Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh: Report Card Grades for Each Ravens Unit
The Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers faced off in prime time on Thursday night. As part of the 2014 debut of CBS' Thursday Night Football, Baltimore played host to Pittsburgh in an AFC North clash.
The Ravens entered the game with an 0-1 record, while the Steelers sported a 1-0 mark. Things didn't start out well for the Ravens, though.
On the first drive, Ben Roethlisberger picked apart the Ravens defense, completing five of his first six passes for 35 yards, and drove Pittsburgh down to the Baltimore 15-yard line. It felt like the Steelers were on the verge of taking control of the game, but in one play, Baltimore flipped the script.
Linebacker Daryl Smith stripped Steelers receiver Justin Brown of the ball on a pass play, and defensive end DeAngelo Tyson recovered the fumble. It was the first turnover the Ravens have forced this season.
That gave the offense its first possession of the game, and it drove right down the field on the ground, running the ball on eight of its first 12 plays.
The final play of the drive saw a play-action fake help Joe Flacco find a wide-open Owen Daniels in the back of the end zone for the score. That gave the Ravens a quick 7-0 lead.
That set the stage for a solid first half in which Baltimore took a 10-3 lead heading into halftime.
Coming out of the break, the Steelers managed to get a field goal to cut the lead to 10-6. However, Baltimore's offense answered with a long drive that ended in another TD pass from Flacco to Daniels to put the Ravens ahead 17-6.
The defense would then put the clamps down, forcing two more turnovers that led to short field goals. That helped Baltimore build a 23-6 lead before ultimately winning the game, 26-6.
Here are my grades for each unit.
Quarterback
1 of 10
Flacco did a very good job of bouncing back from Sunday's performance, a game in which he was sacked three times while throwing one interception.
Against the Steelers, he didn't turn the ball over or take a sack. He finished the game 21-of-29 passing for 166 yards and two touchdowns.
Flacco did have one pass in the fourth quarter in the red zone that was almost intercepted. That was the only really bad decision Flacco made all night.
Other than that, he was very efficient and did a great job of taking what the defense gave him while hitting the big plays when they were there to be had.
Flacco did a masterful job of managing the game and kept the offense rolling most of the night.
Grade: A-
Running Back
2 of 10
Bernard Pierce was benched after just six carries on Sunday. That was mainly due to his second-quarter fumble that led to a Bengals field goal.
Against the Steelers, Pierce had an efficient 76 yards on 20 carries. However, he was overshadowed by Justin Forsett's performance.
For the second week in a row, Forsett looked like the best back Baltimore has. He finished with 56 yards on just eight carries, including a 41-yard carry late in the fourth quarter to help put the game out of reach.
In all, Baltimore backs carried the ball 28 times for 132 yards. They did a great job of picking up positive yardage on most of their carries while keeping the clock running and the ball away from Pittsburgh's offense.
Grade: A
Wide Receiver and Tight End
3 of 10
For the second week in a row, Steve Smith was the Ravens' best pass-catcher. He caught a team-high six passes for 71 yards. Four of those six catches went for a first down.
After Smith, Baltimore's other receivers didn't do much. Torrey Smith and Jacoby Jones combined to catch two passes on four targets for 14 yards.
At tight end, Owen Daniels and Dennis Pitta were involved in the offense early and often. On the first drive of the game, Flacco hit Pitta for a key first down and later hit Daniels for the game's first score.
Daniels would later catch another touchdown in the third quarter to build Baltimore's lead to double digits. Ravens tight ends combined to catch eight passes for 58 yards and two scores.
Overall, when Baltimore's pass-catchers were called on to make a play, they did so. With Flacco completing 21 of his 29 attempts, the passing game was very efficient this night.
Grade: A-
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The offensive line looked much better against the Steelers than it did against the Bengals on Sunday. The line was consistently opening up running lanes for backs to get big gains through.
The line was also holding up in pass protection and kept Flacco upright for much of the night. He wasn't sacked once and consistently had a clean pocket that allowed him to pick apart the Steelers defense.
On the ground, Baltimore linemen were consistently getting leverage on Steelers defenders and allowing Ravens running backs to run through big holes.
Ravens backs carried the ball 28 times for 132 yards (4.7 yards per carry). The offensive line was dominant in this game.
Grade: B+
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The defensive line was one of the Ravens' biggest underperformers on Sunday. It failed to get a sack on Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton and rarely even got any pressure on him.
In the run game, it only notched one tackle for loss. Needless to say, the line needed to be more disruptive Thursday against the Steelers.
It did just that. The line was consistently getting good pressure on Roethlisberger. For much of the game, Roethlisberger was forced to scramble out of the pocket after a Ravens lineman got penetration and pressured him.
Though the line did well rushing the passer, it didn't do very well at stopping the run. Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell was consistently getting big gains on the ground.
The line just couldn't consistently close running lanes down to prevent Bell from getting big gains. However, because Baltimore was ahead most of the night, the Steelers abandoned the run game.
Bell finished with 59 yards on just 11 carries (5.4 yards per carry). He also chipped in five catches for 48 yards. Most of the passes he caught came with a defensive lineman in position to make the play but failed to do so.
Defensive end DeAngelo Tyson did recover a fumble that linebacker Daryl Smith forced. Defensive tackle Haloti Ngata pulled in an interception of a pass he deflected.
Grade: B+
Linebackers
6 of 10
The linebackers came up big in the first half.
On the first drive of the game with Pittsburgh driving to take an early lead, linebacker Daryl Smith stripped Steelers receiver Justin Brown of the ball on a pass play.
Defensive end DeAngelo Tyson recovered the fumble, and Baltimore halted an early scoring chance for Pittsburgh. This came a few plays after linebacker Courtney Upshaw sacked Roethlisberger on third down but was flagged for a personal foul for leading with the crown of his helmet.
The fumble Smith forced was the first turnover for the Ravens this season. They lost Sunday to the Bengals, and a big reason why was Baltimore's two turnovers committed versus not forcing a turnover themselves.
C.J. Mosley forced another fumble in the fourth quarter. This time, he stripped tight end Heath Miller and also recovered the fumble.
Elvis Dumervil finished the game with two sacks and was a big reason the Steelers mustered up just six points.
Grade: A
Secondary
7 of 10
The secondary was once again thin after starting cornerback Lardarius Webb was ruled out prior to the game. He continues to recover from a back injury that sidelined him for the entire preseason.
Making matters worse, his replacement, Asa Jackson, was forced from Thursday's game after suffering a concussion.
That left Baltimore with two pure cornerbacks in Chykie Brown and Jimmy Smith. Backup safeties Jeromy Miles, Anthony Levine, Terrence Brooks and Brynden Trawick had to get snaps at cornerback.
Needless to say, this wasn't the best of games to judge the Ravens secondary. That said, in the NFL, it's next man up.
Baltimore's depleted secondary did a surprisingly good job against a Pittsburgh offense that registered 376 passing yards against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday.
It, along with a great pass rush, held Pittsburgh to just 202 yards passing. Though the secondary did great in coverage, it failed on multiple occasions when the Steelers did complete a pass.
Ravens defensive backs missed several easy tackles. Those led to much bigger gains for Pittsburgh receivers. Had Baltimore's secondary done a better job tackling, this game could have easily been a shutout.
Grade: B-
Special Teams
8 of 10
Baltimore never got any opportunities to do any damage with its kickoff return or coverage unit. All but one kickoff in this game went into the end zone for a touchback. The one that didn't was returned just 11 yards by the Steelers' Markus Wheaton.
The punt coverage unit needed to come up big with the Steelers having the dangerous Antonio Brown returning punts. He was held to just 13 yards on returns.
Sam Koch also helped limit Brown's impact by punting it well. He notched two punts for an average of 55.0 yards each.
Kicker Justin Tucker was his reliable self, converting field goals of 20, 23, 22 and 30 yards. Overall, this unit performed the best.
Grade: A+
Coaching
9 of 10
Against the Bengals on Sunday, Baltimore looked unprepared, flat and out of sync offensively and defensively. That led to the Ravens falling behind 15-0 and ultimately losing a tight game, 23-16.
That wasn't the case Thursday. Baltimore came out of the gates firing on all cylinders. It forced a turnover on Pittsburgh's first offensive drive. It didn't force a single turnover versus Cincinnati.
Following that, the offense went right down the field and scored on a touchdown pass from Flacco to Owen Daniels. Baltimore had taken command of the game from the start.
The offensive play-calling was a little suspect when Baltimore drove into the red zone. Four times, Baltimore had to settle for short field goals after failing to punch it into the end zone.
That's on offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak. He needs to work on his red-zone play-calling. This was the only real blemish on the coaching in this game.
Grade: B+
Final Grades
10 of 10
Positional Unit | Overall Grade |
QB | A- |
RB | A |
WR/TE | A- |
OL | B+ |
DL | B+ |
LB | A |
Secondary | B- |
ST | A+ |
Coaching | B+ |
Cumulative Grade | A- |
Overall, Baltimore had a much better effort versus the Steelers than it did in Week 1 against the Bengals. The offense was much more efficient and played four good quarters.
The defense was also more disruptive and made more plays that kept Pittsburgh from having long offensive drives.
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