Lamar Jackson had another uneven performance in this game, although he was undoubtedly better than the past few weeks. On the surface, his 54% completion mark, costly interception, and 71.0 passer rating with 219 passing yards leave much to be desired. Jackson and the offense could once again get very little going in the first half and it took them too long to begin scoring consistently. However, Jackson did begin to heat up a bit as the game progressed, and he showed a level of confidence and decisiveness as a runner not seen since Week 1. He ran for 43 yards with a touchdown on seven attempts. Jackson was not helped at all but poor pass protection at times, dropped passes, and a questionably overturned touchdown pass to Isaiah Likely late in the fourth quarter that would have put the Ravens ahead. Jackson was still subpar by his standards, and the Ravens needed him to be better, but he put them in position to win the game late.
Derrick Henry’s usage was once again head-scratching early in the game, as the Ravens went away from him for multiple drives in the first half. They began to feed him over the final two quarters, though, and the Steelers’ defense started to wear down more as a result. Henry’s 25 carries for 94 yards weren’t overly efficient, but his yardage was much needed and hard-earned. Meanwhile, Keaton Mitchell ripped off a long 55-yard run in the second half that nearly went for a touchdown. Mitchell finished with six carries for 76 yards before exiting the game early with a knee injury. Rasheen Ali played a decent amount of snaps again but only received three touches and gained 13 yards.
After his worst performance of the season last week with just two catches for six yards and a fumble, Zay Flowers bounced back in a big way. Flowers caught a season-high eight receptions on 11 targets and gained 124 receiving yards. He had two long catches of 30+ yards and could have had more but narrowly stepped out bounds on a sideline catch attempt. Flowers is still seeking his first touchdown since the regular season opener, but as per usual he was the only wide receiver who made a significant impact of note. Rashod Bateman caught two passes for 23 yards but had a crucial drop on third down in the red zone, and Deandre Hopkins was only targeted once all game.
Hours after signing a three-year contract extension, Mark Andrews caught only one pass for nine yards despite seeing five targets. His catch didn’t come until the very end of the game, which is true also for Charlie Kolar. Kolar’s 19-yard reception on the final drive helped move the ball closer into scoring position but to no avail. The biggest story at tight end was once again Likely, but similar to last week for the wrong reasons. The aforementioned overturned touchdown pass came via Likely having the ball poked out of his hands in the end zone after reeling in what was a 13-yard score. It was highly questionable call by the officials, but nevertheless if Likely held onto the ball for just a second or two longer it would not have been overturned. Likely did have the only touchdown catch of the game in the third quarter and saw six targets, second most on the team.
The Ravens’ offensive line was shaky in pass protection again despite surrendering only two sacks and five quarterback hits in total. Ronnie Stanley and Roger Rosengarten struggled to block the Steelers’ edge rushers on multiple occasions, and the Ravens also gave up pressure inside. There were notable instances where the offensive guards were beaten badly, and Jackson was forced to scramble or throw the ball into the ground. The game ended with Jackson being sacked by Alex Highsmith, who had two quarterback hits and three tackles for loss. The Ravens did a much better job in run blocking, as they were able to grind out 217 yards on the ground and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. They started wearing the Steelers’ defensive front down in the run game as the second half progressed.
Pittsburgh’s rushing attack was almost completely shut down by the Ravens’ defensive front. The Ravens limited running backs Kenneth Gainwell and Jaylen Warren to a combined 28 yards on 12 carries. Gainwell and Aaron Rodgers each scored rushing touchdowns but from six yards and one yard out, respectively. The Ravens were not able to generate much pass rush at all through the middle without bringing extra rushers, and even that had little effectiveness. Travis Jones and John Jenkins each had one tackle but no other statistics, and no other defensive tackle cracked the box score.
The edge rushers played a part in the Ravens’ run defense effectiveness, as they helped contain outside runs and crash inside on up-the-middle attempts. However, they struggled to get pressure on Rodgers consistently and weren’t able to bring him down on multiple occasions. Despite Rodgers’ limited mobility, he was able to escape possible sacks and maneuver within the pocket. He also had plenty of time to throw on a number of dropbacks. No edge rusher had a single sack and Dre’Mont Jones recorded the team’s only quarterback hit.
As per usual, Roquan Smith led the team in tackles with 10 and had one tackle-for-loss. Smith had some good run stuffs up front but also got lost in coverage at times in space. Teddye Buchanan had only four tackles but nearly came up with a big forced turnover in the second half before it was overturned after review. The Ravens had some issues defending Pittsburgh’s running backs in the passing game. Warren had a 38-yard touchdown catch on third down that broke the Ravens’ momentum in the third quarter, and Gainwell had six catches in total.
The Steelers came into this game having not completed a single pass for 20+ air yards over the previous five weeks. On their first offensive play of the game, D.K. Metcalf beat Marlon Humphrey in single coverage for a long 52-yard snag. Metcalf gave Humphrey and whoever else tried guarding him trouble all day, finishing with seven catches for 148 yards. Humphrey, to his credit, did have a team-high three pass breakups. The Ravens gave up no more than one reception to any other Steelers’ wide receiver, but Calvin Austin III did beat Chidobe Awuzie on third down for a long 31-yard catch. Nate Wiggins returned from a foot injury in this game but unfortunately was on the wrong end of some bad missed open-field tackles. The Ravens should have been able to slow down Metcalf more than they did.
Baltimore’s safeties also bear some of the blame for the secondary’s struggles as a whole. The Steelers connected on too many explosive plays for what has been an inexplosive offense for most of the season. Malaki Starks had a solid pass breakup and Alohi Gilman finished second on the team in tackles with seven. Kyle Hamilton was limited to only three total tackles and did not account for any noticeable splash plays like he usually does.
Tyler Loop made all three of his field goal attempts but missed an extra point just before halftime, which would have cut the Ravens’ deficit to seven instead of eight points. In the end, it didn’t make a big difference. What did make a difference was a couple of costly special teams penalties. An unnecessary roughness flag on fourth down gave the Steelers a fresh set of downs after they kicked a field goal and led to a touchdown shortly after. That was another momentum-killer for the Ravens. Then, late in the fourth quarter, a holding penalty on a punt return backed the Ravens’ offense up and gave them worse field position on their final drive of the game. In the return game as a whole, the Ravens did not get very much juice — which has been the case for much of the year.