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BALTIMORE -- In a game in which the drop kick returned to the NFL, the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens set pro football back half a century.

When they finally cleared through the tangled mess that included 21 penalties, 11 sacks, four turnovers, numerous coaching blunders and other debris yesterday, the Ravens carted off a mild upset, 16-13, in overtime.

Matt Stover kicked his third field goal of the game, from 44 yards with 4:09 left in the 15-minute extra period, to win it. At least Baltimore was able to take something out of it, ending their four-game losing streak to improve to 3-7.

Not only did the Steelers lose their second overtime game this season, but they also lost a chance to break out of a tie for first place in the AFC North with Cincinnati. The Steelers dropped to 7-3 as their 11-game road winning streak crumbled.

"It was a funky game," linebacker Clark Haggans said. "I don't know. It was weird. It was just kind of everybody waiting for some kind of turning point, and it never came."

Oh, but it did. It came when Hines Ward performed the NFL's first drop kick in decades.

The Steelers tied the score, 13-13, on Willie Parker's 11-yard touchdown on a screen pass from Tommy Maddox with 5:15 left. They stopped the Ravens, got the ball back with 1:50 to go and were moving at midfield when Maddox threw toward Ward along the right sideline.

Ward leaped high over Chris McAlister, got his hands on the ball and, as he was trying to bring it in, the momentum threw it toward his foot as he was going down. He inadvertently kicked it with his left foot high into the air, and linebacker Terrell Suggs made a diving interception.

"He was holding, they didn't call it," Ward complained of McAlister. "I tried to bat the ball down with my left hand, I batted it right to my foot and then it went up, and Suggs made a great play on it. It's one of those fluke instances that never in my life happened, and it happened today."

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs snatches a Tommy Maddox pass after it slipped through the arms of receiver Hines Ward, who booted the ball into the air -- and Suggs' waiting arms. The play killed the Steelers' final drive in regulation. Click photo for larger image.

With a minute left, the Ravens went nowhere, and the game went into overtime. Joey Porter called heads, the Steelers chose to receive and their offense took over, perhaps not a good thing on this day.

Twice the Steelers had drives in overtime. They reached the Baltimore 46 on their first series, but on third-and-4, end Anthony Weaver sacked Maddox for an 8-yard loss. Maddox was sacked again -- for the sixth time -- on their next and last series that went backward.

The Steelers seemed to have the Ravens stopped again, but on third-and-10, Kyle Boller hit Randy Hymes with a 12-yard pass along the sideline to the Steelers' 44. The Ravens made another first down, and Stover came on to win it.

"I thought nobody was going to score actually in overtime," Porter said.

That's how poorly both offenses played.

The Ravens constantly blitzed Maddox, who made his second start and earned his second loss in overtime, and they ganged up to stop the run. The Steelers' ground game went nowhere with a season-low 70 yards rushing, and Maddox kept picking himself up off the ground. He completed 19 of 36 for 230 yards and that fluke interception. He also lost a fumble when his arm was hit as he was trying to throw. Coach Bill Cowher could have challenged it except the Steelers had no time outs left because they frittered them all away by sending plays too late from the sideline or sending in the wrong packages.

	Steelers running back Willie Parker was limited to 59 yards on 18 carries, but he scored a touchdown to tie the game on this 11-yard pass and run play in the fourth quarter. Click photo for larger image.

"We were not real efficient on the sideline," Cowher admitted.

Said Maddox: "They came after us a lot, trying to stuff the run and the pass at the same time. We knew they only had three DBs back there so they had to get to me or we'd have our shots down the field."

They mostly got to him. Weaver and linebacker Bart Scott rang him up twice apiece. Once, Suggs returned an interception about 40 yards to inside the 5, but it was canceled by an offside penalty against the Ravens.

Baltimore's offense virtually matched the performance of its opponent. Boller was 21 of 36 for 163 yards and one touchdown, of 3 yards to Hymes. The Steelers sacked him five times, and Deshea Townsend had an interception. The Ravens also lacked much success running with 104 yards on 34 carries. Chester Taylor of Baltimore and Parker had almost identical stats -- each rushed for 59 yards, and Taylor had one more carry with 19.

Typical of each team's offense was the way they scored a few times. The big play on the Ravens' first drive was a 15-yard penalty against James Harrison for roughing the passer. Stover converted from 47 on that series to post the first points of the game early in the second quarter.

Jeff Reed tied it when he kicked a 44-yard field goal on the next series, and Baltimore made it three series three scores when Hymes caught his touchdown pass. It looked as if some semblance of an entertaining game might break out.

But no. Jamal Lewis fumbled at his 20, the Steelers went nowhere after that and settled for another Reed field goal of 37 yards. Stover kicked another, from 25 yards, for a 13-6 halftime score.

The second half deteriorated into a jumble of what can delicately be called bad football.

"We just didn't play well," Porter said.

Tommy Maddox takes a moment after being sacked for the sixth time yesterday. Ravens defensive end Anthony Weaver dropped Maddox for a 3-yard loss.