Steelers Week 11 Reaction

 Lets GOOOO! Ugly win but I've never known a Steelers Ravens game to go any different. I have to say, NFL broadcasters drive me crazy sometimes. Coming into this game I get that the Ravens offense was operating at a "historic pace" and that the Steelers offense showed some life the last few weeks with Russell Wilson, but they were harping all game like "we were expecting offense! Look at the defense wow!!" As if they've never seen a Steelers Ravens game in their life. This is it, this is how they go every single time no matter who is on either roster this matchup is going to be a rock fight for as long as I live. Anyway, in a week where every team a Steelers fan could want to lose lost, lets start off strong by recapping a great Steelers W!

Exciting Finish

I should probably start here, despite the fact that I want to make fun of Lamar Jackson, a man who for the record is a million times better at football than I ever will be at writing about it. ANYWAY, I feel like I should be looking into cardiovascular companies in Pittsburgh and Baltimore the day before a Steelers Ravens game because there is basically never an instance where it doesn't come right down to it. When the Steelers kicked a FG to go up 8 points with 3:35 left on the clock, I was saying to my friend that this game is definitely going to end with the Ravens scoring a TD and will come down to the 2 point conversion. Of course the Ravens marched down the field, scored a TD with a minute left and lined up to go for 2 to tie. This is where it gets interesting, ball on the 2 yard line for a 2 point conversion, the Ravens have the NFL's leading rusher in Derrick Henry, who is also an absolute beast in short yardage situations, but they leave him on the bench. The play call was for a designed QB run which Joey Porter Jr. and the Steelers snuffed out immediately keeping the score at 18-16 with a minute remaining. A designed QB run with Lamar Jackson isn't a bad play call by any stretch, but to not have Henry on the field as at least a decoy is baffling. I certainly enjoyed that decision by John Harbaugh. 

Game wasn't over yet though the Ravens still had 3 timeouts and the Steelers needed a first down to ice it. Tomlin being the tricky guy he is went to a package with Justin Fields at the QB over Russel Wilson, something that has been teased since Wilson made the switch to starter. Fields' presence confused the defense enough to allow him to scramble and slide JUST short of the line to gain for first down, come on Justin better field awareness!! But it was all for good as the Steelers picked up the first on the ground on the next play and the game was over. All things considered, interesting that Tomlin went to Fields in a known run first situation. With the Steelers struggles in the red zone this game, I wonder if we see more packages with  the speedy QB going forward as a change of pace. 

Lolmar Jackson

Is Lamar Jackson the biggest fraud in professional sports? Ok ok I am coming in hot this week, but yikes does he ever have some rough games against the Steelers. It seems like every time Lamar matches up against the Steelers, they have a great strategy set up to make him a pocket passer for most of the game. This is always easier said than done, Lamar is a multiple time MVP for a reason, not a lot of teams can make him a pocket passer. The Steelers though seem to attack him differently. My untrained football eye yesterday showed me that the Steelers didn't look like they were even going for sacks most of the time on the pass rush. It seemed like the edge rushers were looking more to just get around to either side of Lamar while having the linemen push up the middle. This effectively made a circle around Lamar in the pocket. Rather than immediately going after the QB once the edge was set, the Steelers linebackers waited a moment forcing Lamar to stay in the pocket and make passes all game. I think this is the secret to Lamar Jackson, as much as he's improved as a passer, his best weapon remains his dynamism with the running game. In the Ravens 7 wins this year, Lamar Jackson has 25 passing attempts per game. In their 4 losses, Lamar has attempted 36.5 passes per game. It comes as no surprise that in this one Lamar attempted 33 passes and looked shaky at times doing so. 

As much as I love to make fun of Lamar, a lot of his poor performance isn't really on him yesterday. The Steelers were setting the edge really well with their great pass rushers on the outside giving Lamar limited time to find his targets down field. His offense coughed up 2 fumbles on plays that weren't his fault in the slightest giving the Steelers great chances to capitalize and cutting some of Lamar's drives short. The interception Lamar threw was neither his fault or the fault of the receiver but just an incredible awe-inspiring play from Peyton Wilson on the Steelers. Either way, you can add this to the list of poor Lamar Jackson performances against the Steelers as he now moves to 1-4 against the division rival for his career. 

Awesome Turnovers Forced

The Steelers defense forced 3 turnovers on the Ravens in this one and all 3 of them were incredible plays. The first one came on one of the first plays of the game where Nick Herbig, back from a hamstring injury, punched the ball loose from usually sure handed Derrick Henry to set up the Steelers first field goal of the day. The second turnover was a huge revenge play for Patrick Queen  against his former team where he essentially just ripped the ball out of Isaiah Likely's hands, then recovered it to set up yet another Steelers FG. Finally the interception mentioned above by Peyton Wilson the rookie. Lamar hit his running back on an absolute dime with a pass, the receiver caught the ball but as he was being tackled, Peyton Wilson somehow got his arms around the ball in the receiver's hands, twisted it away and landed with it in his possession. It's the type of interception you won't see very often and exactly the type of thing that happens in a Steelers Ravens matchup. Needless to say, the defense was crucial forcing critical turnovers and getting the Steelers some good field position all game. 

Best Kicker in the NFL

As a long time Ravens hater, I am sure most people expect me to be happy watching the decline of Justin Tucker in real time. I am actually a bit saddened by it though, it's hard to watch one of the GOATs deteriorate in front of you. Tucker missed 2 FGs early in the game that would've flipped the game script completely. Meanwhile on the Steelers side Boswell had his second 6 FG game of the season joining John Carney as the only kickers to have multiple 6 FG games in a season. What's even crazier is the Steelers have now won two games where the only points scored are 6 Boswell field goals. It feels good to have a reliable kicker with a big leg. A lot of chatter after the game about the offense not being able to punch it in and that is a problem, but when the defense is playing so well I think it allows Tomlin to make more conservative decisions on offense. It isn't pretty, but I will take an ugly win by FGs 17 times in a row if it gets the Steelers to the playoffs.

That's that! I mean there was so much in this game, great defense played by both sides and a game that really came down to 1 play at the end with the failed 2 point conversion. A win is a win though and a win against Baltimore is just that much more sweet. A side note from this one, the Steelers are now 1 win away from keeping Tomlin's above .500 streak alive for another season. The Steelers get the Thursday nighter against the Browns next as they finally start rolling in divisional matchups. 8-2, coming into the year I definitely didn't think they'd be here but they've won in a variety of ways and are seriously looking like one of the best teams in the NFL. Go Steelers, haha Ravens!