Ravens vs. Steelers: Grades, Notes and Quotes for Pittsburgh

Well, that was ugly.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, who led for much of the game, handed the Baltimore Ravens their first victory of the season on Thursday, thanks to poor play-calling, sloppy execution on offense and timely missed tackles on defense. The Ravens won 23-20 in overtime. 

In the first half, it appeared as if the Steelers would run away with this one based on how their ground game was controlling the flow of the game.

However, the Steelers tried to get fancy and went away from the running game in a puzzling move for much of the second half, including in some big short-yardage situations.

More on that later.

Making his first start in the black and gold for the injured Ben Roethlisberger, Michael Vick was conservative as a thrower, finishing 19-of-26 for 124 yards and one touchdown. In the loss, he averaged just 4.8 yards per attempt and was sacked four times.

With the conservative passing game, Antonio Brown failed to extend his streak of five catches for at least 50 years, as he hauled in five for 42. At one point in the second half, he and Vick appeared to have a brief spat that led to Brown getting up off the bench and walking away.

While the passing game was ultra-conservative, the Steelers defense—namely the front seven—came up big in the loss despite allowing the Ravens to rush for a season-high 191 yards on 39 carries.

Stephon Tuitt and Cameron Heyward continued their destruction of opposing offensive lines.

Tuitt recorded a sack for the third straight game, while Heyward forced his first fumble since 2011.

Sean Spence, starting in place of the injured Ryan Shazier, had a good game as well, recording eight total tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and one quarterback hurry. He's quickly becoming a valuable inside linebacker for defensive coordinator Keith Butler.

In the loss to Baltimore, the Steelers recorded five sacks, which gives them 14 on the season. Along with Spence and Tuitt, James Harrison, Lawrence Timmons and Heyward brought down Joe Flacco.

Speaking of Flacco, the eight-year QB threw for 189 yards on 20-of-33 passing with one touchdown and one interception.

He was under siege a lot behind a porous offensive line that struggled to provide him with a clean pocket.

Luckily for Baltimore, it didn't need a huge performance from Flacco to win like most expected. That's because Justin Forsett rushed for 150 yards on 27 carries, repeatedly gashing the Steelers.

With Forsett running wild, the passing game should have opened up a bit for Flacco. That wasn't the case as Pittsburgh held Steve Smith Sr. to just four catches for 24 yards before he left with a back injury.

Kamar Aiken was Baltimore's leading receiver, hauling in five passes for 77 yards and a touchdown in the win.

But without a couple of missed field goals from Josh Scobee, some horrendous play-calling decisions in short-yardage situations by Todd Haley and some key missed tackles on the Ravens' big drives, the Steelers would have walked out of Heinz Field with a 3-1 record.

For the most part, the Steelers outplayed Baltimore, but they couldn't get it done late, which is concerning moving forward without Roethlisberger.

Position Grades for Pittsburgh

Justin Wickersham/Getty Images

QB: C-

RB: B

WR: C

TE: B-

OL: B

DL: B-

LB: C+

DB: B

Special Teams: F

Coaching Staff: D+

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Once again, this wasn't a pretty game for anyone involved, outside of maybe Le'Veon Bell, Stephon Tuitt, Cam Heyward, Lawrence Timmons and Sean Spence.

Unfortunately, their big performances weren't enough to carry the Steelers to a win over their division rivals.

Michael Vick was so inconsistent and conservative under center against the Ravens that he almost single-handedly played a role in stalling out drives with missed throws, bad sacks and poor decisions. Haley's play-calling wasn't much help either, but for an athlete like Vick, he had to do a better job of converting third downs and keeping the Steelers offense on the field.

Add into the fact that the offense settled for field-goal attempts far too often, and it doesn't look any better for the 15-year quarterback. Luckily, he'll have 11 days off to prepare for the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football.

Bell was terrific in this game, racking up 150 yards and one touchdown on 29 touches. Disappointingly, the Steelers didn't use him enough against Baltimore, especially on the final drive of regulation when Vick misfired a pass intended for Antonio Brown on 4th-and-1. The play call should have been a run for Bell. If he converts, the Steelers likely hold on to win.

Brown was held in check for much of the night, but it had more to do with the conservative play-calling and decision-making through the air than what the Ravens defense did to negate him. Brown was targeted nine times in the loss. That's unacceptable. 

Darrius Heyward-Bey caught the lone TD pass from Vick—a nine-yard laser—and was often Vick's favorite target, finishing with four catches for 31 yards on five targets. Behind Brown (nine) and Bell (seven), Heyward-Bey was the third-most targeted Steelers receiver. That's usually not going to be a winning formula.

Heath Miller—the lone active tight end for the Steelers against Baltimore—was mostly a non-factor. Used primarily as an extra blocker in the running game, Miller did little as a pass-catcher, hauling in one catch for one yard on two targets.

As for the offensive line, it controlled the line of scrimmage in the running game, opening up some nice holes for Bell but couldn't protect Vick very well. Some of that might have had to do with Vick holding onto the ball too long at times, but that's two straight games with at least four sacks allowed by the Steelers offensive line.

Defensively, Tuitt and Heyward set the tone up front, allowing Timmons and Spence to fly around and make plays.

With the way Tuitt and Heyward continue to disrupt up front, adding pressure and shutting down running lanes, the front seven is set up for success moving forward.

James Harrison came up with a big strip sack once again in this rivalry, finally recording his first sack of the season.

In the secondary, Ross Cockrell is proving to be quite the find at cornerback. He recorded his first interception as a Steeler, but Aiken beat him for a touchdown.

Antwon Blake continues to provide physicality, as does Mike Mitchell, who knocked Steve Smith Sr. out of the game with a back injury.

The real cause of the loss lies with the special teams and the coaching staff.

Josh Scobee's time with the Steelers is likely coming to an end as the former Jaguars kicker missed two costly field goals on the night. His struggles in the kicking game prompted Mike Tomlin and Todd Haley to repeatedly go for it on fourth down late in the game, which ultimately backfired.

If Scobee makes one out of the two misses, the Steelers win and improve to 3-1. 

As for the coaching staff, Tomlin placed the blame squarely on himself—namely on the decisions to go for it late in the game. While the decisions weren't terrible, putting the ball in Vick's hands instead of Bell's in short yardage was.

When your kicking game and coaching are the biggest reasons for a loss, it makes it that much harder to swallow.

Tuitt Blossoming into Star

Associated Press

For the third straight game, Stephon Tuitt recorded a full sack.

A Steelers defender hasn't done that since 1997, per Steelers Depot's Alex Kozora:

"

Optimistic tweet. Stephon Tuitt is first Steelers DL to have a full sack in 3 straight games since Kevin Henry in 1997. #Steelers

— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) October 2, 2015"

Tuitt has been quite the revelation in 2015, ranking up there as one of the best Steelers defenders of the season.

He's strong against the run and has added some nice pass-rushing moves, quickly becoming the full package across from Cameron Heyward.

Cockrell Records First Interception

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

After the Buffalo Bills cut him loose, Ross Cockrell landed in a good spot with the Steelers, who desperately needed help in the secondary.

With Cortez Allen still dealing with injury, Cockrell has started the last two games for the black and gold as a boundary corner.

Against Baltimore, he recorded his first interception, according to Steelers PR manager Dom Rinelli:

"

.@steelers CB Ross Cockrell records the first interception of his @NFL career.

— Dom Rinelli (@drinelli) October 2, 2015"

Congratulations, Ross. Too bad it didn't happen in a winning effort.

The former Duke Blue Devil is quickly becoming a key part of the Steelers secondary. If he can keep up his solid play, the Steelers could become a fringe top-10 defense in 2015.

Heyward-Bey Catches Second TD of Season

Justin Wickersham/Getty Images

With his second touchdown catch of the season, Darrius Heyward-Bey now has caught the most touchdowns in a season since 2012.

He also joined an interesting list, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

"

Darrius Heyward-Bey has now caught a TD pass thrown by by 3 No. 1 overall picks -- Carson Palmer, Andrew Luck and Michael Vick

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) October 2, 2015"

While his usage was expected to drop with Vick taking over, Heyward-Bey quickly put that to bed. Vick looked his way often against the Ravens.

If Heyward-Bey keeps up this pace, he'll easily surpass his career high of five touchdown catches set back in 2012 with Oakland.

Tough Loss for Vick in First Steelers Start

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Making his first start, Michael Vick stayed away from the big mistakes but couldn't come up with the big plays when the Steelers needed them the most.

Talking to the Tribune Review's Mark Kaboly following the game, Vick expressed his disappointment with the loss:

"

This was probably one of the toughest losses of my career. We had our chances to win the game. There were a lot of plays I could've made. It's disappointing. We didn't cash in on it, and that's our responsibility as an offense. Put the ball in the end zone and don't always settle for three. We just didn't get it done.

"

Vick wasn't terrible in this game, but he's right. The offense had chances to win and couldn't put the ball in the end zone. That has to improve soon if the Steelers want to stay afloat until Roethlisberger returns.