BALTIMORE RAVENS 17, PITTSBURGH STEELERS 14

October 3, 2010

How long before the NFL League office starts charging a premium to watch Ravens-Steelers games? That’s how fiercely entertaining these contests have become.

Sunday was no exception in a see-saw battle that once again came down to the final ticks of the clock—as is usually the case in games featuring the NFL’s best rivalry. 

It has become a familiar story, one that was written on the faces in the crowd.  The home-town fans bit their yellow towels and glanced pensively at the game clock. Their Steelers had somehow managed to grab a 14-10 lead halfway through the fourth quarter.  And yet the crowd seemed to sense it was far from over, after witnessing their Steelers get mostly outplayed by the visiting Ravens through three and a half quarters.

Sure enough, the Ravens drove right back down the field and had the ball first and goal.  A Ray Rice scamper up the middle moved the ball down to the Pittsburgh two with just under three minutes remaining.  But the Steelers stiffened as William Gay poked a pass attempt away from Derrick Mason at the goal line on third down. And then Gay refused to get swept up by a pick play on the on the opposite side of the field as Joe Flacco’s pass to a well-covered Anquan Boldin fluttered helplessly out of bounds.

With a turnover on downs by the Ravens, it looked every bit like the kind of wrenching loss the Ravens have grown accustomed to, coming away losers in nine out of their previous ten trips into Pittsburgh, despite just three or four points separating the two teams in the last four contests.

This time was different, however.   This time it was the Steelers who made critical mistakes with the game on the line, with false starts by Chris Kemoeatu and Matt Spaeth to force a Pittsburgh punt from their own end zone. And then a special teams blunder by the Steelers on the punt, a holding call against Keyaron Fox, gave the Ravens the ball on the Steelers forty with sixty-eight seconds still left to work with.

This time, it was Joe Flacco, not Ben Roethlisberger marching his team down the field late in the game. Zing, nine yards to Boldin. Then a quick three more to Boldin along the sideline to get the first down and stop the clock.  Ten yards to TJ Houshmandzadeh on an out pattern, down to the Steelers’18. 

This time there would be no game-clinching sacks by the blitz-happy Steelers.  Instead, behind superb protection from his line, it was Joe Flacco and Houshmandzadeh burning the Steelers’ secondary over the middle, with an improvised double-move by the veteran receiver for the game-winning touchdown.

Flacco and the passing attack required just half the allotted sixty-eight seconds by going four-for-four and chewing-up forty yards—and by relying on two veteran receivers who were not around in past years to experience heartbreaking losses to the Steelers.

It was nonetheless a classic Ravens-Steelers rivalry game that turned on critical penalties, missed field goals, key turnovers, and last-minute heroics. 

It was a game that was just seconds away from giving the Steelers a 4-0 start and a two-game lead over their chief rivals from Baltimore.  Instead, with the Bengals losing to the Browns 23-20 in another close divisional match up, the Ravens moved their mark to 3-1 and grabbed first place in the division over the Steelers. 

Quarterback: A-

Other than looking a little timid at the start of the fourth quarter, Joe Flacco put together a second-straight quality performance. He came out fast and confident, and looked crisp getting the ball out to his receivers.  He could have finished the first quarter nine-for-nine in passing if not for drops by Houshmandzadeh and Todd Heap.  With the Steelers focused on Boldin, Flacco and Derrick Mason were in rhythm together, connecting on all of the first five balls thrown to him, including a season-long forty yard completion.  He was 24 out of 37 (65%) for 256 yards, with an interception and touchdown, both coming in the second half.  Flacco bounced back from the interception and was perfect in crunch time, with his fourth game-winning fourth quarter drive of his career and second in two weeks.  His pump fake and ability to hit Houshmandzadeh in the seam on the winning touchdown throw was a clear sign of progress for the third year quarterback.

Running Backs: B-

With Ray Rice nursing a bruised knee, Willis McGahee got just his second start in the last two seasons.  He ran hard, but had just 39 yards on 14 carries, good enough to keep the Steelers honest. McGahee was lining up a couple steps deeper in the backfield and it was enough to allow him to be patient finding the hole, particularly as he ran for a nine-yard touchdown, with a nice open field move to beat James Farrior.  Ray Rice did rotate in, and picked up 20 yards on eight carries.  He also collected a nice catch and juked his way for nine yards.   After McGahee left the game on a helmet-to-helmet hit by James Harrison (not flagged), and Le’Ron McClain limped off the field, Rice finished out the contest.  McClain did a superb job picking up the blitz in the backfield.

Wide Receivers: A-

The trio of veterans Mason, Boldin, and Houshmandzadeh were targeted 24 times and grabbed 16 receptions for 179 yards and a touchdown.  It was not a ton of yards but their average of well over ten yards a catch was a key statistic in helping the Ravens beat the Steelers on a day when the ground game was just average.  Derrick Mason had a tremendous start to the game, and Houshmandzadeh was the finisher.  Boldin continues to impress with excellent hands and his ability to stretch for extra yards after the catch.

Tight Ends: C+

Todd Heap was abused by Lamar Woodley on two occasions when trying to pass protect. He also dropped a pass he usually catches despite a big hit from Ryan Clark.   As the game wore on he was better finding soft spots in the defense and managed three catches for 35 yards. For the second week in a row, Heap made the key block on the winning touchdown throw when he came down the line of scrimmage and picked up the blitz.

Tackles: A-

Other than a couple miscues, tackles Michael Oher and Marshall Yanda were all business against a tough group of Steelers. Oher was flagged for an offsides call in the din of Heinz Field.  He also grabbed James Harrison’s jersey in the red zone for another flag.  But he was mostly solid in pass protection and was moving the pile on run calls.  Yanda was very focused on his protection technique and did a nice job.  Oniel Cousins saw action in unbalanced line formation and was effective as a run blocker even though the Ravens ran away from him.

Interior Line: A

Matt Birk had an outstanding game controlling the middle of the Steelers defense and making line calls against exotic blitz pick ups.  He stood up Casey Hampton on a number of plays. Credit Chris Chester with pouncing on a Flacco fumble. Chester showed he is one of the league’s best downfield blockers when out ahead of Rice on a screen pass.   He also made a nice block in the red zone to get Rice down to the two. Ben Grubbs did an outstanding job with blitz pick ups.

Cornerbacks: A-

Steelers QB Charlie Batch threw for just 141 yards, and most of his throws targeted the middle of the field.  Chris Carr and Fabian Washington should be credited with a coverage sack on the opening series.  Washington was very good on the boundries.  Carr did get a ticky-tack interference penalty when he draped an arm around Hines Ward’s waist.  And he took a bad angle on Rashard Mendenhall’s TD run.  Washington was beaten by a long throw and catch to the one yard line by Antwan Randle El and Batch despite good coverage.  Lardarius Webb saw more action and made excellent adjustments on the ball even after getting out of position, including pulling a TD pass out of Wallace’s hands.   Webb was flagged for jumping offsides, as was nickelback Haruki Nakamura. Nakamura nearly picked up a backside sack on Batch.

Safeties: C

Despite getting eight tackles, Dawan Landry seemed to be playing a little soft in coverage.  Tom Zbikowski seemed fairly non-existent on defense.  Most of Batch’s more effective throws took advantage of the Ravens safeties playing off receivers.

Linebackers: A

Ray Lewis stood out for playing quick to the ball and connecting on statement-making hard tackles.  He was more effective than a week ago in eluding blocks at the second level and was a big part of keeping Mendenhall under 80 yards on the ground despite 25 attempts.  Lewis also made a very nice diving interception to end the game on a pass that Webb probably would have snared otherwise. It was a typically dramatic punctuation mark on the end of the game from Lewis, especially after making a statement earlier in the week that the defense needed to do a better job holding onto interceptions. A switch seemed to flick-on for Jameel McClain who was all over the field making plays, including a very nice pass defense play thirty yards downfield on what could have been an interception. Dannell Ellerbe was a force in the Steelers backfield.  Jarret Johnson was very effective applying pressure and turning in runs off the edge.

Defensive Line: A

Haloti Ngata was a force, and led the team in tackles with 11.  Not just tackles, however, as Ngata piled up a lot of crooked number on the stat sheet, including a sack on a three-man rush, two quarterback hits, and two tackles for a loss. He even dropped into zone coverage on a pass.  His highlight reel hit on Rashard Mendenhall was about as hard a tackle as you will see in the league.   With Cory Redding out and Trevor Pryce gone, Brandon McKinney got the start and showed why he has been getting more playing time as he was very good penetrating the backfield to disrupt plays. Paul Kruger rotated in and was solid, not spectacular, on the line of scrimmage and nearly forced a fumble hitting Batch, which was reversed by penalty.   Terrence Cody also saw action, pushing linemen back, but also running himself out of a play where Mendenhall went for nine.  Terrell Suggs played with controlled violence and nearly forced a hold and a safety in the end zone.

Special Teams: B

Billy Cundiff missed a 46 yard field goal wide right in the wind, but came back and hit a 33 yarder, on a day when two misses by the Steelers Jeff Reed after Ravens turnovers was the difference in the game.  Prescott Burgess continues to excel on special teams.  Tom Zbikowski is a reliable pair of hands on punt returns, but is not an explosive difference maker.  Sam Koch continues to be an under appreciated weapon, pinning the Steelers inside their ten a number of times.

Coaching: A

Cam Cameron was given the game ball and deservedly so. He never stopped being aggressive, attacking the Steelers secondary while putting players in position to help on the blitz.  His game plan of running between the tackles and throwing to the sidelines softened up the defense and allowed a more open attack as the game progressed.  He also was effective mixing run and pass on a day when Ravens runners were hobbled.   Defensively Greg Mattison was purely vanilla, and it was a thing of beauty to see well-coached players simply carrying out their assignments.

Officiating: C