Ravens Beat The Ravens, Again!

When the Ravens and the Steelers go head-to-head the games just feel different. The level of intensity heightens. This isn’t just a regular season game. This is a rivalry game. Or at least it used to be.

The truth be told, the Steelers are in the Ravens’ heads. The best player on the planet is no longer cool, calm and collected when in the face of pressure. Instead, he morphs into a hyperkinetic, too often purposeless player who makes bad decisions, abandons fundamentals and runs around aimlessly like a sandlot player trying to execute plays drawn up in the dirt.

The coaching staff, particularly on offense, leaves their established identity in the lurch. The things that placed them up upon a favorable perch are forgotten. They get cute. Instead of just executing what they do well, they seek something new, hoping to innovate, but instead, they just detonate.

Now, the Steelers are in control of the AFC North. Just like they’ve controlled the Ravens for the past 5 seasons. A Steelers team with an inferior roster that punks the Ravens again and again and again because they create better game plans and have the faith in the plans to stick with them until the end. And for too long, the ending to these alleged rivalry games is always the same.

This loss drops the Ravens to (7-4) on the season and the conference’s 6th-seed. Only 7 teams per conference punch their ticket to the postseason dance. So now, John Harbaugh & Co. are flirting on the edge. A team with the Ravens’ talent shouldn’t be in their position. Yet here they are, doing the same things, the same way against good teams, expecting different results. And now they’re forced to feel the agony of their fourth defeat, the byproduct of habitual self-inflicted wounds. The scars are intended to be souvenirs of past mistakes, reminders of what to avoid moving forward. But not for the Ravens. They just continue to ignore the scars and kick their own asses.

THE GOOD

Offense

Reluctantly, I’m going to give Isaiah Likely some flowers here. He had four catches for 75 yards, but he did have a crucial fumble that led to another Chris Boswell field goal to put the Steelers up 9-7 at halftime. That said, Likely is a threat with the football in his hands after the catch. Todd Monken needs to find more ways to isolate him…Roger Rosengarten held his own for much of the game when taking on TJ Watt. Watt had just 3 tackles and a sack which was really a gift from Lamar Jackson who stepped out of bounds before throwing it away. He promises to be an above average right tackle.

Defense

The Ravens sacked Russell Wilson four times with Odafe Oweh being credited for 2 ½ sacks. Oweh also had a total of 6 pressures. No one has ever questioned Odafe’s work ethic. It’s nice to see it pay dividends.

.@Ravens @steelers @DafeOweh is getting better…working everyday and putting in the work with Pass Rush Specialist Coach; Chuck Smith. Nothing like seeing the work pay off in the game #BaldysBreakdowns pic.twitter.com/q122p8qlXp

— Brian Baldinger (@BaldyNFL) November 18, 2024

The Ravens secondary performed well as a unit for arguably the first time all season. It’s no coincidence that their collective effectiveness and the benching of Marcus Williams happened simultaneously. Moving forward, Williams should just bring a Lazy Boy to the game and make himself comfortable on the sidelines. Standouts in the secondary were Kyle Hamilton, Ar’Darius Washington and Marlon Humphrey…In limited snaps, newcomer Tre’Davious White made a couple of impactful PDs on moon shots from Wilson to Charles Pickens…

Tre White with a strong PBU vs Pickens in the end zone

Calm & poised in the stem, gets eyes on the ball, then gets his hand in between Pickens’ to dislodge the ball

pic.twitter.com/VsnwWlHa26

— Anthony Cover 1 (@Pro__Ant) November 17, 2024

Nnamdi Madubuike, Travis Jones and Broderick Washington all did a nice job of providing an interior push and forcing Wilson out of his comfort zone. They also ate up blockers to provide the inside backers with a clear path to ball carriers.

On third down the Ravens defense denied the Steelers of a first down on 12 of 16 tries. The Ravens also stopped Wilson & Co. short of the sticks on their only 4th down attempt…As impressively, they stopped the Steelers on all four red zone possessions, one ending with the Humphrey INT in the end zone.

Missed earlier. Marlon Humphrey picks off Russ in the end zone. That is his FIFTH interception this year
pic.twitter.com/brqdRTDpy2

— Bama NFL (@TheBamaNFL) November 18, 2024

Special Teams

Jordan Stout had a nice outing, averaging 54.3 yards with a net average of 46.0, a solid number against one of the league’s best special teams units. Speaking of which, what is up with the camera crew’s attraction to Steelers special teams boss Danny Smith, aka Bazooka Joe. This mofo rips at bubble gum like he’s dependent upon it for oxygen and his on airtime rivals that of Taylor Swift.

Danny Smith reacting to Justin Tucker’s missed FG. #Steelers pic.twitter.com/OnxqlLWr1j

— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) November 17, 2024

THE BAD

The narrative about Lamar, whether you agree or disagree, is that he doesn’t perform well in the playoffs, particularly when compared to and contrasted against his regular season accomplishments. Well, to be fair, this narrative is missing his performances against the Steelers. They stink too!

And oh, that Mr. Tomlin is a sly one, putting some faux respect on “Mr. Jackson” before the game to serve as a strategic red herring. Jackson was just 16 of 33 for 207 yards, a touchdown and a pick, producing an anemic passer rating of 66.1. In these big games he seems to be out to prove something. He’ll pump fake a screen pass or he’ll bail on a quarterback sweep and then throw it – both resulting in an ineligible player downfield. Too often he has daylight to run to, yet he throws instead, oftentimes off-balance, regularly off target. Some will say that the interception wasn’t on him, but had he led Justice Hill properly on that wheel route during which Hill had two steps on the defender, we’re all talking about a different result today. Too many of his passes were high and wide or batted down at the LOS. He’s playing pinball while the Steelers play chess, and too often an offensive possession ends in a tilt.

Lamar on if the Ravens are their own biggest detriment:

“Absolutely. It’s been that way ever since last year, I believe, going back to the AFC Championship game, we killed ourselves. The Chiefs game [in] the [season] opener, we killed ourselves. [The] Raiders [game], we killed ourselves, and today, it’s the same thing. We can’t be beating ourselves in these types of games. We have to find a way to fix that – it’s annoying.”

Lamar on if it’s frustrating to see the defense play well, and for the offense to not put more points on the board and play a complete game:

“Yes. I was hot about that. Our defense played great today. They held a great team, great offense to 18 points, and we just scored 16 points. We had been putting up all of these points all of this year – it’s annoying.”

I’ll tell you what annoying is – having to do this piece after every inexplicable loss and then asking you to read it. THAT’S annoying. Just like when you see the team’s first-round wide receivers drop key passes week in and week out. This time it was Zay Flower’s turn.

Can’t make it up pic.twitter.com/cpSfaUrYDO

— ð™•ð™–ð™˜ð™® (@NewEraZach) November 17, 2024

Staying with this annoying theme, how about Brandon Stephens? Here’s a guy who shadows opposing receivers quite well, but because he fails time and time again to turn and look for the ball, opposing QB’s go at him with lengthy receivers who can make contested catches. Yesterday, Zach Orr or Harbaugh had enough in the 4th quarter and pulled Stephens in favor of White. I wonder how that will play out.

The Ugly

Offense

Can’t win games when you have 12 penalties, 2 missed FGAs, 3 turnovers and the other team has the ball 13 minutes more. Oh, and 22 wasn’t even on the field for the 2-point attempt pic.twitter.com/a4ITRticUX

— Tony Lombardi (@RSRLombardi) November 17, 2024

Like the Steelers’ Danny Smith, Patrick Mekari seems to be getting some airtime too, but in his case, for all the wrong reasons. Each week it seems, we get to watch the bewildered Mekari look up at the jumbotron hoping to find proof that he did nothing wrong. The O-line’s Swiss Army Knife has now been flagged for 6 offensive holding penalties this season. No other NFL player entered play on Sunday with more than 4.

When the Ravens face a tougher defense, they wilt like a slug to a dash of salt. They’ll be tested the next two weeks as well by the Chargers and the Eagles. Can’t wait!

The Ravens also put themselves behind the 8-ball with unproductive first and second downs forcing them into undesirable 3rd down conversion attempts. They were 4-of-11 on the afternoon, the seven failed attempts coming on 3rd-and 10, 6, 11, 6, 11, 10 and 11. No wonder time of possession and number of plays were so lopsided in favor of the Steelers. (T.O.P. 36:22 to 23:38; Plays 74 to 54)

How do you not account for the best player on the field? What the hell just happened in the video below? Oh, let me guess – a failure to communicate. Something John and the boys will learn from and work hard to clean up after they look at the tape, right?

DERRICK HENRY MEET TJ WATT@JJWatt pic.twitter.com/RetRPubUgL

— NFL on CBS (@NFLonCBS) November 17, 2024

Special Teams

Justin Tucker, we don’t know you anymore. It actually hurts me to type this…

Justin Tucker has now missed five field goals this year and they’ve ALL missed wide left. Have to think he’s starting to get frustrated with the fact that he can’t fix whatever his issue is #Ravens pic.twitter.com/osv7iwIRqt

— John Breech (@johnbreech) November 17, 2024

COACHING

John Harbaugh

Harbaugh didn’t commit three turnovers, but the team is still a solid +2 in turnovers on the season. He didn’t miss those field goals, and it’s not his fault that given the fall of Justin Tucker that the team ranks 29th in the league in FG% (72.7%). And he didn’t commit those penalties. But discipline and fundamental football or lack thereof, are indictments against the staff.

Heading into the game, Baltimore led the league in penalties committed (80) and penalty yards (683). After yesterday, it’s apparent that this is one lead the Ravens will not give up. And when you’re looking to secure divisional wins in games that are historically close, it’s those details that in the end, make a huge difference in an 18-16 game.

“Well, it’s a screen, which is like a run. You can’t take a knee there – they have three timeouts. You take a knee, they’re calling timeouts, [and then] you’re punting from your own 12-yard line or whatever it was. So you have to try to get at least a good play to start so they don’t call their timeouts; it was just a fumble.” ~ John Harbaugh on the rationale for the screen pass call towards the end of the first half.

And there you have it – not killing the clock to end the half explained.

Since Super Bowl 47, which is beginning to feel like a lifetime ago, the Ravens under Harbaugh have just 3 playoff wins. And now he’s lost 8 of their last 9 to the team’s archrival. The mistakes the Ravens regularly make in tough games bely a team guided by the same head coach for nearly 17 seasons. They lack discipline and focus and usually that kind of team has a dawg mentality. They are brutally tough and willing to sacrifice a penalty here and there to preserve the intimidation factor. The Ravens don’t intimidate, yet they are flagged regularly, so they’ve got that going for them.

If the question that Ray Lewis once asked his teammates before every game was presented to today’s Ravens, the answer would be “No.”

“Any dogs in the house?

Todd Monken

Derrick Henry had 8 carries for 52 yards in the first half – 6.5 YPC. On a couple of runs that went for 4-5 yards, he looked like he was about to rip off another long gallop, but shoestring tackles prevented it. But they were close.

In the second half of games, Henry normally wears down a defense but with just 5 attempts after intermission on Sunday in Pittsburgh, it wasn’t nearly enough. And then, during the game’s most important play, Monken thought it was a good idea to leave Henry on the sidelines. Henry inside the 5-yard line attracts a lot of attention. Even if Monken thought that the then idle Henry might not contribute, his presence gives the defense pause and that little hesitation in close quarters around the goal line, opens things up for others, including Lamar.

Henry not taking the field, as big of a gaffe as it was, paled in comparison to the horrific play Monken dialed up that was a complete cluster from the jump. And this was AFTER a Steelers timeout.

STEELERS DENY THE GAME-TYING 2-PT CONVERSION.

: #BALvsPIT on CBS/Paramount+
: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/Vzrz2wUyIu

— NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2024

Zach Orr

Orr has been heavily criticized on multiple fronts for the aberration that is the Baltimore Ravens 2024 defense. But give him credit for crafting a game plan that worked well against a hot Steelers offense. The back end performed well against the deep ball. They kept plays in front. The intermediate line of pass defense did a much better job of challenging 8–12-yard throws. And the pass rush, oftentimes with just four rushing, pressured Wilson throughout.

THE PAIGE SPIRANAC AWARD

Roquan Smith hasn’t been the same player – until yesterday. He had 13 tackles in 3 quarters, two for losses. He was physical and instrumental in containing the Steelers running game. He was also much more on point in coverage. Essentially, he was the Roquan Smith that the Ravens signed to a record contract. Hopefully, he’ll be good to go on Monday night, but hamstring injuries are a beast to project.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Sometimes a loss can be good although at the time of the unsettling experience, it doesn’t quite feel that way. Maybe the Ravens learned something from the failures of their offensive approach yesterday. Maybe they also learned something about their defense. Maybe the effort in Acrisure Stadium is a building block. The talent is there to put it all together and make a run, assuming they can avoid their mind-boggling tendency to outsmart themselves and abandon their identity, particularly during games that matter the most.

That said, if history is any indication, Harbaugh and his staff might need a stint in rehab to cure them of their abundantly redundant habits. But I’m guessing his answer would be, “No. No. No.”

After all, who holds John accountable?

The post Ravens Beat The Ravens, Again! appeared first on Russell Street Report.

Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2024/11/18/gbu-paige-spiranac/steelers-steal-another-one-from-the-ravens/