiden Fehoko did not play in his first game in uniform for the Steelers. Promoted to the active roster off the practice squad Sept. 20, Fehoko was inactive for last week’s loss in Houston.

What made Fehoko’s lack of action odd is, as arguably the team’s best true nose tackle, Fehoko would seem to be the perfect man to face the run-heavy Ravens. Three days before the game, Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin smiled widely and said, “You draw up Fehoko’s for teams like this.”

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