Steelers

Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances: Steelers’ splash plays outweigh offensive struggles to beat Ravens

Tim Benz
Tim Benz
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Chaz Palla | Tribune-Review
Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith sacks Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson in the third quarter Sunday.

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All week long, it’s been hard to explain how the Pittsburgh Steelers lost 30-6 to the Houston Texans last week.

Now it might be even harder to explain how they beat the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

The boos and “Fire Canada” chants were cascading down from the Acrisure Stadium seats throughout the afternoon. No surprise, given the Black and Gold had posted nothing but a measly field goal through the first three quarters of play.

Yet the Steelers still managed a fourth-quarter comeback to beat their hated AFC North rivals 17-10.

Sure, the Ravens helped the cause with numerous dropped passes, wide-open receivers falling down, turnovers and a miscommunication which resulted in blowing off a sure field goal for a failed fourth-down try late in the second quarter.

But the Steelers did what they have always done in wins this season. They overcame their own offensive shortcomings with a few splash plays on defense and special teams, a dangerous pass rush, and one big play from quarterback Kenny Pickett that balances out whatever else went wrong during the game.

That’s usually a lot.

Yet, that formula — if we can call it that — has the Steelers at 3-2 with divisional wins over the Ravens (3-2) and Cleveland Browns (2-2). As a result, somehow this ragtag Steelers group is in first place of a less-than-impressive AFC North.

Heading into next week’s bye, I guess that’s good enough.

By the way, did we mention that the Texans, who looked like Super Bowl contenders against the Steelers last week, lost 21-19 to the Atlanta Falcons?

Saying the NFL is a “week-to-week league” may sound cliche. But in 2023 it’s also remarkably true.

Let’s see how the Steelers managed to gain footing and avoid limping into the off week on a bad note in this week’s “Feats of Strength.”

And we’ll see what almost got in their way with our “Airing of Grievances.”

Feats of strength

Pickett to Pickens for points: The play of the game — and maybe the season so far — for the offense was Pickett’s 41-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens with 1:23 remaining.

That gave the Steelers a 14-10 lead.

“George had to have a big game,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “These types of games — hotly contested, a lot of one-on-one matchups — it often comes down to one-on-one playmaking on the perimeter in the end when things get a little bit tight. It’s important for us to stay engaged for 60 minutes and deliver those timely plays, which he did.”

Pickens ended up with six catches for a career-high 130 yards and that touchdown.

The time is now: If there is any question remaining — and I don’t think there should’ve been even before this game — that Joey Porter Jr. needs to get more playing time, it has been answered.

The rookie corner made a huge end-zone interception in the fourth quarter, keeping the Steelers within that 10-8 margin with 4:04 left.

The Steelers turned that possession into the Pickett-to-Pickens touchdown.

Before Sunday, Porter had yet to play more than 27 snaps in a game. Against the Ravens, Porter finally started to get some runway in the base defense and made that big play in the red zone.

Hopefully, this is a sign that Tomlin and the defensive coaches are starting to trust him more. Because he needs to start getting more action than the likes of Levi Wallace and/or Patrick Peterson.

OLBs put it away: As is so often the case on defense, the unit is fed by what the outside linebackers do.

T.J. Watt had two sacks. Alex Highsmith had one. The one from Highsmith resulted in a fumble by Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, and Watt recovered it. That turnover occurred with 1:12 left on the clock.

“We were gang tackling. We were able to make some big plays defensively and get after the quarterback and make him feel uncomfortable a little bit. I thought the coaches made some adjustments, and at the end of the day it was about execution,” Watt said.

By the end of the game, Jackson accounted for 281 yards from scrimmage. But he also took four sacks, committed two turnovers and had a passer rating of 65.2

Block party: Credit the jumbotron staff for the well-placed timing of “Renegade.”

Immediately after the defensive rally song was played with 13:37 left in the game, the defense forced a three-and-out, and Miles Killebrew blocked a punt. The play resulted in a safety, pulling the Steelers within five points.

Killebrew says that punt-block scheme has been on the books for about three weeks.

“Blocked punts are a team stat,” Killebrew said. “We all get credit. There are a lot of things that have to go right for a blocked punt. It has to be a great call. Kudos to (special teams coach) Danny (Smith).”

On the ensuing offensive possession via the free kick, the Steelers tacked on a field goal, cutting the deficit to 10-8.

Wonderful Warren: Jaylen Warren had a tremendous sequence late in the game. It started with a big block during the return of the free kick.

The running back then turned a third-and-8 reception into a 23-yard gain with some nifty run-after-the-catch moves along the sideline. He also hurdled Ravens corner Ronald Darby and picked up 26 more yards on the next two snaps on handoffs from Pickett.

Warren accounted for 79 yards from scrimmage on the afternoon.

Airing of grievances

Another sluggish start: The Steelers found themselves down 7-0 after the first quarter. They gained one first down on their first drive and went three-and-out on the other one.

By halftime, the Steelers had netted just 88 yards of offense. Of those 88 yards, 21 came on a single pass to Pickens. So that means the other 25 snaps from coordinator Matt Canada’s offense over the first 30 minutes totaled 67 yards — a putrid average of just 2.68 yards per play

Baltimore had the ball for 18:24. The Steelers held it for only 11:36.

The defense wasn’t much better, yielding 244 total yards, including 100 on the ground on 17 carries — an average of nearly 6 yards per rush.

It’s amazing the Steelers were only down 10-3 at halftime. The Ravens’ botched decision to snap the ball on a fourth-down try that failed—while eschewing an easy field goal right before halftime—certainly helped. So did a touchdown drop by Rashod Bateman.

Absent officials: Hey, I’m all for letting the players play. But Sunday’s game was a little too much. After the first 53 minutes of play, there were only three accepted penalties.

Granted, the officials were calling it — or better said, not calling it — both ways. But Baltimore was clearly getting away with a lot more.

Multiple holds on Baltimore’s offensive line were missed. The most egregious one occurred when Montravius Adams was obviously held without a flag late in the second quarter.

A number of 50-50 pass interference penalties on defense were swallowed, including a key one in the end zone on a third down by Arthur Maulet.

Maybe the Steelers should’ve tried the same tactics and attempted to get away with more themselves.

Goodness gracious, Gunner: Gunner Olszewski fumbled another special teams return. This one happened on a punt with 5:33 left. The Ravens recovered it and started a possession at the Pittsburgh 7-yard line.

Olszewski’s second season in Pittsburgh has been, well, unfortunate.

Fortunately for Olszewski, Porter’s pick erased the mistake. However, the Steelers have clearly left themselves a little too thin at wide receiver and kick returner if Olszewski has to play this much.

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