Ravens Lose A Classic Sloppy Rivalry Game in Pittsburgh 18-16

WELP. That was about as classic a Ravens-Steelers game as it gets. Came down to the final plays, weird score numbers and everything. Real slopped up with some greasy turnovers… hard to walk away from that game in a vacuum saying one team was better than the other.

That said…. This was also a classic contemporary Ravens game where it turned into a Ravens vs Ravens contest. They turned the ball over a handful of times and shot themselves in the foot over and over. Some of that is to be expected in a rivalry game like this against a great defense, but it’s the difference between this simply being a fun team that makes the playoffs and them being a championship quality football team. 

That’s been the issue since day 1 and it’ll continue to be the issue until it isn’t.

I’m beyond confident the Ravens are more talented and capable than that football team over there. They’ll probably wipe them in Baltimore in a few weeks. But a major part of football is discipline and execution and the Steelers did both those things way better than we did today.

Justin Tucker and Lamar Jackson obviously had games today that were less than stellar. Both will bounce back. Lamar simply didn’t get into a rhythm (credit to Pittsburgh) and missed to many makeable throws in the first half.

Tucker on the other hand… it’s a problem. But not one where we should be talking about changes with. His missed kicks unquestionably hurt today… maybe made the difference. But the guy has built up more than enough goodwill to let him ride out this slump. Hurts to say but it simply is what it is. Kickers off the street are kickers off the street for a reason. Conceivably they may make more of the next 10 kicks than JT will, but I would bet on JT making 10 more of the next 100 kicks than anybody else off the street once he figures it out. It’s a tough bump in the road, but it’s worth riding out. Trust me. The 54 yarder he banged is a great step forward. I’d be lying if I said I feel great with him standing over kicks right now but he deserves our patience to ride it out.

This loss stinks. Plenty of big games left for us to make our mark.

Flush it and beat the Chargers