The Ravens’ two-minute protection once more allow them to down because the Steelers drove 80 yards to come back from behind for a 16-13 victory in one other Baltimore-Pittsburgh slugfest. The Ravens now have to attend to see if they’ll have an opportunity to compete for an AFC North title in Week 18 and if quarterback Lamar Jackson will return to follow this week.
This one harm as a result of the Ravens had been confronted with how little progress they’ve made.
How many instances can they lead by 10 factors within the second half and watch the sport slip from their clutches? How can they count on to complete off a resilient opponent when their offense goes three-and-out on two consecutive drives within the fourth quarter? How can they name their protection nice when it can’t get off the sphere in opposition to a two-minute offense?
These questions haunted the Ravens’ postgame locker room as they contemplated one other slim defeat and tried to see a brighter path ahead to the postseason recreation they’ll play in two weeks.
“[That was] not one of our better performances at all,” coach John Harbaugh mentioned. “Coaching staff; start with that, start with me. Start with the coaching staff, game plan, all of it — not good enough.”
The Ravens are a profitable workforce, however they positive appear to search out their approach again to the identical dropping habits. What else can we are saying after rookie tight finish Isaiah Likely failed to carry on to a cross over the center that will have put Justin Tucker in place to increase the result in 16-9? After Steelers rookie quarterback Kenny Pickett accomplished consecutive passes of 20 and 28 yards because the clock ticked down towards two minutes?
Week after week, this group appears to tumble into some tense, nightmare realm when a good recreation flips to the fourth quarter.
“It hurts man,” defensive finish Brent Urban mentioned. “As far as I’m concerned, we need to play great fourth-quarter defense and close the game out. It’s not on the offense; it’s on us. There’s a standard here, and we need to play to that.”
Tight finish Mark Andrews, who led the workforce with 100 receiving yards, flipped that round, saying it was on the offense for choosing up only one first down within the fourth quarter. “It really wasn’t down to the last drive,” he mentioned. “It was our two drives before that.”
Perhaps Urban and Andrews may agree that no Raven acquitted himself effectively with the sport hanging within the stability. The leaders of this time have promised to repair these identical issues because the Ravens blew a 21-point lead in opposition to the Miami Dolphins in Week 2. They have held on for robust victories alongside the way in which, dominated on protection at instances, run opponents into the bottom at others. But they’re caught in the identical round narrative, with only some weeks left to get themselves proper.
If the Cincinnati Bengals win Monday night time, the Ravens won’t play for the AFC North title this weekend, however such particular issues had been nearly irrelevant as they appeared forward. Whether they’ll enhance their seeding or not, they’ll seek for some spark, some signal that they’re on a greater path, in Cincinnati.
“It’s going to be a good, ‘come to Jesus,’ this week,” guard Kevin Zeitler mentioned. “We’ve got to get this figured out or else nothing good will happen.”
The Steelers went proper on the Ravens’ energy and beat them.
The Ravens’ younger defensive tackles — Justin Madubuike, Broderick Washington and to a lesser diploma, Travis Jones — have been important to their elite run stuffing. But Pittsburgh blockers pushed them off the road of scrimmage too simply because the Steelers rolled up extra dashing yards earlier than halftime than that they had in 4 quarters of their Week 14 loss to the Ravens.
Washington sat silently at his locker for a very long time after the sport, his jersey and shoulder pads nonetheless on. “I’m really just embarrassed,” he mentioned. “They just executed what they did well, really well. We’ve just got to be better.”
“They did a great job coming off the ball, had good schemes,” Urban mentioned. “It was just unacceptable as far as I’m concerned.”
The Ravens didn’t begin the sport with a lot verve, permitting the Steelers to go 73 yards, 60 of these on the bottom, on their opening drive. Running again Jaylen Warren’s 31-yard sweep, on which Ravens outdoors linebacker Tyus Bowser was blown off the sting, put Pittsburgh in scoring place. Only a nifty play by cornerback Brandon Stephens in one-on-one protection in opposition to George Pickens stored the Steelers from going up 7-0.
The Ravens continued to make the clutch performs they wanted to maintain Pittsburgh out of the tip zone, however each handoff appeared to supply at the least 5 yards. The Steelers completed the primary half with 108 on 18 carries, a stage of manufacturing we merely haven’t seen in opposition to the Ravens since they traded for linebacker Roquan Smith on Halloween.
The identical story continued within the second half because the Steelers gouged the Ravens up the intestine and on the sides. No workforce had outgained them on the bottom since Week 1, however Pittsburgh hammered out a 198-120 benefit. This needs to be at the least a light concern going ahead, although the Ravens will profit from the return of defensive finish Calais Campbell, who was inactive Sunday after testing his injured knee earlier than the sport.
“Give them credit; they flipped the script,” Harbaugh mentioned. “And that’s not what we expect. We don’t expect that at all.”
Tyler Huntley was enjoying his greatest recreation of the season till that fateful fourth quarter.
So a lot had gone fallacious by the point Huntley threw into triple protection for a decisive interception that his desperation was comprehensible.
“Just somebody,” he mentioned, recalling that closing throw, on which none of his targets appeared open. “[I was] looking for somebody to try and just make a play.”
Huntley performed with poise by way of the primary three quarters, shopping for himself additional time and connecting along with his second and third reads. He discovered Likely for a landing when he in all probability had time to run only one play within the waning seconds of the primary half. He threw a 19-yard dart to Andrews on second-and-25 to place Justin Tucker in place to hit a 51-yard subject aim within the third quarter. His passing totals weren’t going to blow anybody away, however he was doing sufficient to win the sport.
Harbaugh felt the Ravens didn’t do sufficient to punish the Steelers once they put an additional defensive lineman within the recreation and crashed in from the sides to negate runs on early downs. But it was not clear if his dissatisfaction lay extra with the plan or with Huntley’s execution of it.
“We have to do a way better job across the board in terms of attacking what they did,” he mentioned. “It wasn’t anything we haven’t seen; it was exactly what we saw on tape from them the last three weeks.”
The recreation turned for good after Justice Hill returned a kickoff 56 yards within the fourth quarter and the Ravens didn’t capitalize with any factors. Huntley missed a deep try to tight finish Josh Oliver on second down, and Likely dropped his quick cross over the center on third.
“We could have put the game away right there,” Harbaugh mentioned.
The Ravens have scored 59 factors over their final 5 video games with Huntley as their main quarterback. As a lot as teammates bathe him with reward, they and he know that’s not adequate, that it received’t scare any of the excellent groups they’re prone to play within the wild-card spherical of the playoffs.
Lamar Jackson’s standing is extra essential than something that occurred Sunday night time.
We’ve heard treasured few particulars on how the Ravens’ most essential participant is doing past broad assertions from Harbaugh and teammates that he’s working onerous to get again from the knee damage that has sidelined him since Week 13.
The Ravens secured a playoff berth with out Jackson, but it surely’s troublesome to ascertain them stringing collectively a number of postseason wins with out the big-play element he, and he alone, offers them. His absence will grow to be a considerably extra pressing downside if it extends into this week.
It’s not a lot that the Ravens want Jackson to play of their regular-season finale in opposition to the Bengals. If they must proceed as a No. 6 seed, so be it. But he has not completed something to organize for a soccer recreation in a month. Is he going to be magically prepared for the Ravens’ playoff opener if he doesn’t follow till 4 days earlier than that recreation? That can be a troublesome ask, even for an athlete as elegant as Jackson. The Ravens, and he, want to realize a way of the place he stands sooner quite than later.
None of that is meant to disgrace Jackson. If his knee was wholesome, he can be on the market. But time is operating quick.
The Ravens’ possibilities for a positive playoff matchup are operating out.
The Ravens had hoped to ensure themselves a shot to play the Bengals head-up for divisional supremacy in Week 18. Now, they must root for the Buffalo Bills to try this work for them.
“We’re rooting for the Bills, for sure,” operating again J.Okay. Dobbins mentioned. “We controlled our destiny, though. I’m a guy that likes to control his own destiny by putting in the work and controlling what we need to control.”
Even if the Bills assist, the Ravens might be underdogs in opposition to a divisional rival that has constantly outplayed them over the past two months. The Ravens haven’t reached 20 factors since Week 12. The Bengals haven’t failed to achieve that mark since Week 8.
If the Ravens lose once more and fall to the No. 6 seed, behind the Los Angeles Chargers, they are going to be confronted with a collection of unlucky potentialities. A return journey to Cincinnati to face the streaking Bengals? A date in Kansas City in opposition to one of the best quarterback on the planet, Patrick Mahomes? A journey to Buffalo to face a Bills workforce that outlasted them in Baltimore this 12 months and despatched them packing from the playoffs two years in the past?
None of these matchups portends a contented ending for a workforce that’s struggling to attain and shut out respectable opponents. The Ravens have the defensive expertise and floor energy to current issues for the AFC’s greatest. A returning Jackson may nonetheless be an X-factor. But would any sane soccer watcher decide them to win a street recreation in opposition to the Chiefs or Bills or Bengals primarily based on what we’ve seen currently?
Week 18
Ravens at Bengals
Sunday, TBA
TV: TBA
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
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Source: www.bostonherald.com