PITTSBURGH — Early in his career, Lamar Jackson once called the Kansas City Chiefs the team’s “kryptonite.” But the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to hold a particular hex over Jackson and the Ravens.
On a day in which the Ravens’ maligned defense kept Pittsburgh out of the end zone, Jackson and the Ravens’ offense committed three turnovers and looked nothing like the league’s No. 1 unit as the Ravens fell, 18-16, in an AFC North showdown at Acrisure Stadium on Nov. 17.
Penalties, poor execution, turnovers and off-target throws all factored in the Ravens producing their lowest-scoring game of the season. The Ravens came into the game averaging a league-best 31.8 points a game and were held to basically half that.
The Ravens also gave away six points on two more missed field-goal attempts from Justin Tucker, who was badly outdueled by his counterpart; the Steelers’ Chris Boswell went 6-for-6, including a 57-yarder, to produce all the Steelers points.
Still, for all their troubles, the Ravens had a chance to tie after Jackson threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers with 1:06 left. But Jackson was denied on a two-point conversion attempt when he was closed off while trying to run to the left corner of the end zone. Out of options, he threw an impromptu desperation pass that fell incomplete.
The Ravens (7-4) then opted against an onside kick, but the Steelers (8-2) were able to gain a first down and seal the win to extend their lead in the AFC North.
Jackson finished 16-for-33 for 207 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, for a passer rating of 66.1. It’s the seventh-lowest passer rating of his career as a starter, and four of the seven have come against the Steelers.
Jackson entered the game with a career passer rating against Pittsburgh of 66.8, his lowest against any team, and he is now 1-4 against them in his career as a starter.
In the first half, the Ravens had more missed field goals (2) than sustained drives (1), but they nonetheless took a 7-6 lead with 1:16 left in the half on a 1-yard touchdown run by Derrick Henry. With that score, Henry tied the Ravens’ single-season record with his 15th touchdown of the season.
But the Steelers promptly got the lead back after the Ravens’ second fumble of the half. Isaiah Likely had the ball stripped by former Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen, who recovered at the Ravens’ 19-yard line with 29 seconds left in the half.
Boswell’s third field goal, from 32 yards, gave the Steelers a 9-7 halftime lead.
Here are five quick impressions of the game, the Ravens’ eighth loss in their past nine games against Pittsburgh:
1. The defense deserved better.
It has been a long year for a Ravens defense that has been pilloried weekly for its leaky play, especially in the passing game. But backed up with short fields much of the day, the Ravens came up with one play after another to keep the Steelers out of the end zone.
The Steelers had four red-zone possessions, including two inside the Ravens’ 10, and scored zero touchdowns.
With the Steelers leading 15-10 and facing third-and-goal from the Ravens’ 5, Marlon Humphrey picked off Russell Wilson on his worst pass of the day. But that turnover was negated when Steelers linebacker Payton Wilson essentially stole the ball from Justice Hill as he came down on a wheel route. Instead of a 24-yard gain, Jackson had thrown his third interception of the season.
The Ravens also leaned on trade deadline acquisition Tre’Davious White, who twice broke up end zone passes to Steelers receiver George Pickens (8 catches, 89 yards).
The Ravens pressure created problems for Wilson, who finished 23 for 36 for 205 yards. Odafe Oweh registered a career-high three sacks, including two on back-to-back plays.
The run defense held the Steelers to 3.6 yards a carry, including a fourth-down stop near midfield in the first half.
And this all came with some drama underpinning this unit; safety Marcus Williams was essentially benched again, appearing for just one snap when Kyle Hamilton was briefly shaken up. Safety Eddie Jackson was publicly left behind in Baltimore; the team announced Saturday that Jackson would not make the trip with the team, and that his absence was not injury-related.
Compounding the problems, top linebacker Roquan Smith left the game with a hamstring injury, and Hamilton (ankle, concussion evaluation) and Travis Jones (ankle) both battled through injuries during the game.
This group played its most complete, physical, intense game of the season, but unfortunately, they did so when the offense and special teams did not deliver.
2. Penalties derailed any offensive rhythm.
Both head coach John Harbaugh and quarterback Lamar Jackson lamented the way penalties cost the Ravens throughout the game. Indeed, far too often the Ravens were stuck in second- or third-and-long situations because a penalty had them walking backward.
“The biggest thing is we just got into second-and-long too much,” Harbaugh said. “Second-and-long that ends up being third-and-long too often. Penalties set us back too much.”
Overall, the Ravens were penalized 12 times for 80 yards, and a couple of penalties on the kick return unit — a recurring problem this season — gave the Ravens poor starting field position.
But with an offense that was scuffling, those flags proved especially damaging.
Patrick Mekari was flagged for being an ineligible man downfield in the fourth quarter, wiping out a terrific 34-yard catch by Nelson Agholor. The same violation by Mekari earlier cost the Ravens a 15-yard pass to Derrick Henry.
On a third-and-6 play to begin the fourth quarter, wide receiver Zay Flowers flinched and was called for a false start, backing the Ravens up to third-and-11. Jackson was then sacked and the Ravens had to punt.
Early in the game, tackle Ronnie Stanley was called for holding, and instead of the Ravens having third-and-3 after a 6-yard run by Henry, they were looking at second-and-19. And Nelson Agholor was called for a false start, turning manageable second-and-6 into second-and-11. Two incompletions later, the Ravens were punting.
Ineligible-man-downfield penalties can be tricky with Jackson, as linemen with their back to him might not realize whether Jackson has taken off running based on the flow of the play. A holding call might come from a lineman simply being beat by his man. None are deemed acceptable, but presnap penalties such as false starts and illegal formations are especially unforced errors, and they are consistently costing the Ravens.
It’s been a problem throughout the season; the Ravens entered the game with a league-high 80 penalties.
“We can’t be in first-and-15, second-and-10 all the time,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “Gotta stay ahead of schedule. … [It’s] stuff that has to be cleaned up, stuff that can’t happen.”
3. The Ravens have a systemic kicking problem.
Considering the past eight games in this rivalry had all been decided by one score, points are always at a premium, and the Ravens can’t afford to watch six of them sail wide left.
But that’s what happened as Justin Tucker misfired from 47 and 50 yards in the first half, negating two scoring chances on a day when the Ravens struggled to find them. It’s unclear how the game would have progressed if those kicks were good, but missing a chance for six points in a game they lost by two was obviously massive.
Tucker’s struggles were especially striking in this game because he had been so successful at Acrisure Stadium — 31-for-32 in his career — and because his counterpart, Chris Boswell, went 6-for-6, including a 57-yarder.
Tucker later hit a 54-yarder in the third quarter that cut the Steelers’ lead to 12-10, and he said he made an adjustment on that kick to start the kick a bit farther to the right than the other two.
Earlier this week, special teams coordinator Chris Horton said every kick is its own kick, a concept that Tucker reiterated as well after the game. But whether it’s snapper Nick Moore, holder Jordan Stout, Tucker, or a combination of all three, it’s undeniable that, 11 weeks into the season, the Ravens have a systemic kicking problem.
As Boswell and the Steelers clearly showed, for the first time in Tucker’s career, the Ravens simply don’t have an edge in the kicking game each week.
Tucker now is 16-for-22 on field goals this season for a success rate of 72.7 percent, by far the worst of his career. He also has missed an extra-point kick, and all seven misses have sailed wide to the left.
Tucker insisted that there is no trend with his misses all sailing left and no problem with his confidence.
“I’m still confident I’m going to go out there and nail every single kick,” he said. “Part of the way we stay confident is by continuing to work and trust the process, and I know that … might sound like a broken record, but it’s a part of what brings us success.”
Tight end Mark Andrews said teammates “have his back.”
“That’s a guy that’s done it year after year, and we know that he’s going to come through,” Andrews said. “It is what is. He’s going to find his way, and we just want him to stay confident and just continue to be him.”
Still, though it might have seemed inconceivable a year ago, the Ravens have to be thinking about looking at alternatives, whether it’s later this season or in the offseason. Harbaugh has long said the NFL is a meritocracy, and jobs are earned. Through competition via tryouts or training camp, the Ravens are going to need to make Tucker earn his.
4. This had the big-game failure look, and the Ravens know it.
Lamar Jackson said right away that this game reminded him of the 2023 AFC championship game, when the offense stumbled and misfired in a disappointing loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
“It’s been that way ever since last year, I believe, going back to the AFC championship game,” Jackson said. “We killed ourselves.”
Jackson then ran through other Ravens’ losses this season — to the Chiefs in the season opener, then to the Las Vegas Raiders, and lamented missed chances in those games as well.
“We can’t be beating ourselves in these type of games,” Jackson said. “We’ve got to find a way to fix that. … Annoying.”
Jackson’s right, of course, and his struggles in the playoffs are well documented. Jackson is now 65-23 in his career as a starter in the regular season, but 2-4 in the postseason. In those games, he has usually faced ferocious, stingy defenses that require him to be precise and error-free.
To be clear, his only interception was a nicely thrown pass in which linebacker Payton Wilson made a terrific play to take the ball away from Justice Hill. But throughout the game, Jackson was off target more than he had been all season.
Deep throws led Diontae Johnson out of bounds or sailed too high for Zay Flowers. A seam route to Mark Andrews was thrown well over his head.
Jackson finished 16-for-33, his first sub-50 percent passing game of the season (and his first sub-60 percent passing game, in fact).
This is what the Steelers have done to him throughout his career, but it’s also what playoff teams have done against him.
The Ravens know that any postseason run goes through Jackson — maybe even moreso than ever this year given the defensive struggles this season. For the first 10 games, the Ravens have shown they can be a dynamic, versatile, dangerous offense led by Jackson and Derrick Henry and an air attack featuring Flowers, Andrews and Rashod Bateman, among others.
But against a stiff defense and in a big moment, this game looked eerily familiar. The Ravens can’t afford more encore performances of it.
5. The road to a division title just got tougher.
The Ravens are still well positioned for a playoff spot at 7-4, but their route to the AFC North title just got a lot harder. The Steelers (8-2) have opened up a 1 ½-game lead, and the Ravens might have a tough time cutting into it in the next two weeks.
The Ravens travel to Los Angeles for “Monday Night Football” next week to face Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers (7-3), who outlasted the Cincinnati Bengals, 34-27, Sunday night. Then the Ravens come home to host the 8-2 Philadelphia Eagles three days after Thanksgiving.
The Steelers, meanwhile, hit the road for a pair of AFC North contests. They visit Cleveland (2-8) on “Thursday Night Football” this week and then play at Cincinnati (4-7) on Dec. 1.
The Steelers, though, do have a brutal December stretch that includes the Eagles, Ravens and Chiefs (9-1) in consecutive weeks. As long as the Ravens can stay within striking distance, the division race is still in play.
Then again, if they can’t figure out a way to finally beat the Steelers, something they’ve done once in their last nine meetings, it won’t matter.
“It’s clear we’ve really struggled against them over the years,” cornerback Marlon Humphrey said. “… They’ve kind of had our number. You get to see them twice. You just keep fighting.”
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox