This past Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers traveled to M&T Bank Stadium to face the Baltimore Ravens in a highly important playoff picture game. The Steelers could have secured a playoff berth if they won against the Ravens and the New York Jets fell to the New England Patriots. Neither of those happened, as the Steelers lost to the Ravens 20-17, and the Jets defeated the Patriots in overtime 26-20.
The Steelers (9-6) certainly did not look like a playoff caliber team against the Ravens. The offense had a hard time getting in rhythm and the same went for the defense. With the loss, the Steelers got themselves in quite the sticky situation, but still have a shot at the playoffs if the Buffalo Bills defeat the Jets and the Steelers defeat the Cleveland Browns this coming Sunday.
However, that is later in this week. For now, here are our grades for the Steelers Week 16 20-17 loss against the Ravens.
Quarterback- Ben Roethlisberger picked an awful time to throw two interceptions in a game. In the second quarter, when the Steelers were marching down the field, he threw his first interception to linebacker Daryl Smith. His second interception came in the fourth quarter, when the Steelers were trying to rally back in the game, and went straight to Jimmy Smith. Roethlisberger finished off the day with 24/34 completed passes for only 215 yards. Even worse was his 62.7 passer rating. That passer rating would have gone further down, and the interception rate would have added one to its tally, if Courtney Upshaw had not stepped into the neutral zone on a Jimmy Smith almost-interception late in the fourth quarter. Grade: D-
Running Backs– DeAngelo Williams doesn’t deserve a high grade, but he doesn’t deserve a low one either. Williams was the one who got the two only Steelers touchdowns, which both occurred in the second half. The running back was lucky to get a 100 yard rushing game on 17 carries after being tormented by the Ravens defensive line all day. Grade: B-
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends– The receiving corps is like a roller coaster. One week they have no touchdowns, the next week they score all the touchdowns, and then back to no touchdowns this week. The receiving corps was so limited their top two targeted receivers were Antonio Brown and Williams. The Steelers did have one good drive when it came to receivers drawing penalties in the third quarter, which led to a Williams touchdown. Grade: D+
Offensive Line- Normally the offensive line would get the same grade as the running back, but not this week. They certainly helped in getting Williams his two touchdowns, but when it came to protecting Roethlisberger, they didn’t help too much. It certainly became costly on the Steelers push for another touchdown with four minutes left in the game when Upshaw had a big sack on Roethlisberger. The Steelers could not get any yardage down the field after that. Besides the Upshaw sack, the Ravens’ Za’Darius Smith and Timmy Jernigan both had sacks on Roethlisberger. Grade: C-
Defensive Line– Most of the Steelers defensive woes came in the secondary, so the defensive line was not horrible. They held Javorius Allen to 79 yards on 18 carries and Terrance West to 42 yards on 13 carries. However, one thing the defensive line didn’t do was get to Ryan Mallett, as the Steel Curtain had no sacks the entire game. Cameron Heyward was the one who led his defensive line with five tackles and one assist. Grade: C
Linebackers: The linebackers, just like the defensive line, were not able to get a sack on Mallett either. However, Ryan Shazier was a player who could take positives away from the game as he had five tackles and helped out with eight assists. Other than Shazier’s play, not much happened in the linebacker position on Sunday. Grade: C-
Secondary- The only reason the Steelers secondary gets a D- is because of Brandon Boykin’s sack on Ryan Mallett. Other than that, the secondary did not have a good day at all. Although the numbers don’t seem impressive with Baltimore’s leading receiver catching eight balls for 66 yards, the secondary let Mallett target and hit seven different receivers. Mallett also beat the Steelers’ secondary, along with Chris Matthews, as the two connected for a touchdown in the first quarter. Grade: D-
Special Teams- The Steelers didn’t do much on special teams this week. There were no kickoff returns from Markus Wheaton and Brown only had one punt return where he neither gained or lost yardage. Chris Boswell added another converted field goal to his tally in the second quarter when he kicked a 34-yard field goal. On top of that, Boswell connected on both of his extra point attempts. His fellow specialist, punter Jordan Berry, had three punts, with one going inside the 20-yard line. Grade: C+
Coaching– The coaching of the game wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley and Roethlisberger couldn’t get things going on offense, while many criticized defensive coordinator Keith Butler for having only a four man blitz in the fourth quarter. However, looking at the discipline factor, the Steelers blew the Ravens away. The Steelers only had three penalties, giving up 25 yards, while the Ravens had 12 penalties in which they gave up 121 yards. Grade: C-
