Baltimore-Pittsburgh games always seem to deliver. Every time these two sides meet it seems to go down to the wire with some tough, physical football, and you’re never sure who is going to win at any given moment. It seemed inevitable that we'd see the first overtime game under the new playoff rules, but the Ravens didn't have enough in the tank late.
That it was the Steelers who came out on top was thanks in large part to inspired play from their defense, which made sure that early turnovers by the offense weren't going to mean disaster.
Joe Flacco had one of the worst games of his career, and couldn't do much with his team's last chance to tie it in the waning moments.
Ravens: Performances of note
Michael Oher (-3.6) was leading the fan vote in the Pro Bowl for much of the season, presumably based on people liking his personal story and also knowing little about the intricacies of line play. Oher was exposed repeatedly in this game, primarily by James Harrison around the edge, as he struggled to keep Joe Flacco’s (-0.4) blindside protected. Oher surrendered two sacks, a hit and another pressure on the day and unfortunately wasn’t any better in the run game, where he was also beaten throughout.
Terrell Suggs (+2.8) was a pass rushing monster, racking up three sacks, a hit and a pressure in the game, but unusually for him he was moved around in the run game, being driven away from the point of attack on more than one sizeable run for the Steelers. But he more than made up for that with his pass rushing, which backed up the talk that went back and forth this week. Of all the players from the Ravens coming out of this game, Suggs can probably hold his head the highest.
Anquan Boldin (-2.7) had been a big player for Baltimore for much of the season but that wasn’t the case today. Boldin was thrown at four times in the game, caught just one pass, for minus two yards. He also managed to drop a ball, and slowed his route on another pass, causing Flacco to overthrow him. Baltimore brought him in because they weren’t able to get production from their receivers in games like this. Seems they still can’t.
Steelers: Three performances of note
In a game that was dominated by defenses, we’re going to look first at the best defensive player on the field in this game. James Harrison (+5.2) matched the three sacks, one hit and one pressure day from Baltimore’s Suggs, but did it without being beaten in the run game as Suggs was. Harrison, at just 6 foot, has an unusual build for an outside linebacker and he was far too much for Oher to handle at left tackle, dipping underneath the big youngster and turning the corner with ease at times. Harrison applied pressure five times in the game from only 23 pass rushes. That’s an impressive rate of success.
It’s worth mentioning the play of defensive lineman Brett Keisel (+3.6), and not just because with the end-of-season shaving of Ryan Fitzpatrick, he now owns the NFL’s most awesome beard by some distance. In the past when Aaron Smith has gone down hurt, Keisel’s play has been an issue for the Steelers, but this season he has played well, and has had his two best games of the season in Week 16 and this playoff game. Keisel is probably proving to be a very welcome surprise for the Steelers. He applied two pressures in this game, but was particularly dominant in the run game, where he was able to drive Ravens linemen into the backfield on more than one occasion, allowing him to make three defensive stops. He will also be going to the Pro Bowl as an injury replacement … unless he has other plans, of course.
It's remarkable that the Steelers' offense scored 31 points against a great defense despite poor grades for their skill position guys. Rashard Mendenhall (-1.9), Mike Wallace (-1.2) and Hines Ward (-1.9) all had notably negative days, and it was the contributions of rookies Emmanuel Sanders (+1.8) and Antonio Brown (+1.1) that made the difference. Sanders got the lion’s share of the snaps (33 compared to Brown’s 11), and was thrown at seven times to Brown’s three, but it was Brown that came up with the huge catch late in the game to put the Steelers in range to take the lead on a 3rd-and-19 play.
Rookie watch
Terrence Cody (-0.7) continued to see as little game time as possible, notching just eight snaps. Ed Dickson (-0.1) saw just nine snaps at tight end with Heap being back at full strength. … For the Steelers, Maurkice Pouncey (-0.3) had a mixed day. He only allowed one hit on the passer, but was badly beaten on occasions in the run game. Other than those plays, though, he was largely positive.
Random notes
There was a lot of talk about the officials and the penalties thrown in the game. By and large the officials, didn’t have a bad game, but the Ravens had a touchdown taken off the board after a punt with 6.09 remaining in the game on a very dubious holding call that looked to be the product of a flop from a Steelers player. That touchdown would have given the Ravens a four point lead and the momentum in the game. … Kicker Billy Cundiff didn't live up to his all-PFF billing, with no touchbacks on five kickoffs. … Flacco was 2-of-7 for 37 yards on passes thrown 10+ yards in the air.
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