Ravens Fast Five: Waiting All Day For…Wednesday Afternoon

Discuss your thoughts on the Ravens 19-14 loss on our message board.

Stephon Tuitt says, “Pad the stats – should be an easy one”. What say you?

Nothing comes easy in the NFL. A player should know that. Steelers defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt, who suit up after contracting COVID-19 this week, provided a little bulletin board material before the game with what I posted above. The Ravens led at one point 7-6, it was a one score game until the 4^th quarter when the Steelers extended it to 19-7. Ravens closed the gap to 19-14 too late in the game which would be the final, dropping them to 6-5.

But “pad the stats”, cause your team feels slighted for not playing this game a week ago? Nice try.

They allowed 90 yards through the air, expected about that. Robert Griffin III threw for 96 a year ago in week 17 when the Ravens handed the Steelers their last loss when they were fighting desperately for a playoff spot.

Otherwise, Ben Roethlisberger threw for 266 yards, one score, an INT. Hardly padding the stats.

Steelers as a team rushed for 68 yards on 20 carries to the Ravens 129 yards on 28 carries.

Both teams turned the ball over twice. Ravens averaged 4.5 yards per play to the Steelers 4.7. Hardly a difference there.

Mr. Tuitt. It’s easy to call it “an easy one” when you’re sitting your tookus on the couch, brah.

Despite the odd circumstances, Ravens blew too many scoring opportunities.

The Ravens straight up botched the end of the first half. Say what you will about the delay of game that should have been on the Steelers for laying on Gus Edwards and not moving. You still need to spike the ball and kick the field goal, make it 12-10 at the half. Luke Willson was unemployed until a couple weeks ago and the pass was broken up by an All-Pro safety. He needs to catch that, but it’s a complete mismatch anyway.

You need points there, period. You weren’t going to drive the length of the field often in this one.

Then you get a nice drive going in the 3^rd quarter, still a 12-7 game, staring at a field goal at a minimum, and come up with a loss of yardage on 3^rd down making a field goal even longer. Still in Justin Tucker’s range, they pass up an attempt at a long field goal to punt the ball away.

The outcome could have been different.

Some backups shined.  

Davonte Harris was claimed off waivers on November 18^th. He was activated two days ago and made a key play, forcing a fumble on a potential Steelers punt return. It set up the Ravens in the red zone where they capitalized with a touchdown. He also had a beautiful pass breakup near the endzone late in the 3^rd quarter against Dionte Johnson. This guy earned a job on my roster even when normalcy returns.

Nick Moore was a practice squad long snapper who was playing in the XFL early in the year. Looked good to me on the Ravens seven punts and twoPATs. All you ask for. It’s a tough job which is why these guys can be some of the longest tenured on a team.

Robert Griffin III. Made some mistakes as was expected. But also put his team in a position to score points. A long run. A perfectly placed pass that you want Luke Willson to hold onto for a TD. Even if the final numbers weren’t there, throwing for only 33 yards, he did more than asked after coming up lame on a run in the 2^nd quarter. He was grabbing for his hamstring but toughed it out and played until the middle of the 4^th quarter when he finally gave way to Trace McSorely, and RG3 was spotted with his hammy wrapped and iced. RG3 finished with 68 yards rushing and a game long 39-yard rush.

Tyus Bowser picked up a 1^st quarter interception as the Steelers are driving in for a score. He also finished with three hits on Big Ben.

Passive in the 4th quarter?

You play to win the game…right? Down two scores in the 4^th quarter, 4^th down and 2, Coach Harbaugh says punt. Down two scores in the 4^th quarter, 4^th down and 10, Harbaugh says punt. You’re at best only getting the ball back one more time at this point, and it might not even be a two-score game still. Could be even bigger.

Harbaugh and this team needed to be aggressive if they were going to win this game. They had to show some new wrinkles the Steelers weren’t prepared for because heads up, the game wouldn’t be close. They were too passive, in my opinion. They would stumble into a Marquise Brown catch and run for a touchdown cutting the lead to 19-14. But too little too late. What could have been if at least on 4^th and 2, you convert and later score on that drive.

Obviously can’t rewrite history. If the Ravens trailed by one score late in the 4^th quarter, the safety isn’t giving Marquise Brown the space he had to make that touchdown. Before that touchdown even happened, the Ravens were playing like they wanted to just get out of town.

COVID outbreak. Fighting with the league. Unknowns for a week about practicing, flights. Playing shorthanded and having guys injured. I wonder if the coaches had just plain enough. Shame, because this was a game that could have been had.

Look ahead to the Cowboys in Week 13, Tuesday night, 7:30pm (for now).

Dallas gets a pseudo bye week before this matchup as they played on Thanksgiving six days ago. This game was supposed to be played tomorrow.

Cowboys come to Baltimore on 12 days off, and they probably feel like it’s no better time for a hard reset than now. Dallas has lost five of their last six games and were absolutely embarrassed on turkey day at home by the Football Team, 41-16.

Ezekiel Elliott hasn’t been himself ever since Dak Prescott’s devastating season ending ankle injury. In the last four games he is averaging just 3.6 yards per carry, and only found the endzone once on a receiving score. Have to think defenses are zeroing in on him and daring backup quarterbacks to beat them through the air.

The Cowboys backup quarterback is familiar to the Ravens though. Andy Dalton has faced the Ravens 16 times in his nine years as a Bengal, going 8-8 with a passer rating of 76.6.

Amazingly, they are 3-8 and only one game back of the division lead. The Giants lead at 4-7 and just lost Daniel Jones. This division may finally change the playoff seeding rules as a 6-10 record may very well earn a home playoff game against a 12 or so win team.