PITTSBURGH --Dewayne Washington was expecting a high pass from Jeff Blake -- and that's what he got. The Pittsburgh Steelers' cornerback sought a jump ball, and he came down with it on the Ravens' final, fateful offensive play of 2002.

"I felt like I had real good coverage on the guy," Washington said after the Steelers' 34-31 triumph yesterday, referring to the double coverage he and safety Lee Flowers displayed in front of 6-foot-3 rookie receiver Randy Hymes. "I was kind of surprised he threw it. I had to go as high as I could to get it, 'cause he likes to throw it up."

Blake tossed it up, and Washington brought down the Ravens (7-9).

It was Washington's first interception in half a season -- dating back to Game 8, at Cleveland, Nov. 3. More than that, it was his first turnover of any kind over that period. And it came with 14 seconds remaining in the regular season, with the Ravens enjoying a first down at the Steelers' 11 and no less than an easy Matt Stover field-goal chance at overtime.

Most of the Steelers' defenders weren't surprised by the Ravens' tactics: going for the end zone and the potential winning pass instead of the tying field goal. They weren't swayed by the fact that the visitors ran on three successive downs, Jamal Lewis (86 yards on 14 carries) and Chester Taylor (17 on five) moving their team to the Steelers' 20 with less than a half-minute remaining.

Blake dropped back for a pass attempt from there, but got clouted by a helmet butt from Steelers linebacker Joey Porter, on whom officials called a roughing-the-passer penalty.

Maybe Blake threw into the Washington-Flowers double coverage on the next play because he was still woozy from that Porter hit?

"Nah," said Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith. "I think he did a heck of an acting job on that. Joey didn't hit him that hard."

When the Ravens had the ball most of this afternoon, they moved with relative ease against a defense that ranks near the top of the NFL.

Granted, the Steelers were missing their second- and third-leading tacklers, cornerback Chad Scott and linebacker James Farrior, ailing and inactive players who were replaced by Deshea Townsend and Mike Jones, respectively. Yet there was no disputing the numbers that the Ravens compiled against a decorated defense.

The league's No. 1 rushing defense graciously permitted 5 yards per carry and 114 overall to Baltimore's backs.

And it gave up its most yards passing, at 336, since a Week 2 loss when Oakland's Rich Gannon threw for 403 yards. That was on 43 completions, compared to Blake's 19.

"Blake had a hot hand," Washington said. "He was making plays all day up and down the field."

Many of them went to Pro Bowl tight end Todd Heap, who collected the second-most receiving yards this season against the Steelers, with 146 on seven catches. It was Washington who attempted, and failed, to offer resistance on the Blake touchdown pass to Heap, the 31-yarder midway through the third quarter giving the visitors a 24-20 lead.

Opposing quarterbacks had filled the air with 265 pass attempts between Washington interceptions. This one sent the Ravens into the offseason earlier than the previous two years and helped the Steelers to advance to the playoffs with an 8-2-1 regular-season flourish.

"I think [Blake] misjudged how far he was going to throw it," Jones said.

"It was a crazy game," Porter said. "When it was time to do it, we buckled down."

Said Washington: "I'm a believer, man."