Report Card: Ravens Drop An Ugly One to Steelers

Of all the difficult and frustrating performances by the 2022 Ravens at this point of the season, this might have been the most difficult and frustrating. Well, top-eight, anyway.

There is honestly some blame to spread throughout nearly every unit we’re about to grade, and it was probably the Steelers’ timidity in play-calling for three-and-a-half quarters that prevented this one from being even worse.

Let’s get to it.

Offense

Overall: D

When you put together 240 yards of offense for an entire game, you get a poor grade. When your only touchdown was due to a questionable penalty call on your opponent, you get a poor grade. When the majority of your best rushing plays, the very hallmark of your offense, came on remarkable individual efforts simply breaking out of potential tackles-for loss, well, you get the picture.

It wasn’t pretty. Following that opening drive of the second half that ended in Justin Tucker’s 51-yard field goal, they produced nothing, losing yards on a possession that started in Pittsburgh territory after a huge Justice Hill kick return.

Not good.

Quarterback: C

Tyler Huntley was pretty accurate for much of this game, and made some really nice tosses, including that touch pass to Isaiah Likely for the team’s only touchdown at the end of the first half, and some clutch third-down throws to Mark Andrews.

The pick… look, he’s trying to make a play at the end of the game with a clock ticking down around him, so I won’t ding him much. But that was still an awful throw. He played like a backup, which makes sense, because he’s a backup. But he wasn’t the day’s biggest problem.

Running Backs: B

JK Dobbins rushed for 93 yards on 17 carries, and he earned every single one of those yards. He appeared to have multiple Steeler defenders on him time and time again, but he powered or willed his way for positive gains. Gus Edwards only had two yards on three carries, but he didn’t just seem to have enough juice to escape the collapse that was around the run game much of the night.

Receivers: C

Mark Andrews had a great game, certainly his best in a while. The athletic tight end produced 100 yards on nine catches, and looked like the Ravens’ best offensive player all game. Well, him and Dobbins. Likely made a nice move to pull in his touchdown, but had a few passes go off his hands, including one that could have gotten Tucker in range to push the Ravens’ lead to seven late in the game. Demarcus Robinson and DeSean Jackson each pulled in a nine-yard catch. Not a lot happening there outside Andrews.

Offensive Line: D

Morgan Moses had a rough game against T.J. Watt, but a lot of good players have had that happen to them over the years. He did combine with Ronnie Stanley to help spring Dobbins on a 15-yarder in the first quarter. Tyler Linderbaum got flagged a couple of times, and had his own struggles with Cameron Heyward.

They had their moments during the game, but it definitely wasn’t one of their better performances.

Defense

Overall: C

This was another one of those frustrating performances, where the defense did some nice things all game, didn’t have any ugly breakdowns in coverage or blatant missed tackles, but they still got beat at the worst time of the game. The pass-rush was not consistent, and they got beat up physically up front by an offensive line that has not been a plus this season.

They also failed to create a turnover, which is usually a bad sign in a tight game.

Defensive Line: C-

This has been my favorite unit on the team this season, but this was not a performance for their highlight reel. The Steelers pushed them backwards consistently in the run game, and there just wasn’t any kind of consistent pass rush.

There were a few bright spots, however. Broderick Washington continued his breakout campaign, with five tackles and a pass-defensed, and rookie Travis Jones chipped in five tackles of his own. Brent Urban swatted another pass and had four tackles, one for a loss in the red zone when the Ravens were trying to protect their fourth-quarter lead. Rayshad Nichols splashed a few times in his Ravens debut, and Justin Madubuike had a big sack, to go along with a quarterback hit.

They could have used Calais Campbell out there tonight.

Linebackers: C

Roquan Smith had nine more tackles, and broke up a pass in the red zone in the first quarter to kill a Steelers drive. He also got beat on the game-winning touchdown pass at the end. Patrick Queen contributed six tackles, and got a hit on the quarterback, but he also had some Najee Harris runs go through his arms. Jason Pierre-Paul had a fortunate sack when he happened upon a prone Kenny Pickett, and Odafe Oweh was pretty active with four tackles, one for a loss and two hits on Pickett. Tyus Bowser didn’t register a tackle, but he seemed to be around the ball several times. Photo bombing?

Defensive Backs: C+

Marcus Williams was very active, and finished with nine tackles and a pass defensed. Chuck Clark had one of his best games of the year — he played a ton in the box, had a team-leading 10 tackles and broke up two passes, one of which resulted in a Pittsburgh field-goal attempt that clanked off the upright. Kyle Hamilton had a mixed day, but I felt was a positive overall. He got beat by Steven Sims on a 28-yard pass in the fourth quarter, and also got beat by Pat Freiermuth on an early third-down attempt, but he also got a nice hit on Pickett to force a third-down incompletion, and was consistently buzzing around the ball, finishing with six tackles. Brandon Stephens was understandably targeted more than Marlon Humphrey, and he was more good than bad. Diontae Johnson juked him to set up a big gain in the fourth quarter, but he also blanketed George Pickens on an incomplete pass to end the Steelers’ opening drive of the game, and that had a nice open-field tackle on Najee Harris late.

Special Teams: A

This was the unit of the game. Justin Tucker nailed both of his field-goal attempts, including a 51-yarder. Jordan Stout was very good, continuing his growth throughout the season. He dropped two punts inside the 20, and had another one land just inside the line for a touchback that nearly dropped on the 1-yard line. Justice Hill had an electrifying 56-yard kick return that featured a terrific cut, some power through an arm tackle and his noted explosion to scoot upfield.

Coaching: D

Again, this team lost a double-digit lead. Again, you can criticize the offense and defense for different parts of this loss.

So, let’s just start with a low grade because of the big-picture failures that continue to haunt this team, particularly whenever they are faced with success in building their leads. I agreed with John Harbaugh’s challenge on the spot on Andrews’ first-quarter reception, and put that in my notes before the ruling was announced. It was a better decision because he was proven right, obviously. I hated that misdirection-two-way-look screen pass to Likely at the end of the first half that resulted in a huge loss when the run game was just roaring downfield.

I did, however, like the play call to isolate Likely in man coverage on his touchdown.

Defensively, the line got beaten back all game, and that makes it hard to judge the coaching. I like this defense for about 55 minutes a game.

It’s those other five minutes, often split around the last few minutes of each half, that cause me internal pain.