The Ravens did just about everything imaginable to hand victory on a silver platter to their biggest rivals, the Steelers. There is one step that this team, as good as it is, simply cannot seem to take.
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The Steelers won 18-16 and have certainly had the Ravens’ number for several years, in this rivalry that will never go out of style.
Matches between these two sworn enemies from the North Division of the American Conference are never for the gentle. Once again, several tender words and signs of affection were exchanged throughout the meeting in Pittsburgh.
Emotions always run high when these two opponents face each other and it makes you wonder why the Ravens came out so flat.
If the Steelers hadn’t settled for field goals on their four visits to the penalty area, the gap could have been much larger.
Still, the Ravens had a chance to tie the game with a Zay Flowers touchdown run with just over a minute to play, but their two-point convert attempt completely failed.
Repeated blunders
Despite a more than commendable effort from the Ravens defense, the attack was completely bottled up.
Lamar Jackson only completed 48.5% of his passes. He was also the victim of an interception, and two other turnovers sank the team. Even the always reliable running back Derrick Henry had a fumble and besides a long run of 31 yards, he was held to 34 yards on his other 12 carries.
The Ravens’ three turnovers resulted in nine Steelers points. In such a hard-fought match, it is certainly not forgiving.
Kicker Justin Tucker, who is having a phenomenal career, but who has severely lost his luster this season, missed two field goals.
With 12 penalties that cost 80 yards, the Ravens did not play inspiring football.
In short, it is rather surprising to see how well the Ravens have distributed the gifts at all levels.
Photo Getty Images via AFP
A situation that repeats itself
The Ravens, year after year, are competitive. They are certainly one of the most credible organizations in the NFL.
However, they offer far too inconsistent performance and seem incapable of finding critical matches.
Against the Steelers, they have escaped eight of the last nine duels. They have not been able to score at least 20 points against them since November 2020.
Lamar Jackson has a career record of two wins and five losses against this team that he absolutely must beat.
The quarterback is having a fantastic season, no one is going to say otherwise, except that he absolutely must do better when the stakes are high. Against the Steelers, he has thrown just four touchdown passes to date and has been intercepted on eight occasions.
The Ravens are definitely not dead. They showed how dominant they can be this season by crushing good teams like the Bills and Broncos.
The fact remains that the Steelers are taking control of this fierce rivalry and the gap is widening at the top of the division.
The Steelers are 8-2, compared to 7-4 for the Ravens. They haven’t lost since giving the keys to the attack to Russell Wilson. We told you last week that it was high time to take them seriously. This is even more true today.
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