OTL: A Sour Start to the New Year

It has not been the happiest of New Years for our Ravens so far, with a crushing loss to the Steelers dealing a potentially fatal blow to Baltimore’s hopes of winning the division.

The night started off so well.

There was the always-cool pregame lights show…

Gotta love a night game light show! pic.twitter.com/9yGdpaL7az

— Gerry Sandusky (@GerrySandusky) January 2, 2023

…a touching tribute to Franco Harris…

Lovely gesture from the Ravens to honor Steelers great Franco Harris with a moment of silence before today’s game. #HereWeGo #RavensFlock pic.twitter.com/NDdCw24MOa

— Melissa Y. Kim (@melissaykim) January 2, 2023

…and even the return of Poe after his preseason injury! The M&T Bank production team deserves a ton of credit. They stepped up for the primetime slot with less notice than usual and hit it out of the park.

Unfortunately, that was not the case with the team, who looked flat and somewhat unprepared on both sides of the ball.

Harbaugh said blame starts with him. Said coaching staff didn’t do a good enough job.

— Jeff Zrebiec (@jeffzrebiec) January 2, 2023

Offensively, it was exactly what you would expect from an offense bereft of its MVP quarterback and top two wideouts. Tyler Huntley completed just two (2!) passes to wide receivers on the night, while J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards were once again denied touches in the red zone.

Mike Tomlin says his team, specifically the coaching staff, made some schematic adjustments this week to try to slow down the Ravens run game that gashed them 3 weeks ago.
His New Year’s resolution is “no resolution, live every damn day great”#Steelers #Ravens pic.twitter.com/3PGcwONGh4

— Dianna Russini (@diannaESPN) January 1, 2023

Credit to the Steelers, too. A month after getting bullied in their own stadium, they turned the tables on Baltimore, first by slowing down the Ravens’ rushing attack and then by unleashing their own.

All of the resources you put into the defense, Calais or no Calais. This should not happen pic.twitter.com/c5CKN5seNj

— Chris (@ChrisJustJoking) January 2, 2023

It’s tough to know what to make of the defense after this loss. We’re certainly not used to seeing a Ravens front pushed around like that, and they only got to Kenny Pickett twice: once when he was tripped by his own running back and again after several seconds of finding nothing open downfield.

Najee Harris (+16) & Jaylen Warren (+26) combined to gain +42 rushing yards over expected in the Steelers' 16-13 victory over the Ravens.

The Ravens allowed the fewest RYOE (-126) in Weeks 9-16 after acquiring Roquan Smith.#PITvsBAL | #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/MZ6FbmNlY7

— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) January 2, 2023

But Baltimore still held Pittsburgh to just 16 points and 153 passing yards despite receiving little in the way of support from their offense, especially in the second half.

It just felt like the Steelers showed up, and the Ravens didn’t. That’s pretty troubling in *checks calendar* January.

Ravens RG Kevin Zeitler said he expects a “coming-to-Jesus” week after tonight’s struggles.

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) January 2, 2023

Maybe there’s something else to be done, but until Lamar Jackson is back at quarterback, this team has a very low ceiling.

It’s not all doom-and-gloom, though. Despite Pickett’s maddening ability to sense pressure and dance out of sacks, the coverage downfield was remarkably good, even sans Marcus Peters.

Without Marcus Peters, the Ravens have held Diontae Johnson, George Pickens and Pat Freiermuth to 80 yards total.

That'll play in the postseason.

— Jonas Shaffer (@jonas_shaffer) January 2, 2023

With the AFC’s gauntlet of elite quarterbacks, that’s no small thing. Neither are the free McNuggets that the Ravens Flock can claim tomorrow.

Mcnuggets tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/FwKh7aJfBy

— Jake (@jakelouque) January 2, 2023

They’ll make a great pregame snack before Monday Night Football, a game the Ravens need the Bengals to lose to keep their AFC North hopes alive and set up a do-or-die regular season finale in Cleveland next week.

Me tomorrow rooting for the Bills to beat the Bengals pic.twitter.com/ZGQAI1TheR

— Ramey (@HoodieRamey) January 2, 2023

Go Bills.