The Pittsburgh Steelers made a statement Sunday at Heinz Field against the Baltimore Ravens.
That statement reads “We just may not be dead yet.”
After a 19-16 victory against their AFC North rivals gave the Steelers a second consecutive win after an 0-4 start, the Steelers showed enough on both sides of the ball Sunday to give Steelers’ fans a glimmer of hope going forward.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how each position graded out against the Ravens.
Quarterback: I may be overestimating the game that Roethlisberger had, especially since he only threw for 160 yards and didn’t complete a pass over 20 yards on the day. But he didn’t turn the ball over for the second consecutive week and when Big Ben takes care of the ball, he is good enough to beat any team in the league on any given Sunday, something he did when he led the Steelers on the game winning field goal drive. He made good decisions and even made a few plays with his legs. No complaints at all about Big Ben’s afternoon. Grade: B
Running Backs: Was that a running game the Steelers had? It’s been so long since I have seen effective running that I didn’t know how to react. You had to like the job that rookie Le’Veon Bell did as he gained 68 of his 93 yards in the first half and averaged 4.9 yards per carry. The Steelers running game had a bit of everything on Sunday, which included Bell making some plays out of the Wildcat and Jonathan Dwyer converting a third-and-short situation. They ran for over 100 yards as a team and the running backs averaged a combined 4.52 yards per carry. I will take that. Grade: B+
Wide Receivers: It wasn’t a great day for any of the receivers, but they all made some plays, including Antonio Brown, who had only six catches on the day, making two big plays on the Steelers final drive. However there were more negatives than positives, including a fumble by Heath Miller, a dropped touchdown by Derrick Moye and another overall quiet game from Emmanuel Sanders. Grade: C
Offensive Line: If you would have told me at the beginning of training camp that the Steelers would be taking on the Ravens with Guy Whimper at right tackle and Kelvin Beachum at left tackle, I wouldn’t have given the Steelers much of a chance. But the offensive line turned in their best performance of the season and started to look like a cohesive unit. They gained more yards rushing in the first half (82), then they had in any previous total game and finished with 141 yards on 29 carries while allowing only three sacks against the team with the third most sacks in the NFL coming in. Is this a sign of things to come? Grade: A-
Defensive Line: The Steelers were in nickel and dime a lot, so we didn’t get to see much of the traditional defensive line, but when they were in there they did a pretty solid job. The Ravens gained only 82 yards on the ground (14 from Joe Flacco) and Ray Rice was mostly a non-factor throughout the game. Grade: B-
Linebackers: The Steelers got only one sack, coming from LaMarr Woodley, but did pressure Flacco a ton. Jason Worilds, filling in for Jarvis Jones was solid, but a ton of credit needs to go to Lawrence Timmons who was all over the field, tying a career-high with 17 tackles (12 solo). Grade: A
Secondary: Troy Polamalu was very active and all over the field and William Gay may have had his best game in his career and made two big plays on pass breakups in the end zone. But Flacco picked them apart on the Ravens final two drives, going 12-of-15 for 15 yards, including completing 10-of-11 attempts on the Ravens touchdown drive to tie the game. Grade: B-
Special Teams: Shaun Suisham continues to be automatic, knocking down all four of his field goal attempts, including the game winner. And the Steelers finally got some production from their return teams. Felix Jones and Sanders each had a kickoff return of over 40 yards and Brown had a nice punt return prior to the Steelers lone touchdown drive. Grade: A
Coaching: I give the coaching staff credit. It was important to build off last week’s win and they did. Dick LeBeau’s defense was solid and only allowed one touchdown. Offensively, Todd Haley added some wrinkles and while the big play was missing, the Steelers were able to find ways to move the football at times, especially on the ground. Grade: A
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