Baltimore Falls To 2-2 With 26-9 Defeat; Bell Dominates
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE — In some schools, October is when the first report cards are issued.
Traditionally, it’s also the Ravens’ worst month in team history; they have won just 41 percent of their games in the month and haven’t even won an October home game in three years.
Courtesy ESPN.com
Add all that to the lethargy that injury-prone Baltimore showed in their Week Three loss in London, and it added up to another failing grade in the form of a decisive 26-9 loss to the archrival Pittsburgh Steelers in front of 71,126 fans.
It was the first win in Baltimore in five years for the Steelers (3-1), who took sole possession of first place in the AFC North.
The Ravens have lost two straight in what has been regarded as their toughest stretch of the year, with the trip overseas, the game against Pittsburgh and a trip to play the Oakland Raiders next week (Oct. 8, 4:05 p.m.; WJZ-TV, WIYY-FM).
Baltimore (2-2) was again hampered by the fact that its bottom-ranked offense, clearly hindered by the loss of right guard Marshal Yanda, simply hasn’t been able to sustain long drives.
Quarterback Joe Flacco (31-for-49, 235 yards, touchdown, two interceptions, four sacks, 64.6 rating) was on a streak that hadn’t seen him produce a touchdown in 15 straight drives before this game; he would then add to it with eight more before the second-half rally. In the first half, Flacco had no completions longer than nine yards.
Even after a 16-yard second-half touchdown pass to Mike Wallace (55 yards, six catches, touchdown), Flacco was picked off twice in the fourth quarter, his league-high tenth straight game with at least one pickoff. Running back Alex Collins (82 yards, nine carries) set up the score with a 50-yard run, but the comeback was short-lived.
(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
On top of that, the Ravens’ pass rush generated nothing against Ben Roethlisberger (18-for-30, 216 yards, touchdown, interception, one sack, 79.3 rating), giving him plenty of time to find his wide variety of receivers. He was especially lethal on third-down plays, helping his team convert on seven of 15 such situations.
All told, the more well-rounded Steelers seized control of the game right from the start in the first half with 19 unanswered points, a 253-69 yardage edge and 15 first downs to Baltimore’s four, holding the ball for nearly 20 of the 30 minutes.
As a result, the Ravens were held scoreless at halfftime for a second straight game–an occurrence that has only happened twice in the John Harbaugh era. It also happened in 2009 in back-to-back road games at Cincinnati and Cleveland.
The Ravens would rally to win against the Browns on that long-ago Monday night, but despite wearing black jerseys against the Steelers, darkness had set in early on this Sunday.
The day nearly got even worse when tight end Ben Watson (43 yards, five catches) and receiver Michale Campanaro both had to be evaluated through concussion protocol, and left tackle Ronnie Stanley had to be helped off the field with a right knee problem. However, both would return to the game.
The Ravens and Steelers traded long first-quarter drives that made the game move briskly at first. The opening quarter took a mere 25 minutes to play–about 15 shorter than average.
But it was the visitors that struck first, despite having to start from their own 3-yard line after a deep Sam Koch punt.
As expected, running back Le’Veon Bell (144 yards, 35 carries, two touchdowns; 42 yards, four catches) had the bulk of the workload, touching the ball nine times on a 16-play drive (the league’s longest to this point of the season) that led to a Chris Boswell 30-yard field goal.
Bell seemed to incur a right arm or hand injury during the drive, but with he and his teammates attacking the Ravens’ front seven as Jacksonville did last week, Pittsburgh was able to easily move the ball downfield.
The Steelers maintained their territorial edge in the second quarter as the Ravens switched out right guards (Jermaine Eluemunor for Matt Skura), cornerbacks (Marlon Humphrey for Brandon Carr) and inside linebackers (Patrick Onwuasor for Kamalei Correa).
After a short punt, the Steelers drove to the Ravens’ 12, but an unnecessary-roughness call on left tackle Alejandro Villanueva stopped the drive. The Steelers came into the game as the league’s co-leader in such flags.
Undaunted, Boswell’s 49-yard field goal boosted the Steelers’ lead to six points midway through the period.
But while penalties hurt Pittsburgh, Collins’ second fumble of the year stopped a Ravens’ drive at their own 28. Collins hadn’t been stopped for a loss all year, but defensive end Cameron Heyward fought off a double-team and stripped the ball away.
From there, it didn’t take the Steelers long to finally capitalize, wearing down the Ravens’ defense with Bell’s one-yard touchdown run culminating the six-play drive and upping the score to 13-0 with 3:24 to go before halftime.
Courtesy rotoprofessor.com
With Terrance West looking sluggish, Buck Allen not getting the repetitions (or trust) from the coaching staff and Collins’ fumbling troubles — he put the ball on the ground 17 times in college, losing nine of them — the Ravens’ fourth-ranked run game has looked ineffective. A run-oriented team reduced to a passing dimension is certainly doomed, and the Ravens were in this game.
And because Pittsburgh held a territorial and possession advantage, they used it well.
Late in the first half, Roethlisberger turned to receiver Martavis Bryant (48 yards, three catches), who was suspended all of last year, for two throws totalling 43 yards to put the Steelers on the doorstep again. That set up an 11-yard touchdown throw to 20-year-old rookie Juju Smith-Schuster to make it 19-0 — after a failed two-point try — at the intermission.
The touchdown was Pittsburgh’s 12th play of ten or more yards to that point; the anemic Ravens had just one. Flacco was averaging a paltry 3.5 yards per attempt, and the Ravens’ vaunted defense was down and nearly out.
The team’s only hope was to create turnovers, as it did with gusto in the season’s first two games. Safety Eric Weddle obliged with an interception at the Pittsburgh 18, but when Flacco couldn’t connect with Breshad Perriman in the end zone, the Ravens has to settle for Justin Tucker’s 42-yard field goal.
On one hand, the kick put the Ravens on the board for a 242nd consecutive game, avoiding the team’s first shutout loss since the 2002 home opener and third in history.
On the other, the offense couldn’t muster up nearly enough to compete with the Steelers.
And with a failing first-quarter performance behind them, it remains to be seen whether the Ravens can compete with anyone else.
