Baltimore loses Phillips, Stanley done for the year.
M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE, Sunday, November 1, 2020. Memories are made, and stories are long told about rivalries like this. Epic battles and the weathered, grizzled men who participate in them are the stuff of NFL legend. The names fly off the tongue in a rowdy roll call … Lewis, Porter, Polamalu, Reed, Roethlisberger, Suggs, and so many others.
But, this being 2020, the latest chapter in the Steelers-Ravens rivalry was unlike any other. Fans have had their participation severely diminished by the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 4345 scattered fans were allowed in the stands for Sunday’s game.
In the end on this Sunday, the Steelers outlasted a mistake-prone Ravens team, 28-24, to remain unbeaten as the Ravens dropped to 5-2.
Baltimore scored over 20 points for a 30th straight contest, but that was of little consequence in the larger scheme of things.
The bright spot on Sunday was how the Ravens were able to run against the league’s best run-defense (68 yards per game going into the contest). Baltimore rushed for 265 yards, including 113 on 15 carries by rookie second-round pick JK Dobbins. But four turnovers blunted the Ravens’ momentum in a game that featured an ejection and four lead changes. A fifth–and game-winning change–was thwarted in the final seconds when Minkah Fitzpatrick broke up Lamar Jackson’s end-zone pass as time ran out.
It was Jackson’s first loss after 23 straight wins in games in which this team was leading at the half. One reason is that Jackson completed just 13 of 28 passes for 208 yards for two touchdowns and with two interceptions (65.8 rating). He was also sacked four times.
The late-game thrills offset a slow, sloppy first half that got off to a fitting start when Steeler linebacker Robert Spillane (playing in place of the injured Devin Bush) stepped in front of a pass and went 33 yards with Jackson’s first-ever, first-quarter interception–and the first-ever pickoff returned for a score–for an early Pittsburgh lead.
The pass had been intended for rookie draftee James Proche, part of an early-game effort to get other players involved in the Ravens’ inconsistent offense. One of them was second-year wideout Miles Boykin, who got matched up with a linebacker and caught a perfectly-lofted six-yard pass to tie the game on the ensuing drive. It marked Jackson’s 15th straight game with a touchdown pass.
But soon after that, Orlando Brown, Jr. would have to move from right to left tackle, Patrick Mekari was inserted at right guard, and DJ Fluker came in at right tackle due to the Phillips and Stanley injuries. It looked as though the entire Ravens’ offense was doomed, but it responded well to its credit.
Early in the second quarter, Edwards ripped off a 25-yard run, and Dobbins added a 12-yard dash. Jackson’s 14-yard run was followed with a pass to Mark Andrews to the 6. Edwards cashed in the nine-play drive with a one-yard touchdown to reclaim the lead for the home team, and Justin Tucker’s 51-yard field goal made it 17-7 at the half.
But by then, linebacker Matthew Judon had been thrown out of the game during a sideline altercation between the two teams. He seemed to punch the field judge accidentally and was automatically ejected.
After halftime, Judon’s absence seemed to embolden a Steeler team that had been badly outgained in the first half, 254-65–getting only five first downs to the Ravens’ 16 first downs, and running 20 plays overall to Baltimore’s 45.
The Steeler offense got into the end zone for the first time in its last 13 drives when Ben Roethlisberger found tight end Eric Ebron, who was wide open on a crossing route, for 18 yards and a touchdown that cut the Ravens’ lead to three, 17-14. Then Alex Highsmith’s interception of Jackson set up the short field for Pittsburgh–a team that scored 14 points off turnovers on this day.
After rookie corner Terrell Bonds was called for pass interference on a third-down play, Roethlisberger found rookie speedster Chase Claypool with two straight passes before James Conner’s one-yard touchdown capped off the six-minute, ten-play drive. Pittsburgh now had a 21-17 lead.
The Steelers outscored the Ravens in the third quarter, 14-0, ending Baltimore’s streak of scoring in 27 straight quarters–including the first 26 to start the season–breaking the record set by the 2000 St. Louis Rams. But the Ravens answered back with Jackson passes of 39 yards to Devin Duvernay, 24 to Snead, and a three-yard scoring pass to Maurice Brown. Two other scores were nullified in that drive–one on a Matt Skura holding penalty, and another when a Brown catch was overruled by replay. But Brown got his touchdown, and the Ravens led 21-17.
On the next Steelers’ drive, Baltimore made its two biggest mistakes of the day. Chuck Clark’s face-mask call came first, followed by a pass interference call on Marlon Humphrey. Those gaffes set up the Steelers in the Ravens’ red zone. Claypool then burned Clark in the corner of the east end zone for the go-ahead score with 7:29 to go.
After nine straight runs to get down to the Steelers’ ten-yard line, Jackson was stopped on fourth down by a Steeler defense that has now stopped eight straight fourth-down plays by opponents. Rookie linebacker Patrick Queen returned the favor on third down to get the ball back for the Ravens, but Fitzpatrick’s play on Snead ended Baltimore’s hopes.
All in all, it was everything a Ravens-Steelers game usually is, and more. But a tough upcoming schedule and injuries to key players make getting to the Steelers’ rematch on Thanksgiving-night (a mere four weeks away) no easy task.
Baltimore must play its three AFC North Division rivals away from home. And the Colts are up next Sunday–also on the road–at a place the Ravens have never won, and (this year at least), where the Colts have not lost.
The Ravens will be playing without running back Mark Ingram, whose high-ankle sprain could keep him out multiple weeks on the injury front. And there are injuries to right guard Tyre Phillips (ankle) and left tackle Ronnie Stanley (knee). Stanley has been ruled out for the season.
It remains to be seen whether 2020 will be the stuff of which purple-clad legends are made or a year of maddening memories instead.
