The Ravens fell to the Steelers 20-19 in Pittsburgh. RSR staff react to the loss here…
Derek Arnold
Unlike many of you, I have no problem with the call to go for two at the end. Play for the win on the road, for the tie at home, right? With the news that John Harbaugh knew he would be without Marlon Humphrey in an OT period, the call makes even more sense. It just didn’t work out.
This team has lived on the edge all year, and sooner or later they were going to fall in one of these nail-biters. Honestly, they had no business winning. If they were truly the class of the conference, as their playoff seeding indicated, they would have blown the Steelers’ doors off. Instead, a promising opening drive resulted in no points when Lamar Jackson threw another completely boneheaded interception, off his back foot, in the end zone. And that came after it looked like Jackson was actually going to correct some things, namely ignoring his checkdown options – he dropped it off several times underneath on that first drive, and Ravens players got some nice YAC. Alas, Lamar didn’t keep doing that, reverting back to holding the ball entirely too long on his way to taking SEVEN sacks on the day. Yes, Patrick Mekari went out. Yes T.J. Watt is a monster. But several of those were the same thing we’ve seen for over a month now – Jackson refusing to make the smart play and throw it away or underneath and live to play another down.
The offense is completely broken right now, and the injuries to the OL can be an excuse for so long. It’s inexcusable that they can’t figure out how to get Rashod Bateman involved. Jackson’s turnovers and eating sacks are glaring problems.
The defense was fine, but they still can’t come up with any splash plays, today dropping several more interceptions and somehow failing to get any pressure on the statuesque Ben Roethlisberger. They bottled up Najee Harris nicely, but the old bugaboo of receivers running free through the secondary seems like it will never be fixed. Humphrey hasn’t been nearly as good as advertised, but things are only going to get worse if he is out for an extended period.
They’re now just 1-2 in the division with a rested Browns team on the horizon.
Darin McCann
There was a lot to hate about this game. Bad throws, dropped passes, missed tackles, dropped interceptions… we could keep going, but I’m not a sadist. The Ravens should have won this game a hundred different ways, and they almost won it one final time when things seemed most bleak. Shoulda, woulda. They lost, and it will leave a bad taste in their mouth. This team got lucky the Bengals lost today to keep their position in the division, but they need to get things figured out, particularly in their passing game, if they want this crazy season to actually go anywhere.
Ben Dackiw
I’m just disgusted. This is the worst football team the Steelers have fielded in years and the Ravens blew a perfect opportunity to gain ground in both the division and the conference.
Anyone who blames the defense is wrong. This loss is all on the offense.
Lamar had an awful game. Even easy completions we’re looking difficult for him today.
Honestly this loss might help the Ravens more than a win. A loss gets this team thinking about what went wrong.
Chad Racine
The Ravens offense is putrid right now. I didn’t have any faith they could score on the final drive but they did. I didn’t have a problem with the call to go for two. They just failed to execute.
It’s on to a rested Brown’s next week.
Rob Shields
The luck finally ran out on the Ravens. They certainly could have won the game but let’s face it, they have had games go their way a lot this year, so it’s not surprising to see things even out.
The game really turned once Mekari was done. T.J. Watt dominated Tyre Phillips and made it difficult on the offense.
The defense played well for most of the game but since the offense did very little in the second half, the defense wore down and just couldn’t stop Pitt, which is sad because that offense isn’t good.
All of that being said, this game is on Lamar. Yes he deserves credit for the final drive and Mark Andrews has to catch that ball for the two-point conversion (right call to go for 2 btw) but Lamar played a terrible game. Holding the ball too long, missing open receivers, not targeting enough players, locking onto one guy or one side of the field, the terrible INT, etc…He has zero idea how to handle the blitz. I’m not sure what happened but he’s scared now. It reminds me of how Joe Flacco looked after his torn ACL. He was never the same player after that. This team will not make the playoffs if Lamar doesn’t figure things out because right now, he is an awful NFL QB and one you can’t even think about extending.
News came out after the game that Humphrey could miss time. He grabbed for his pec after the Steelers’ final TD, so I’m guessing he tore it and is done for the year. Add in the idea that it was also announced that Mekari is out multiple weeks and it is looking increasingly unlikely that the Ravens make the playoffs.
Kevin McNelis
Let’s get this out of the way off the bat: I get going for two at the end of the game. I completely understand the people clamoring to let Tucker’s leg take you to OT, but what happens if you lose the toss? Are you really going to put the game on the back of the defense the way they played in the fourth quarter? I wouldn’t have.
This game was the continuation of some really concerning trends. One was Lamar’s ball placement and the inability to get rid of it on time. He dialed it in on the last drive, but it was too little, too late.
That leads to the second trend, the more concerning of the two: constantly playing down to competition. This team doesn’t feel like the “foot to the throat” merciless offense of Lamar’s MVP season, and while they’re obviously hampered by injury, they constantly leave the door open to opponents. The Chargers did Baltimore a huge favor by beating the Bengals today, and the Ravens squandered the opportunity.
The season just HAS to be close in all respects, doesn’t it? Between the standings and the games themselves, this season feels like it’s been worth the stress of three of four seasons. If you were hoping that watching the Ravens this season would be an escape from the stress of your week, you picked the wrong year. That’s Ravens football, I guess.
