Tim Benz: Ben Roethlisberger hits the mark when discussing lack of crackle in Sunday's Steelers-Ravens game

If you watched the Steelers-Ravens game on Sunday afternoon at Acrisure Stadium, you probably noticed Baltimore’s 16-14 win was missing something.

Offense.

But, hey, that’s nothing different from when these two franchises usually face one another. This rivalry is rooted in a history of hard-hitting, defensive wars of attrition.

Unfortunately, this edition of the game felt just as much like what the offenses couldn’t do (at least through the air) as it did about what the defenses were doing successfully. After all, it’s not like the Steelers defense was very good. It got pushed around to the tune of 215 yards rushing. We should at least credit the Ravens for being good on the ground.

No, this was more like two offenses that were limited in different ways, while the defenses just tried to hold serve.

What else should be expected in a game that featured a rookie starter (Kenny Pickett) for the Steelers, who eventually gave way due to injury to recently displaced backup Mitch Trubisky.

Meanwhile, the Ravens were down to their second-string (Tyler Huntley) and third-string (Antony Brown) signal callers since starter Lamar Jackson was inactive.

You know what else the game seemed to lack? It’s usual tone of buildup. Hype. Anticipation. Tension.

That’s probably because the Steelers were barely on the outskirts of the playoff picture to begin with and the Ravens have been slipping of late. Baltimore lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars and narrowly beat the struggling Denver Broncos, 10-9. Neither team is predicted to do anything special beyond the regular season. In fact, the Steelers may not even finish above .500 for the first time since 2003.

Also, neither roster is as caked with Pro Bowl talent as both used to have a decade ago.

That’s not just my point of view. Recently retired Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger expressed a similar sentiment on his most recent “Footbahlin’ with Ben” podcast.

“You got your butt kicked. And you were sore for two weeks after that game. But it was always like, ‘I’m gonna drill you, and I’m going to help you up. Because I don’t want you to be down. I want to keep playing against you,’” Roethlisberger recalled. “If we played that game and (Terrell) Suggs wasn’t there, and Ray (Lewis) or Ed (Reed) wasn’t out there, we were happy in a sense. But then, in the other sense, it was like, ‘No, I want to play against that guy.’ And I know they would say the same in games I wasn’t out there. They probably were happy. But they were always like, ‘I want to be in there against him.’ So, that rivalry always meant something special.”

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So many new faces are involved in the game now. Ten years have elapsed since either team went to the Super Bowl. As a result, Big Ben sounds like a guy who thinks that rivalry may have lost some of its spark.

“I don’t know if it still has that feel — if guys know that tradition and know what it’s like,” Roethlisberger said. “But for a while, a good 14 or 15 years, that rivalry was so special and so much fun.”

From 2000-16, nine AFC championship games featured either the Steelers or Ravens. That includes Jan. 18, 2009, when the squads played each other in the game with the Steelers prevailing 23-14 in Pittsburgh. Three other times in the AFC playoffs during that stretch, the teams played each other in the postseason, with the Steelers winning twice (2001, 2010) and Baltimore winning once (2014).

“To watch it from the stands this time was definitely different,” Roethlisberger admitted. “For a Baltimore game, to see the stands semi-(capacity), it felt like it was — not half (full), but — it didn’t feel like it was typical. That game is (usually) a Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night. It brought it. And it brought the crowds. It brought the TV. (Sunday) it just felt a little different. But it didn’t disappoint in the sense that it was a good game.”

Well, it was a close game. Let’s leave it at that. Based on the Steelers’ three turnovers, porous run defense, lack of takeaways and special teams mishaps, I wouldn’t go so far as to call it “good,” though.

Let’s see what the New Year’s Day rematch in Baltimore holds.