Ravens fall to Pittsburgh; The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

In front of a National TV audience, the Baltimore Ravens lost in their attempt to sweep the season series against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With the 13-10 loss to their rival, the Ravens have fallen a game behind the Steelers in the AFC North Division.

Had they won, the Ravens would have had a legitimate opportunity to claim home-field advantage in the AFC Playoffs. At a minimum, Baltimore would be in great position for the 2nd seed and a 1st-round bye.  With the loss, the Ravens are far more likely to wind-up as the 5th seed.

The Good:

1) Ngata ended the Steelers first offensive series, by blowing through the Steelers offensive line and bringing Roethlisberger to the ground for his 6th sack of the season.

2) After two poor offensive series, and facing 3rd and 15 yards to go from the 3 yard-line Flacco hit Boldin down the field for 61 yards to change the field and momentum. The Ravens would receive additional quality catches on the drive from Houshmandzadeh, and Ed Dickson; before Boldin would cap the drive with a TD catch over the middle.

2a) Dickson was called upon early after Heap’s injury. All in all, he aquitted himself well. Especially if you consider he had to help with the pass-blocking (not his strength) against that front-7 for the Steelers.

3) The sack from Suggs was beautiful. His increased production the last month has changed the defense and the prospects for this team in the playoffs. He controlled the line of scrimmage.

4) Josh Wilson continues to make a larger impact week after week, contributing with a monster interception tonight.

5) Stallworth showed his ability to get down the field, with his 67 yard grab down the sideline. Mason would return from his injury, but at the time it was nice knowing that Stallworth remained as an option off the bench. Give the Ravens credit for believing in Stallworth to get back and contribute this year, when plenty of people (myself included) were questioning maintaining a roster spot for him.

6) Flacco showed good ability to extend plays with his feet today, just like he did his rookie year. He played with a leg injury last-season which led some to believing he was stiff.

7) I’ll point it out every-week but give it up to Cundiff for his touch-backs. Just tremendous to totally eliminate sizable returns.

8) Jarrett Johnson had one of his best games of the year.

9) I don’t love Webb returning punts, but his 35 yard return showed his electric ability.

10) The Ravens made Pittsburgh one-dimensional by eliminating Mendenhall as a weapon.

11) The Baltimore defense has looked very vanilla at times under Mattison. Tonight it appeared that there were a lot of different looks presented to the Steelers. Sometimes the line was overloaded, sometimes they were dropping back.

12) The Ravens defense reached down and found a little extra on that goal-line series to start the 4th Quarter. They were just flying to the ball.

13) Boldin had a very quiet November, but the plays he made tonight were every bit the plays of a number 1 receiver.

The Bad:

1) The first offensive play of the game saw Heap come-up lame and being forced out of the game. The series ended with the pocket-collapsing and Flacco taking a sack for a 6 yard loss.

2) Dickson’s night would have been even better, had he not dropped that pass on 3rd and 9 on the Ravens 2nd series. He had room to run for days if he catches that cleanly.

3) On 4th down of that same series, the Ravens attempted to run a short-snap, but were called for being off-sides.

4) To end the 3rd Quarter, the Ravens allowed Roethlisberger to roll to his right and make a play down the field. This would set-up the Steelers 2nd FG.

5) Through 3 Quarters, Baltimore had just 39 offensive plays including only 12 combined carries for Rice, and McGahee. Part of that was by design against the number 1 rushing defense,  part of that was missing the blocking of McClain, and part of that you have to give credit to the Steelers for controlling the clock. Still, I think the Ravens could have attempted to run a bit more.

6) Cam Cameron put the offense into a difficult position with his boot-leg call on the Ravens first offensive series of the 4th Quarter. I do not get why Baltimore spends plays every game trying to trick the opposition, when they have the personnel to just line up and beat whoever is on the other line of scrimmage.

The Ugly:

1) They say NFL teams watch tape hours upon hours a day. Sitting here on my couch, it appears to me all that video would probably tell you that you can not call a play with Troy Polamalu unaccounted for. If you do not have a designated blocker, and you are not going to audible; than call a timeout.

2) Flacco short-armed his final pass, but he never should have been forced to make that throw. Even if Cundiff was unsure of his ability to make that kick into the wind, Coach Harbaugh had to give his kicker an opportunity to tie the game. NBC’s Collingsworth estimated the would-be 50 yard attempt would have required the leg-strength of a 55 yarder. Cundiff’s kickoffs all year have shown he has a very strong leg. I would have rather seen Cundiff miss an attempt, vs. not getting the chance to make it at all.

Up-Next:

The Ravens will head to Houston for another prime-time game next Monday Night. That will be followed-up by New Orleans at home, a trip to Cleveland, and the regular season finale at home against Cincinnati.