This loss stung. It was against our bitter rival at home who remains undefeated even though on paper it looks like the Ravens are the better team. It cost us Ronnie Stanley on a gruesome injury that now means we have no depth at the tackle position. It continues the criticism that Lamar can’t win the big game — even though he played great down the stretch in the fourth quarter. It allowed Coach Mike Tomlin (the one with the evil smirk) to celebrate on our home turf. It disappointed the fans who sat out in the cold rain for the first time this season. It defied the statistics that show how well the Ravens play in the month of November and especially how well they do coming off their bye week.
OBSERVATIONS AND TAKEAWAYS:
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The turnovers were the key to the loss — 2 interceptions and 3 fumbles by Lamar — that tells the story. You can’t win against a quality opponent with those stats — yet the Ravens almost did.
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On Lamar’s first throw of the game which was a stare-the-receiver-down pick-6, the Steelers could have been called for a late hit on the QB.
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The second interception on our first possession in the second half turned the momentum of the game and took away any chance we had of dominating. It was a lazy lollipop throw that allowed the defender to drop off his man in the flat and snare it.
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Lamar still makes some ridiculous decisions when he is in the grasp of a pass rusher and throwing the ball in desperation mode to avoid the sack.
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At the end of the first half in several games, Lamar has allowed the opposition one more crack at scoring in situations where we were clearly in control.
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We were fortunate to have Jimmy Smith available for the game; we need his consistency in the back end.
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There was a huge communication breakdown or missed assignment on the TD pass to the wide open Ebron.
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Teams are picking on Marcus Peters. He makes some great plays like ripping out the fumble; but he is also prone to pass interference and to some bonehead plays. His head-butting shenanigans led to the melee where Judon was rightly tossed for flailing away with his arms and inadvertently contacted an official.
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After Stanley was carted off the field, the Ravens offensive line manned up and led an impressive scoring drive — dominating the line of scrimmage. Too bad we couldn’t recover that dynamic in the second half.
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Our defense held the Steelers to zero production in the first half just as we did in the earlier game against the Eagles. But the second half was a different game.
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I thought we would be able to knock down at least a couple of Big Ben’s throws, but his pocket was pretty impressive throughout the game.
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Our running backs piled up some impressive stats. Dobbins piled up 113 yards on 15 carries and Gus was powerful up the middle. I liked it when we started pitching the ball to Dobbins to get him out on the edge. Those plays were especially effective.
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The crucial fourth down play late in the game that would have led to the winning TD was too predictable a play call. The Steelers were keying on Lamar and prepared for the QB draw. We need to come up with a better call in that situation. That is on the coaching staff.
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According to CBS, the Ravens are the first team since 1950 to both out rush an opponent by over 200 yards and out pass them and still lose the game!
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Yannick did not have any impact plays, which was disappointing for his first game as a Raven.
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We had almost no targets for Hollywood and Mark Andrews.
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Several players had outstanding games including Snead and Ferguson.
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Harbs was complaining to the officials about the bang-bang contact with Willie Snead on the final TD attempt, but it looked to me like a good no-call. Lamar made a great throw; Snead made a great effort; but Fitzpatrick broke up the pass. It’s difficult to look the safety off on such a long desperation pass that everybody knows is going to end up in the end zone.
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At least it can’t be said that the Ravens are peaking too early!