The Baltimore Ravens entered the second of a three-game road trip on Sunday against a Pittsburgh Steelers team coming off an atrocious loss to the Houston Texans. Baltimore, meanwhile, was off the heels of a dominant win in Cleveland. Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett was even banged up heading into the game, and his status was in question. Many predicted a blowout win for the Ravens, and with Baltimore coming in the healthiest they’ve been since Week 1, it could’ve seemed that way. The problem is that it’s a week-to-week league, unpredictable, and Ravens vs Steelers. These two teams don’t have blowout games; when they do, it’s a rarity. They are close, hard-fought battles. That was the case on Sunday, but it was also filled with offensive mistakes by the Ravens and they gave the game away to the Steelers 17-10.
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Offensive Meltdown For The Ravens In Loss To Steelers
The Positives: Run Game And Defense
Before we get to the negatives, let’s start with some positives. The Ravens defense was excellent, and while they gave up a touchdown to George Pickens late in the game, it wasn’t their fault. We’ll get to that and why that touchdown happened. They were genuinely dominant, and Pittsburgh’s lethargic offense had no answer for them. The Steelers were 6-for-15 on 3rd down, and the defense sacked Pickett three times.
Roquan Smith was once again dominant and led the team in tackles with eleven. Patrick Queen also had a nice day. Baltimore’s running game, led by Gus Edwards and Justice Hill, had productive days and was effective running the ball—especially Hill, who made people miss all games, except one time where he didn’t. We’ll get to that. Hill scored the first touchdown of the game for the Ravens.
We strike first 🔥
TOUCHDOWN, @jhill21_ 🔥
Tune in on CBS! pic.twitter.com/16AeCCw4XW
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) October 8, 2023
The Negatives: Drops, Drops, and More Drops
The season’s first four games saw a rarity for Ravens receivers: not dropping the football. It looked like they would set the world record for drops on Sunday. Essential drops by Mark Andrews (granted, that ball was a tad high) and Rashod Bateman in the endzone and another bad drop by Nelson Agholor that would’ve at least put the Ravens at the goal line. Andrews also had another drop. It wasn’t his best day overall. Even Zay Flowers had a couple of drops. It was the young rookie’s worst day of his freshman season in the NFL. The drops were killers, as the Ravens offense stalled and was incredibly sloppy.
Justice Hill’s Key Fumble
We now get to one of Hill’s big negatives of this game. He had a critical fumble in the second quarter with the Ravens up 10-0. Like Kenyan Drake’s fumble against the Indianapolis Colts, it was the catalyst for what would transpire the rest of the way. The Steelers capitalized on the Ravens fumble with a 43-yard field goal from Chris Boswell. It cut the Ravens lead to 10-3; from there, you could feel the momentum slowly shifting Pittsburgh’s way.
That Fourth Down Before Halftime
There’s nothing to say about what the Ravens did on their last play before halftime. It was questionable and downright boneheaded not to send the best kicker in the NFL to give the team a 13-3 lead. Instead, there was a miscommunication, as John Harbaugh put it. After the game, Harbaugh said he was ready to send the field goal unit out, but Lamar Jackson would go in the shotgun to try to run the clock out so Pittsburgh wouldn’t have time to get the ball back. No snap was apparently supposed to happen. Then center Tyler Linderbaum thought the Steelers jumped offsides and snapped the ball to Jackson, who didn’t see the ball coming, and he threw it up there for Flowers, who was nowhere close to the ball. Linderbaum took accountability after the game.
Jackson’s Fourth Quarter Turnovers
Statistically, Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson had arguably his best day ever against the Steelers. He went 22/36 for 236 yards and rushed for 45 yards on six attempts. He was overall efficient. With the drops, the Hill fumble, and the 4th down miscommunication, he’s not all at fault for this loss. However, he melted down in the final minute and continued his struggles against the Steelers.
The Ravens got a massive fumble on a Steelers punt return to set the offense up with 1st and goal. There was 5:33 left in the game, and through all the Ravens offensive struggles, Jackson and the offense had a chance to put it away. On 3rd-and-goal, however, with a field goal in their back pocket again, Jackson threw a critical interception to Joey Porter Jr. The Steelers would score the touchdown to Pickens right after.
The Steelers scored with 1:17 left, and the Ravens had two timeouts down 14-10. Again, Jackson had a chance to play the hero and pull it off in Pittsburgh. He fumbled on a sack by Alonzo Highsmith, and Pittsburgh would then kick a field goal to increase their lead to 17-10. The Ravens would get one more chance thanks to a Steelers penalty on 3rd down before the field goal during their possession. That would preserve some time for Baltimore, but they had no timeouts. On 2nd down, Jackson threw a ball short to Andrews, and he was sacked on 4th down by T.J. Watt to seal it officially. Jackson was good for 90% of this game, and drops hurt him and the team. Unfortunately for Baltimore, he wasn’t very good for the remaining 10% and didn’t come through when he needed to against the Steelers again.
What’s Next
The Ravens will travel to London and take on another familiar rival, the Tennessee Titans. The Titans are coming off a 23-16 loss to the Colts in Week 5. It’s a Titans team the Ravens know from their playoff matchups in 2019 and 2020. The Titans upset Baltimore in the 2019 Divisional round. One year later, the Ravens would travel to Tennessee and beat the Titans in the Wild Card round. Fun fact: These two teams have met five times in the playoffs since 2000 when they were together in the old AFC Central, and the road team has won each game. The Ravens in 2000, 2008, and 2020. The Titans in 2003 and 2019. The all-time series is tied at 13-13. The Ravens will look to get back on track and finish this 3-game stretch away from M&T Bank Stadium on a positive note.
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Main Photo: Philip G. Pavely – USA Today Sports
