Back on November 6th, the Steelers went into Baltimore with a 4-3 record. They had started the season at 4-1 but then got destroyed by a Miami Dolphins’ team that left the Steelers battered and bruised and Ben Roethlisberger hurt. The following week, the Landry Jones-led Steelers lost to New England and then the Steelers went on their bye week.
We already knew the numbers didn’t stack up in the Steelers’ favor. Ben Roethlisberger was returning from his knee injury and his record in those return games wasn’t great. We also knew the Ravens had had the Steelers’ number in recent years too especially in Baltimore. While the final score of 21-14 made the game look as though it were competitive, it really wasn’t.
There were three major reasons why that loss happened when you look back at it and no, I’m not talking about Chris Boswell’s horrendous onsides kick either.
Statistically, the game was very much a dead heat. The Steelers out-gained the Ravens 277 to 274. The third down conversion rates were 4 of 16 for Pittsburgh and 4 of 17 for the Ravens. Each team had 15 drives and each team also averaged 4.3 yards per play. The time of possession only favored Baltimore by four plus minutes.
So where did Pittsburgh go wrong?
First of all, despite the Ravens having 10 penalties of their own, the Steelers collected 14 for 99 yards. Four of the Ravens’ 13 first downs came via penalty. This has unfortunately been a trend the black and gold have battled all season and they can’t afford for it to rear its ugly head again on Sunday. With one more penalty, the Steelers will have 100 accepted penalties on the year. This ranks them 11th in the NFL. Baltimore is actually third with 114 accepted penalties.
Secondly, the Steelers’ special teams’ unit was beaten like a drum. The winning touchdown was scored when Sean Davis completely whiffed on a block leading to a blocked punt and score by Chris Moore. Those were the eventual winning points because Pittsburgh would score 14 in the final quarter to make seven the final deficit.
As you know, if I were Santa Claus, Steelers’ Special Teams’ Coach Danny Smith would be getting coal in his stocking. His unit has taken way too many penalties and he is constantly outcoached in my opinion. If this game comes down to a special teams’ play that goes against us I may in fact start a petition to get him out if not something more drastic.
Lastly, the Steelers gave up one huge play and when you go back and look at it you have to be amazed at how far Artie Burns has come. You’ll recall he was victimized by Mike Wallace on a 95-yard touchdown in which he was a little too aggressive. Of course he didn’t get any help from Mike Mitchell who badly whiffed on his attempt at a tackle.
That, in a nutshell, was the game-winning play because it would be 21-0 before the Steelers would ever get on the board. I have no doubt the Ravens will attempt to isolate Burns in a similar fashion on Sunday.
Both teams are very different from the earlier meeting but the Steelers cannot afford similar mistakes if they expect to win. The mental-type of penalties have to stop and the special teams’ unit has to be better. And oh yeah, the offense has to be much better as well.
