In an epic display of across-the-board failures, the Ravens mustered up a true team effort of inadequacy in blowing a game they should have probably won for if not for a comedy of errors and a Herculean effort by one T.J. Watt.
Let’s get to the grades.
Offense
Overall: D
Things started out so optimistically. Their first four possessions featured 33 plays, a touchdown and a field goal before a fumble by Justice Hill seemed to change the complexion of the game. Does that sound familiar to the Colts game, except it was Kenyan Drake fumbling away momentum? The Ravens blew scoring opportunities at the end of each half, had three turnovers, made questionable decisions, couldn’t block and dropped close to one trillion catches.
Quarterback: D+
This was hard to grade. Lamar Jackson was far more accurate than his 22-38 would suggest, as he was a statistical victim to those stats. He also made great decisions when to run, and averaged 7.5 yards a tote. But that pick in the fourth quarter was a bad read and a bad throw. The fumble after that was also not ideal, and I didn’t like the toss on the ill-advised (to me) fourth-down gamble. There were a ton of drops. There were also some awful plays. He probably gets too much blame here.
Running Backs: C
Probably the best unit on offense today. Gus Edwards muscled for tough yards through a difficult Steelers’ front, and Justice Hill was explosive when called upon. He’s a sneaky-good short-yardage back, as well, as he uses his vision and burst to find a crease. Hill’s fumble was a momentum-shifter.
Receivers: D-
They made some plays. They truly did. But there were just so many drops — huge, impactful game-changing drops. Mark Andrews had a few go through his hands, but still produced 65 yards on six catches. Zay Flowers had his first questionable-hands game, dropping at least two relatively-easy balls, despite still producing 73 yards on five catches. Rashod Bateman dropped a gimme touchdown, and Nelson Agholor dropped a deep one through his hands, but still put up 64 yards on four catches. There were a lot of yards and points left out there by this unit.
Offensive Line: D
They had some moments, particularly in the run game. But the moments were too short-lived and the lows were disastrous. Watt completely destroyed Patrick Mekari and Daniel Faalele time and time again, and Alex Highsmith was disruptive on the other side. The stats say the Steelers had four sacks and the Ravens averaged 5.0 yards per carry. That doesn’t tell the whole story. Jackson was under pressure throughout the game and there just weren’t a ton of holes.
Defense
Overall: C
They only gave up 289 yards on the day, and 15 points on the road. But Pittsburgh went field goal, touchdown, field goal to basically end the game, and that’s never good. Some good out there, particularly early, but they didn’t get those big plays when needed at money time.
Defensive Line: B
They did a good job against the run, outside of a 16-yarder to Jaylen Warren and an end-around by George Pickens (more on him later). Justin Madubuike had one of him most active games of the year, picking up five tackles and a shared sack. Brent Urban also stood out, picking up a sack and four tackles. Michael Pierce and Travis Jones did a nice job pushing back the Steelers’ line. Jadeveon Clowney flashed again.
Linebackers: B
Roquan Smith and Patrick Queen were all over the place again. Smith had 11 tackles and broke up a pass. Queen had seven tackles and half a sack.
Defensive Backs: C-
Brandon Stephens had his hands full with those back-shoulder throws to George Pickens all day, and Marlon Humphrey got beat by Pickens for a late touchdown. Arthur Maulet had a really good game, getting a big sack, breaking up two passes and being a general pest to the Steelers’ underneath offense. Kyle Hamilton was good again, but Ronald Darby had a few struggles out there.
Special Teams: C
Jordan Stout was great with his first three punts, putting all three of them inside the 20 and not allowing any return yards. Then his fourth was blocked for a safety. So… not as great, but hard to blame him for that one. Kevon Seymour had the huge fumble recovery, which was a big play at the time with 5:29 left — yet another moment the Ravens should have clinched the game.
Coaching: F
It’s a failure. That falls to the staff as much as anybody. I hated the decision to go for it late in the first half, giving up three points and failing to extend past a one-score lead against a team that should have been put away early and often. I also didn’t like the third-and-three run to Hill late in the game. Put it in Jackson’s hands.
The players made giant mistakes all game, but there were strategic errors, as well.
Everybody eats this garbage pie.
20 Responses
It is time for a regime change.
Game will come back to haunt them..Watch😩
On a day where RBs played well and WRs were hideous, after the teams play we had first and goal at the 10. One fun of 6 yards made it to the 4th. Second and goal trick pass. Third and goal fade int. RUN THE DANG BALL. I don’t know if it’s Monken or HARBS, but it was hideous. We will best strong teams and we will lose 5-6 more games to shitty teams
The common denominator in the horrendous football this team plays year in, year out, is Harbs. He’s just awful, was unqualified from the start.
Completely agree. We have an above average team in terms of talent. Harbs does not get the feel of the game, and he makes crazy decisions. He does not have a killer instinct, does not know his math / probabilities / statistics well and is an overall below average coach. Except for 4 weeks in Januarybof 2013 we have had a below mediocre offense
An old axiom says, “Good teams find ways to win and bad teams find ways to lose!” The same applies to…..had coaches!
Colts, Steelers. We just have the innate ability to help struggling teams get better. Who’s next?
Titans
Shame we don’t have New England..,
Harbaugh is a bad coach and always has been! His W-L record is a tribute to Joe Flacco, who saved his job year in and year out and to Lamar Jackson who did the same during the regular season! With all the changes in coaches and personnel, the one constant is Harbaugh and a change there is long overdue! No more excuses……
L O N G overdue!!
Harbaugh is beyond gone to me, bring on the 10+ game losing streak and put him out of my misery…
And Lamar Jackson is not worth $250 dollars , forget $250M…
Mediocrity, that is the motto hereon…
Brian Billick 2.0
seems we can`t close out games we should win….and our offense inevitably peters out as the game comes down to crunch time…..closing ou games and leaving sure points off the board due
we have all of one playoff win in the lamar era…stats and great running plays are fun…but one playoff win in 5 years?…that`s half a creer for many nfl qbs….
closing out games we should win and leaving sure points off the board due to bad coaching decisions or unbelievable ineptitude are killing us(that explanation on that 4th down play at the half is absolute keystone cop level tomfoolery)….not as bad as waaay too many decisions to eschew sure fgs on 4th down and chasing 2 point conversions…but it all seems endemic…they aren`t one-offs…cost us games last year…and it seems this year is no different…
this one will leave a mark..
“[T]he decision to go for it late in the first half” wasn’t on the coaches. The call was to go to the line to run the clock and try to draw the defense offsides – which it did! When Linderbaum saw the d-line move, he snapped the ball, but no flag. That one was on no one but the refs.
No, that was on Harbaugh. You have the most accurate FG kicker in NFL history what is 5 more yards going to do? Tucker should have been out there and just kicked the FG.
Harbaugh and EDC. Lamar and all his excuses. Nobody to block Watt. Even if they make post season it’s one and done as usual. But remember most of the league is like this too. To many teams,talent is diluted,rules are assignine,money is making guys fat and content to lose.
All those dropped passes. What is going on? Their mind isn’t on the game.
Kick the FG ! Terrible decision.
Harbaugh is very good at preparation. Maybe the best in the league. But, he is a poor game coach. Always has been. Tomlin is an excellent game coach & motivator and simply owns Harbaugh one-on-one. I think he’s in his head now. Baltimore should have won that game by 2-3 TD’s.
This team especially the offensive unit is not mentally tough. When things start to get tough for them they begin to press, make bad decisions and try to force things. Lamar is the biggest culprit. You know this game is going sideways when you see him slam his helmet and sulk in frustration on the bench. When he presses, the rest of the unit presses, no leadership.
I wish I was a fly on the wall wherever Steve Bisciotti was watching this totally avoidable debacle. One of the top 5 worst losses in my book.
If Bateman and Agholor make those 2 catches, that’s +10 pts. at least. If Harbs doesn’t screw around before half and sends out Tucker, that’s +3. If after turnover and 3 botched attempts inside their five, and Harbs sends in Tucker, that’s +3. That’s 16 points and a blowout victory. Who knows about the consequences of other drops and Hill’s fumble? 8 did his job. Does he block the edges? Does he catch the ball? No. Does he need to protect the ball? Did he make a bad decision and throw in the end zone? Absolutely. Those 2 things didn’t lose the game. Better questions: 14 & 90 was all Pitt had–why didn’t Harbs order absolute double coverage? Double team? For every play? Can’t let 2 guys beat you!