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Ravens Can Bury the Steelers with a Win in Pittsburgh

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Hot take #1:  Jackson isn’t playing good football right now.

Don’t get me wrong, Lamar Jackson is making some plays to win games but he is putting the Ravens in a bad spot quite often. He has been a turnover machine for much of the year, capped off by the four-interception performance again Cleveland. His QBR has been under 46 for four straight games and it was barely over 50 five games ago. In four of his last five games, his YPA have been 6.5 or worse and it’s been 5.5 the last two games. He was the best in the league at this early in the season.

He has also been poor against the blitz. He routinely looks antsy and isn’t going through his progressions as well as he was earlier in the year. There has been a lot of staring down receivers. Lamar is arguably the most important player to his team in the league and it’s no coincidence that they have split the last four games and really, got lucky to win the two they did.

He needs to start playing better or this will become a problem as the schedule gets harder.

Hot take #2:  The Ravens can bury Big Ben and the Steelers this week.

Pittsburgh is hanging on by a thread. They just got blown out by Cincinnati. T.J. Watt is on the COVID list and Big Ben looks like he is about to apply early for his AARP card. They are 6-10-1 in their last 17 games and I heard a stat the other day that they have been out-rushed by almost 950 yards in that time frame.

A Ravens win this weekend will end their playoff hopes. No, they won’t be mathematically out but they will be 3.5 games out of the division lead and would be 1-3 in the division and 3-5 in the conference and they still have a tough schedule left.  If the Steelers do win, it could turn their season around.

Let’s hope the Ravens don’t let that happen. Time to throw the dirt on them.

Hot take #3:  The Ravens have to start faster and score more points.

There are six teams in the AFC that have a better point differential than the Ravens. They are middle of the pack in scoring. The turnovers are certainly a problem. There are only two teams in the NFL with a worse turnover differential than the Ravens. With the schedule they have left and the QBs they still have to face; the Ravens aren’t going to be able to keep winning games as they have.

They are consistently starting games slowly and just aren’t scoring enough. The 3rd down percentage is part of it. They are near the bottom of the league in 3rd down conversion rate. But overall, the team has to be better. Lamar has to be better at taking what is given to him. The running game has to be better on first and second down. Rashod Bateman has to be more involved and, going back to #1, Lamar has to be more efficient.

If they are able to avoid any more key injuries, this team has the ability to go on a run, but the offense has to be better for that to happen.

Hot take #4:  The offensive line is better than people think.

It’s not a great offensive line but PFF had them #13 entering the game Sunday. PFF graded the three interior players well and Patrick Mekari was graded out OK but his play has been solid. Alejandro Villanueva has definitely been an issue at times, as speed rushers give him a problem. With Nick Boyle still working his way back, he isn’t able to help out as much on the left side.

When you hear fans discuss the struggles of the team, most are jumping on the offensive line. While it’s not infallible, it’s average or slightly above and is not the reason the team is struggling offensively.

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