Pittsburgh Steelers: 10 Observations from Last-Second Loss to the Ravens

The Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a disappointing loss to the Baltimore Ravens in Week 9 and dropped to third place in the division at 6-3.

Even though the Ravens swept the Steelers in the regular season, all that means is that the Steelers will be on the road in the playoffs.

Unlike the Ravens, the Steelers know how to win in the playoffs regardless of where they play, and they can give a Gatorade bath to John Harbaugh when the Steelers end their season again.

Despite the loss, not everything was bad for the Steelers, and here are 10 observations I made while watching the game.

The Offensive Line Is Not That Bad

The Steelers offensive line is not the best in the league and is by no means dominant in any way, however, I do not think they are as bad as we all make out.

Since the team re-signed Max Starks, Ben Roethlisberger has had a lot of clean pockets to throw in, and there have been considerably more running lanes for the backs.

Terrell Suggs may have had a pick, but he was held to just one tackle for the game and the Ravens as a whole recorded only one sack on Roethlisberger.

Rashard Mendenhall Running Better

Rashard Mendenhall has been improving in recent weeks from his early season struggles and ended up with 52 yards and a touchdown against the Ravens.

I do not think anyone thought the Steelers were going to have a ton of rushing yards versus the Ravens, so 70 yards as a team is not that bad considering.

Mendenhall still looks like he is running a little high, and it would be nice to see him get some more yards after contact.

Ben Roethlisberger Still Putting Up Numbers

Ben threw an interception to Terrell Suggs and could have been picked off another time yet, he still threw for over 300 yards against the fifth-ranked pass defense in the league.

I do blame Ben for the last drive though because he should have tried to extend the play and either hope for someone to come open or just run himself to keep the clock running.

Even though Ben was not perfect, he still made great throws throughout the game and should have gotten the win if the defense could have just made a stop on the final drive.

Almost the End for Hines Ward

Hines Ward did not catch a ball in the game, and he dropped the only target he received before leaving the game with concussion-like symptoms.

It is looking more and more like a foregone conclusion that Ward will end his Hall of Fame career when the season is over and retire after 14 years.

I still think Ward has something left in the tank to help this team to another Super Bowl, however, and he only needs 20 more catches for 1,000 and 40 more yards for 12,000 in his career.

Emergence of Antonio Brown

With Hines Ward slowly being phased out of the offense, Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders have been shining this season.

Against the Ravens, Sanders missed the game due to injury and personal reasons, and Hines was then knocked out of the game.

That left Antonio Brown to step up and contribute his second 100-yard game of the season, and he would have had a touchdown too if Mike Wallace did not steal it from him.

Trouble on Third Down

The Steelers were actually very good on third down in this game and completed seven out of their 12 attempts, but their failure on their last third down is what game the Ravens the chance to win the game.

The Steelers defense, on the other hand, was terrible on third down against the Ravens offense and allowed Joe Flacco to convert 14 out of 21 third downs and even a fourth down try on the last drive of the game.

Even though the Steelers could have iced the game if they got that third down, there should be no way the defense allows Joe Flacco to go 92 yards for a winning touchdown with only eight seconds left.

Run Defense Better

After being much maligned through the first quarter of the season and giving up 155 rushing yards to Arian Foster, the Steelers run defense has steadily improved.

Since that game against the Texans, the Steelers defense has only allowed the Jaguars to rush for over 100 yards as a team and held the Ravens to 67 in the loss.

Even though they lost the game, the Steelers should be happy with the fact that other than that first run that was called back by penalty, they pretty much shut down Ray Rice in the game.

Getting Pressure

No one knew how James Harrison would play after missing the last four games, but he showed up with eight tackles, three sacks, six total QB hits and a forced fumble

Jason Worilds did a decent job as well, and if LaMarr Woodley misses more time, then he will have the opportunity to show more of what he can do.

Woodley will probably be back after the bye week, and then the Steelers will have both him and James Harrison attacking quarterbacks for the rest of the season.

Where’s Troy Polamalu?

I had high expectations for Troy going into this game, and I predicted that he would have at least one interception off of Joe Flacco.

Well he did have eight tackles in the game and had a couple good stops in the run game. However, I didn’t really even notice that he was playing.

Troy has not had many of those spectacular plays that us fans are accustomed to seeing from him, although I still have faith that he will start piling up the takeaways soon.

Larry Foote Stepping Up

Larry Foote has really shown how valuable he really is to this team this year with all the injuries the Steelers have had to their linebackers.

His stats on the season may not be flashy. However, he has been a constant in the middle with James Farrior out and almost had a game-clinching pick against the Ravens.

Foote led the team with 10 tackles versus the Ravens while being seemingly all over the field, and he has allowed the defense to not skip a beat in the middle even with the injuries.