The Steelers offense stumbled through the second quarter, and the Ravens were able to take advantage, heading to the locker room with a 13-6 lead.
The Steelers had a 3-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Ravens were driving at the time, and they concluded that drive early in the second quarter with a game-tying 45-yard field goal.
With Ike Taylor out with an ankle injury, the Ravens repeatedly attempted to exploit the matchup of Torrey Smith and young cornerback Cortez Allen. That nearly backfired when Allen almost picked off a pass in the Ravens' second drive of the quarter, but a few plays later, Allen got called for a big pass interference penalty in the red zone. That led to a 23-yard field goal to give the Ravens a 6-3 lead.
The Steelers, meanwhile, struggled to get anything going offensively -- their offense got the job done in the first quarter, but in the second quarter it looked like it has typically looked since losing Ben Roethlisberger to injury.
Near the middle of the quarter, Ryan Clark put the Steelers in good position by picking off a Joe Flacco pass near midfield, but the Steelers quickly gave that back with an interception of their own. Charlie Batch handed the ball off to Antonio Brown on a reverse, and Brown attempted to pass across the field to Jonathan Dwyer. It wasn't a terrible attempt, but Corey Graham showed great awareness in picking it off. A few plays later, Joe Flacco completed two straight long passes to Anquan Boldin, the second of which went for a 28-yard touchdown that gave the Ravens a 13-3 advantage.
Near the end of the quarter, Batch tried to connect with Mike Wallace on a couple deep balls, which might have worked out a lot better -- on one, Batch threw a perfect strike to Wallace, but Wallace simply dropped it completely. On another, a breakdown in the Ravens defense left Wallace wide open in the end zone, but Batch threw it well over his head. Shaun Suisham did kick a field goal with less than a minute left in the half to make it 13-6.