Wallace Lauds Leftwich, Laments Offensive Effort
PITTSBURGH (93-7 THE FAN) -- For all his struggles Sunday night, Byron Leftwich produced one more touchdown than did Joe Flacco. Receiver Mike Wallace, who also endured a rough night, believes the quarterback and the defense deserved a better fate in a 13-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.
"The defense played really, really well...definitely good enough to win the football game. The offense didn't come to play today," Wallace said. "We can't just get that first touchdown, and then go flat. We've got to help our defense out."
Wallace caught four passes for 26 yards, fumbling an early third-down conversion that led to a Ravens field goal, and missing a deep Leftwich pass in the final minute of the game.
Despite the lack of success with the deep ball, Wallace would have liked to see the offense take more chances, as was the case on the first play of the game: a long bomb that led to a defensive pass interference call against Chykie Brown, which set up the Steelers' lone touchdown.
"I had [Leftwich] a couple times. We just couldn't link up, for one reason or another. We had a lot of plays downfield. We just got that one shot on the first play. After that...we had pressure on a couple of plays, and we had things happen where we just couldn't get it off. But we still could've gotten them on the deep balls."
Amidst fan outcry for a Charlie Batch cameo, Wallace stood behind his second-string quarterback, and also gave his perspective on the near-touchdown pass on third down prior to Shaun Suisham's field goal:
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The Steelers (6-4) head to Cleveland for another AFC North contest against the Browns (2-8) Sunday at 1:00.
