78 replies to this topic

[BSLChrisStoner]

BSL: Ravens lose in Pittsburgh; What did we see?
http://baltimorespor...pittsburgh-see/

 

 

The Baltimore Ravens were denied a win in Pittsburgh for the 3rd consecutive season, losing 19-16. With the loss, the Ravens go into their bye with a 3-4 record.

 

 

What did we see?

1) Pittsburgh set a season high in rushing yards, with 10 minutes left in the 3rd Quarter. It was extremely disturbing to see the Steelers run effectively between the tackles. Especially when you consider the Steelers offensive line was missing multiple starters.

1a) It is always tough to bring Roethlisberger to the ground. It becomes even harder when you don’t bring extra rushers. That was the case for pretty much all of the 1st half, as Roethlisberger was getting way too much time to survey the field today in a clean pocket.

2) Due to his contract, Ngata figures to again be a member of the Ravens in 2014. That said, the lack of production the Ravens are getting from him – with the salary he is making – is an issue for this roster. He might still be better than most DT’s in the league, but there is no way his impact is equal to his current percentage of the salary cap.

3) We are not going to spend a lot of time dissecting the running game this week. What more can be said at this point? It needs to improve over the bye, and I think it will. The Ravens will spend further time adjusting their scheme back to what they’ve done previously, and the extra week of rest will only help both RB’s.

4) We liked the no huddle offense that was used in the middle of the 2nd Quarter. For the first time on the day, the Ravens showed some life. The primary benefit being that with the increased tempo, and the field spread; Pierce and Rice were able to run more effectively.

4a) That drive ended, when Flacco was sacked on 3rd down. That took the Ravens out of possible FG range.

5) It was great seeing Brandon Williams with his first career sack. We look forward to seeing his playing time just continue to increase.

6) Near the end of the 1st half, Daryl Smith forced a fumble on Heath Miller and Matt Elam came up with the loose ball. This would result in Tucker’s 2nd FG, making it 10-6 Pittsburgh at half-time.

7) The first Ravens drive of the 2nd half was not a thing of beauty. A time out on 3rd and 6. A delay of game coming out of the TO. A penalty on Brown, Flacco being dropped on a free play. All culminated with Flacco under throwing Jones on a sure TD.

8) Dumervil allowed the Steelers to move into Baltimore territory on their first series of the 2nd half, when he was charged with unnecessary roughness. Later on that drive, he was charged with face mask which eliminated a 3rd down sack from Arthur Brown. This gave the Steelers a 1st from the Ravens 11. Pittsburgh would make a FG, taking a 13-6 lead with 3 minutes left in the 3rd Quarter.

9) Late in the 3rd Quarter, Flacco and Smith connected for a 41 yard strike down the field. Beautiful catch and throw.

10) After being questioned for his aggressive calls last week, Harbaugh said he would continue to be aggressive going forward. Today, with 4th and 1 early in the 4th Quarter – Harbaugh elected to go for it. Flacco was able to lean forward, and move the chains. After that drive would end with a Tucker FG (making it 13-9), Harbaugh elected to go with an onsides kick. The kick was poorly executed, and allowed the Steelers to start in Ravens territory. With 13 minutes left in the game, it felt like an unnecessary risk to me.

11) Doss continues to take advantage of this 2nd opportunity. Great catch holding on against a huge hit from Polamalu in the 4th.

12) Great drive from the Ravens to tie the game at 16. Starting from their 27 with 9:53 left in the 4th, Baltimore spent the drive operating out of the shotgun with no huddle. Flacco to Smith for 16 yards, Flacco to Rice for 3 yards, Flacco to Jones for 4 yards (great footwork from Jones on the play), Flacco back to Jones for 8 more and another 1st down. On 1st and 10 from the Pittsburgh 46, Leach ran for 4 yards.  That was followed by a pass to Leach for 3 more.Doss then gained 13 yards as mentioned above. Rice up the middle for a yard. Jones with another 8 yard catch to the Pittsburgh 17. Facing 3rd and 1, the Ravens brought in Wagner as an extra lineman, and Baltimore gained the first with a great play-action roll out to Rice. Leach got another carry, this time for 6 yards to the Pittsburgh 7. Rice ran for 5 yards to the 2, then another carry for 1 more. On 3rd and 1, Flacco and Clark connected for the score. 16 plays, 73 yards, 8 minutes off the clock.

13) Pittsburgh’s last drive started from their 37 yard line. Roethlisberger was able to move the Steelers into Ravens territory quickly, setting up the winning kick.

14) The Ravens were 6 of 13 on 3rd down, Pittsburgh was 7 of 12.

[SportsGuy]

We saw poor defensive game planning, the Dline getting pushed around(again) and, more importantly, we saw our playoff chances go from good to unlikely at this point.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Final return was far more costly, IMO.

 

That, and Elvis Dumervil's stupid penalties. He handed them 3 points moreso than the onside kick did.

[Mackus]

Not kicking it through the uprights on the last kickoff killed them on the last drive. Terrible decision trying to be too cute and run a few seconds of clock.

[SportsGuy]

Final return was far more costly, IMO.

No it wasn't....but ST did hurt them, that's for sure.

[SammyBirdland]

Still no running game. Need to let Flacco air it out.

[fishteacher]

I love the postgame show on CSN...trashing our O-line.

[Mike B]

Our Oline is bad but two weeks in a row John Harbaugh with bad coaching moves cost us a game.  Terrible move on the onside kick.  Almost as bad as the 2 last week.

[Mike in STL]

My two cents...

Flacco overall played well. Under throwing Jones on that deep pass was the only glaring mistake. Made some plays with is legs too. Rice made some catches. Played a little better, but the run game still needs a lot of work.

Defense, I'm torn. On one hand they allowed less than 20 points and only one TD. On the other hand it's the second straight week a rookie RB has had a nice game, and with the offense running an 8:00 drive in the 4th quarter they had plenty of rest to come out and get a stop to at least force overtime.

Special teams needs an overhaul. Two blocked punts on the year. Even though Sanders stepped OB, that was still a return for TD. Then there was the kickoff the Steelers nearly recovered all the way down field near the 20.

Onside kick call was as stupid as it gets considering the timing and score. It was obviously not practiced either because the execution was so poor, from the offsides, to letting Tucker get annihilated. They are lucky Tucker could even walk off the field. He's a kicker for god sakes. Someone needs to be running next to Tucker to blow up the defender if that play is to work. Or it needs to be kicked to one side or the other where it can bounce around. Either way, it took the Steelers one play to get into FG range from there. Gave away three points where they didn't have to earn it.

The whole game was a tough battle. Great plays on both sides. One of those where you just say the better team won today. Until Harbs gave away points....AGAIN! It makes this loss that much tougher to live with. I could live with losing a hard fought game if it wasn't handed to them on a platter.

[Mackus]

I thought the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 was a bad choice.  Not ridiculous that they convert, but the upside of converting wasn't worth the risk of coming up empty on that drive.  It's not like we automatically get a TD if we get the yard like last week.

 

As for the onsides kick, I think that was a defensible decision.  From what I've found in a quick search, the success rate for an unexpected onsides kick is over 50%.  I think that was a risk that can be justified given that the defense had been good in the red zone, keeping Pittsburgh out of the end zone, but wasn't looking as good in terms of being able to get the ball back quickly if we had kicked it deep.  If you think it's likely that your defense will hold them to 3 if you are unsuccessful, but also is more likely than usual that Pittsburgh goes down the field and gets a FG anyways if you kick it deep, then it makes sense to give it a shot.

 

Not saying it was a no-brainer or obvious decision, but I don't think it's fair to straight up call it a boneheaded or stupid decision.  I certainly think the execution was terrible.  If they haven't practiced that play extensively, then I'd be more inclined to say it was a bad idea, but I imagine they just screwed it up rather than were completely unprepared for it.  Though the Special Teams play all day was pretty poor.  The decision to get cute with the final kickoff instead of just booting it deep with that extra 5 yards was truly stupid.  The extra 17 yards they had in field position very well could've cost them a chance at overtime.  The upside of running a few seconds off the clock and maybe having them start at the 15-17 yard line instead of the 20 was totally not worth the risk of a longer return.

[SportsGuy]

I thought the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 was a bad choice.  Not ridiculous that they convert, but the upside of converting wasn't worth the risk of coming up empty on that drive.  It's not like we automatically get a TD if we get the yard like last week.
 
As for the onsides kick, I think that was a defensible decision.  From what I've found in a quick search, the success rate for an unexpected onsides kick is over 50%.  I think that was a risk that can be justified given that the defense had been good in the red zone, keeping Pittsburgh out of the end zone, but wasn't looking as good in terms of being able to get the ball back quickly if we had kicked it deep.  If you think it's likely that your defense will hold them to 3 if you are unsuccessful, but also is more likely than usual that Pittsburgh goes down the field and gets a FG anyways if you kick it deep, then it makes sense to give it a shot.
 
Not saying it was a no-brainer or obvious decision, but I don't think it's fair to straight up call it a boneheaded or stupid decision.  I certainly think the execution was terrible.  If they haven't practiced that play extensively, then I'd be more inclined to say it was a bad idea, but I imagine they just screwed it up rather than were completely unprepared for it.  Though the Special Teams play all day was pretty poor.  The decision to get cute with the final kickoff instead of just booting it deep with that extra 5 yards was truly stupid.  The extra 17 yards they had in field position very well could've cost them a chance at overtime.  The upside of running a few seconds off the clock and maybe having them start at the 15-17 yard line instead of the 20 was totally not worth the risk of a longer return.

This team isn't good enough right now to give away points.

[Mackus]

I thought the decision to go for it on 4th and 1 was a bad choice.  Not ridiculous that they convert, but the upside of converting wasn't worth the risk of coming up empty on that drive.  It's not like we automatically get a TD if we get the yard like last week.

 

As for the onsides kick, I think that was a defensible decision.  From what I've found in a quick search, the success rate for an unexpected onsides kick is over 50%.  I think that was a risk that can be justified given that the defense had been good in the red zone, keeping Pittsburgh out of the end zone, but wasn't looking as good in terms of being able to get the ball back quickly if we had kicked it deep.  If you think it's likely that your defense will hold them to 3 if you are unsuccessful, but also is more likely than usual that Pittsburgh goes down the field and gets a FG anyways if you kick it deep, then it makes sense to give it a shot.

 

Not saying it was a no-brainer or obvious decision, but I don't think it's fair to straight up call it a boneheaded or stupid decision.  I certainly think the execution was terrible.  If they haven't practiced that play extensively, then I'd be more inclined to say it was a bad idea, but I imagine they just screwed it up rather than were completely unprepared for it.  Though the Special Teams play all day was pretty poor.  The decision to get cute with the final kickoff instead of just booting it deep with that extra 5 yards was truly stupid.  The extra 17 yards they had in field position very well could've cost them a chance at overtime.  The upside of running a few seconds off the clock and maybe having them start at the 15-17 yard line instead of the 20 was totally not worth the risk of a longer return.

This team isn't good enough right now to give away points.

I don't think that was the intent.

[SportsGuy]

I don't think that was the intent.

You never intend to fail but since failure was likely, your punishment was essentially handing them points and right now, mistakes are hard to overcome for this team.

Between that play not working, Joe under throwing Jones and ST errors, this team just can't get out of its own way right now.

[bnickle]

With a marginal team the margin of error is really thin.

 

The poor game management again(going for it on 4th, the onsides), penalties, and one missed play(Joe to Jones) is all it takes to lose.

 

 

We could overcome a poor in game coach, Joe missing on one throw, and too many penalties in years past. Not this year. It really is that simple.

[SportsGuy]

With a marginal team the margin of error is really thin.
 
The poor game management again(going for it on 4th, the onsides), penalties, and one missed play(Joe to Jones) is all it takes to lose.
 
 
We could overcome a poor in game coach, Joe missing on one throw, and too many penalties in years past. Not this year. It really is that simple.

No doubt...it may change after the bye week, once the line gets more in sync with lady years blocking scheme, players get healthy, etc...

But right now, they have to play close to a flawless game and while that's difficult to do, coaching decisions shouldn't be the things that screw you up.

This team needs to figure out what and who they are and just let it all out.

[SportsGuy]

I hate our coaching staff right now btw...at least Caldwell called a better game.

[bnickle]

I hate our coaching staff right now btw...at least Caldwell called a better game.

Yes, a better called offenensive game. This is what is going to have to happen to give us the best chance to win. Mostly, throw the ball while mixing in runs. I called for about a 65/35 passing split earlier this week and my guess is that's probably close to what it was.

 

We still couldn't push guys on blocks and run the ball when we really needed it but we mixed in the run from the shotgun pretty well.

[SportsGuy]

Yes, a better called offenensive game. This is what is going to have to happen to give us the best chance to win. Mostly, throw the ball while mixing in runs. I called for about a 65/35 passing split earlier this week and my guess is that's probably close to what it was.
 
We still couldn't push guys on blocks and run the ball when we really needed it but we mixed in the run from the shotgun pretty well.

56/44 pass/run %.

[bnickle]

56/44 pass/run %.

2 of the runs were Flacco scrambles that were called passes so that probably brings it up to 60%+. That's ok. I think we generally need to be setting up the run with the pass. Running more out of passing formations. Not being predictable. Take the leech runs on the last drive. Leech is not a good RB but the fact that he was the one back there in a Shotgun formation told the defense pass was likely and he was able to gain 4+ yards on multiple runs.

[NewMarketSean]

Btw, we had won the last 3 in Pittsburgh before yesterday. Which is why it sucked to lose that game. Having a 4 game win streak in Pitt would have been great.