The Pittsburgh Steelers rally Thanksgiving night fell short in their 22-20 loss to the Baltimore Ravens and as a result the playoff odds took a serious hit.
The Steelers didn’t make enough plays early on and dug themselves too big of a hole in what turned out to be the usual hard-hitting matchup between the two AFC North rivals.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how the Steelers graded out at each position in my weekly report card.
Quarterbacks: Ben Roethlisberger played well enough to win, finishing the game 28-of-44 for 257 yards and a pair of scores, posting a 94.6 quarterback rating. Big Ben once again led the Steelers comeback and was impressive doing so, going 8-of-11 for 94 yards on the final scoring drive. Roethlisberger started slow, throwing for only 78 yards in the first half, but played pretty well bringing the Steelers back in the second.
He also became the first Steelers player with 20 passing touchdowns in five different seasons. Roethlisberger now has 211 career touchdown passes, one shy of Terry Bradshaw’s Steelers record. Grade: B+
Running Backs: The Steelers needed a big play to spark them and Le’Veon Bell delivered with a 43-yard run to set up the Steelers first touchdown. The rookie was bottled up early, gaining only 21 yards in the first half, but Bell ended the night with 136 combined yards. Hopefully he responds well after taking a big shot and losing his helmet at the end of the game. Grade: B-
Wide Receivers: Tight end Heath Miller led the team with eight catches for 86 yards. However the Ravens did a good job containing Antonio Brown, who had only 59 yards receiving. Despite catching a touchdown and foolishly doing Ray Lewis’ dance, Emmanuel Sanders continues to leave plays on the field and keeps proving he’s not capable of being a legitimate No. 2 NFL receiver. His drop on the two-point conversion was a killer. It was a tough catch, but one he has to make. Grade: C
Offensive Line: The offensive line struggled big time in the first half as the Steelers couldn’t run the ball at all, but the front five picked it up in the second half by opening some nice holes. Bell averaged 4.6 yards per carry so that’s a nice effort. In addition Big Ben was not sacked for the second week in a row. It was a nice performance considering the lost Kelvin Beachum (who did a nice job on Terrell Suggs), Mike Adams and Fernando Velasco to injury in the fourth quarter. Grade: B+
Defensive Line: The Ravens are one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL but managed to 72 yards on their first 18 carries. Overall though Ray Rice was a non-factor and Baltimore ended up averaging only three yards per carry on the night. Brett Keisel’s comeback was a short one as he re-injured his foot. The front three didn’t do anything of impact but Cam Heyward and Ziggy Hood combined to make 13 tackles. Grade: B
Linebackers: Jason Worilds was outstanding again, recording two sacks, eight tackles and a forced fumble in the first half alone. Worilds was double and triple teamed in the second half often so he didn’t have much of an impact the rest of the night but it was another good showing. It will be a shame to see LaMarr Woodley get his job back on the left side as he hasn’t been nearly as productive as Worilds when he has been healthy.
Lawrence Timmons had a decent night with eight tackles, but rookie Jarvis Jones continues to struggle. It’s also worth noting the lack of overall pressure. The Steelers sent five or more pass rushers on eight of Joe Flacco’s 19 second-half dropbacks, and couldn’t get to him. Flacco was 6-of-8 against added pressure in the second half and 7-of-10 overall, his highest completion percentage against additional pressure this season. Coming into the game Flacco ranked 31st in the NFL against the blitz. Grade: B-
Secondary: The secondary allowed big plays, including an early 54-yarder to Torrey Smith that set up the first touchdown. Ike Taylor also took a costly pass interference penalty that set up a score. Troy Polamalu continue to guess wrong and leave the rest of the secondary hanging out to dry.
On the night Flacco completed 24-of-35 for 251 yards. More importantly, the Ravens converted on third down 10-of-17 times. It was the most third down conversions they had in a game all season and marked the first time all year they converted over 50 percent of their opportunities. Grade: D+
Special Teams: The Steelers were overdue for an awful special teams performance to cost them a game. Unfortunately for them it came against the Ravens again. They allowed kickoff returns of 32 and 73 yards by Jacoby Jones in the third quarter which proved to be killers. In addition, Shaun Suisham’s botched field goal attempt is beyond words as it eventually turned out to be a big play in the game. Grade: F
Coaching: You can’t allow big plays and have special teams breakdowns when you are fighting for a playoff spot. While the offense came around in the second half, in a big game the Steelers couldn’t afford a slow start and being shutout for the first time this season in the first half. Grade: D
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
