The Ravens had each likelihood to blow out the Pittsburgh Steelers and as an alternative got here residence with a surprising 17-10 loss due to late turnovers from Lamar Jackson, inexplicable drops from his go catchers and a crucial lapse on particular groups.
Here are 5 issues we discovered from the sport.
This was a catastrophe we’ll bear in mind
Where to begin?
Jackson is the franchise participant, and he failed within the clutch, short-arming a go to Odell Beckham Jr. ultimately zone when the Ravens had a golden likelihood to capitalize on a Steelers particular groups fumble. A landing or perhaps a area objective might need put Pittsburgh away. Instead, Jackson’s interception fed into the Steelers’ go-ahead landing drive. He had time to reply that blow. Instead, he fumbled for the seventh time this season.
But Jackson would by no means have been in place to flub the sport away had his receivers merely caught the gorgeous passes he threw over the primary three quarters. The Ravens shared their shame on this respect, with Zay Flowers, Mark Andrews, Rashod Bateman and Nelson Agholor passing across the dropsies like a extremely contagious pressure of flu. In an alternate actuality, Jackson might need loved one of the vital productive passing days of his profession.
Perhaps we wish to look away from the offense to lament the Steelers blocking a punt ultimately zone, one other misfire from a Ravens particular groups unit accustomed to being one of many NFL’s most interesting.
Or possibly we wish to query coach John Harbaugh going for a fourth-down conversion as an alternative of banking a straightforward area objective simply earlier than halftime. Harbaugh later clarified that he did wish to kick a area objective and the play solely went ahead due to miscommunication — heart Tyler Linderbaum snapped the ball, as a result of he thought a Steelers participant jumped into the impartial zone — however that too falls on him and his employees.
“That’s kind of an example really of where we’re at,” Harbaugh mentioned. “We just have to get better at operational things and just clean stuff up and make those plays.”
Even the protection, which had lower off the Steelers at each flip for greater than three quarters, faltered ultimately. Pro Bowl cornerback Marlon Humphrey, taking part in for the primary time this season, couldn’t preserve contact with Pittsburgh’s most gifted receiver, George Pickens, on the 41-yard landing that buried the Ravens.
As we mentioned after they misplaced to the Indianapolis Colts in extra time two weeks earlier, if they’d transformed on any certainly one of a half dozen possibilities, they’d have defeated an inferior opponent. The Ravens are oh so near being 5-0 with a significant lead within the AFC North and as clear a path to the playoffs as you would have within the second week of October. Instead, they’re 3-2, headed for London with solely their regrets to maintain them firm on the lengthy flight.
We might snort it off as extra Ravens-Steelers wackiness, however this was not that. This was a Ravens staff that appeared to be getting wholesome and rounding into kind towards a wounded rival which may have been able to crumble coming off an unpleasant 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans. Instead, the Ravens left the door wide-open, and finally, it slammed again of their faces.
“I believe so,” Jackson mentioned when requested if the Ravens gave the sport away. “We didn’t want to, but [we had] little mishaps. We’re right there. We had [the Steelers] beat.”
As quickly as their woes ended, the Texas Rangers commenced pounding the Orioles at Camden Yards. A day that dawned with a lot optimism for Baltimore sports activities followers turned darkish and stormy within the span of two hours.
The Ravens’ offense could possibly be nice in the event that they cease undercutting themselves
They lined 33 yards by floor and 26 by air on their first landing drive. Their 9 first downs matched the Steelers’ complete variety of offensive performs within the first quarter. They outgained Pittsburgh 244-88 within the first half.
They had been balanced inside the working sport, the place Justice Hill has grow to be a really perfect Mr. Outside to Gus Edwards’ Mr. Inside.
Jackson hit his receivers in stride repeatedly. He made a superb play within the two-minute drill, scrambling to his left on third-and-18 to purchase time, pulling up wanting the sideline and planting his toes to throw a 29-yard strike to Flowers.
As nicely as they moved the ball, nevertheless, their arms betrayed them when it was time to attain.
Flowers clapped his helmet in self-rebuke after he dropped a go that will have put the Ravens within the pink zone on their first drive. Andrews and Bateman couldn’t safe would-be landing passes that hit them within the arms early within the second quarter.
Hill misplaced a fumble at midfield with the Ravens driving once more the subsequent time they’d the ball.
They appeared flat-out confused going for it on fourth-and-2 after Harbaugh, in a puzzling transfer given the stream of the sport, declined to take a straightforward area objective simply earlier than halftime. Harbaugh mentioned afterward the plan was to kick it earlier than a “miscommunication” derailed the drive.
They might have led 20-0 and even 28-0. Instead, they had been up 10-3, letting an overmatched opponent hold round.
Agholor dropped an ideal deep throw that might have gone for a landing or put the Ravens near the objective line within the third quarter.
A large-open Flowers fell down on a play that might have grow to be a game-clinching landing within the fourth quarter.
Jackson, with an opportunity to place the sport away late, made his solely horrible throw of the day, undershooting Beckham ultimately zone handy the Steelers an unacceptable interception.
The litany of crucial errors defied perception.
There’s a superb offense lurking right here with coordinator Todd Monken holding defenses off steadiness and Jackson throwing in addition to he ever has. Can the Ravens execute cleanly and persistently sufficient to carry it into the sunshine? In Pittsburgh, the reply was no.
“It’s almost like a sleeping giant,” Andrews mentioned. “We need to wake up.”
The offensive line additionally began nicely and crumbled late
As on the right track as Jackson was within the first half, he couldn’t have performed it with out tackles Ronnie Stanley and Patrick Mekari — aided by a military of chip blockers — holding T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith out of his private area.
Stanley, taking part in for the primary time since he harm his knee within the season open, continues to be a game-changer for this offensive line, and Mekari reiterated his versatility by flipping from the left aspect to the precise to fill in for an injured Morgan Moses.
Watt is sort of unimaginable to stifle for 60 minutes, however he didn’t appear on observe to wreck the sport. Then, Mekari suffered a chest damage, and second-year sort out Daniel Faalele stepped into the breach. Whether or not you imagine the gargantuan Faalele has the potential to grow to be a long-term starter at proper sort out, he isn’t fast sufficient out of his stance to cope with Watt, who completed with two sacks, two passes defended and a fumble restoration. To be honest, Stanley additionally let Highsmith get by him for a sack because the Ravens’ offense went chilly, failing to attain on seven straight possessions within the second half.
Again, there was a model of this sport through which the Ravens might need led by three scores and salted away a straightforward win by working the ball all through the second half. That was their components per week earlier in Cleveland. In actuality, Jackson needed to throw within the fourth quarter, and his go safety didn’t maintain up.
Moses did observe Thursday, so there’s an opportunity the rugged veteran can be again sooner moderately than later and the Ravens may have their meant offensive line. They want stability up entrance in the event that they’re going to repair what ails them elsewhere.
Mike Macdonald continues to search out cool methods to scheme up a go rush
With the Steelers lastly on the transfer within the second quarter, Macdonald fooled them, dropping a pair of inside linemen into protection and sending cornerback Arthur Maulet torpedoing at Pickett from his blind aspect. That schemed sack, a Ravens specialty this 12 months, erased a uncommon scoring alternative for a struggling offense.
The Steelers once more moved into Ravens territory because the third quarter bled into the fourth. Again, Macdonald pulled the precise trick from his bag. Pickett dropped again on third-and-7 and noticed linebackers Patrick Queen and Roquan Smith stunt in entrance of him, just for defensive sort out Justin Madubuike to return looping round Queen into a transparent rush lane. With Pickett’s pocket gone, Queen completed him off to finish Pittsburgh’s scoring risk.
It’s no secret that the Ravens lack an elite go rusher on par with their AFC North nemeses, Watt and Myles Garrett. Jadeveon Clowney has performed nicely. Madubuike and Michael Pierce are delivering inside push. They simply don’t have a man who’s going to build up 15 sacks beating blockers one-on-one.
That means Macdonald has to make use of his creativeness, unleashing Queen, Smith and seemingly each defensive again on the sphere in sudden mixtures. Through 5 weeks, he and his gamers have risen to the duty.
We have to speak concerning the punt staff
Whatever questions we had concerning the new offense and the battered secondary, did anybody envision particular groups turning into an Achilles’ heel for the Ravens?
To evaluate, they ranked third, first and second in particular groups DVOA the earlier three seasons, with punt protection a minimum of a modest power in every case. They got here into the Steelers sport twenty sixth in particular groups DVOA, with their punt protection at thirty first due to lengthy returns and penalties. It’s exhausting to think about that rating will enhance after the Steelers blocked Jordan Stout’s punt for a security that might simply have been a landing within the fourth quarter.
“It’s just an A-gap rush,” Harbaugh mentioned. “We didn’t block the guy we were supposed to block, and another situation where we can … to me, that’s kind of an example of the whole game right there. We did not do the things that we needed to do in certain situations that we’re capable of doing, we can do, we will do going forward, but we didn’t do them today.”
The unit truly carried out nicely in any other case, with Stout dropping three punts inside Pittsburgh’s 20-yard line and the Steelers coughing certainly one of them up, a turnover which may have secured victory for the Ravens. But one blown play is sufficient to make for a foul day on particular groups, and the Ravens have amassed a season’s value in simply 5 weeks.
Week 6
Ravens vs. Titans
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
Sunday, 9:30 a.m.
TV: NFL Network
Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM
Line: Ravens by 4
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Source: www.bostonherald.com