The Ravens might of helped quarterback Ben Roethlisberger out by breaking his nose early. He probably forgot how bad his foot hurt. He looked full of adrenaline tonight and sailed several throws he normally makes. In crunch time though, he used the Houdini to get rid of the ball and avoid a sack. How big was that hard count on 4th down?
Props to Isaac Redman for finding a way to get into the endzone. He does not get many snaps on the field, but made a huge contribution. Broke through several tackles.
The line continues to suffer injuries and as a whole looked bad in both run blocking and pass blocking. Of course the tape will tell the story and I hope to have that done late Monday or early Tuesday. Jonathan Scott struggled with Terrell Suggs most of the night.
Yes, we will hear about the calls all week again. Crazy, crazy. If I am the Rooney\’s, I am HOT!
Antonio Brown is working hard, but I am not convinced he did not run the wrong route on a deep pass to Mike Wallace. I did like his guts to grab a few of those punts that were bouncing.
Emmanuel Sanders will only get better. I was worried when he did not get up and try to score after the deep catch on the right sideline, but NBC said after the game he had been touched. I think Brown wanted him to get up as well.
When Heath Miller went down, the Steelers only had David Johnson, who is really more of a fullback, h-back type. Johnson played well on the surface from an initial view.
Welcome back Brett Keisel. He looked VERY strong and rested and had very good push especially late in the game. That has been missing on that side with Nick Eason. Eason just not getting the same constant pressure when Keisel was out all those games.
Both outside linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley had very strong games. Seemed like Harrison was in the head of Michael Oher this time around.
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Troy Polamalu won this game plain and simple. How many plays did Ed Reed make tonight? He more than made up for the early Anquan Boldin touchdown.
Why the Ravens insisted going deep I will never know. Sure they had a few big plays, but the money stuff was underneath. They went to the well too many times deep. Had they been patient, they could of moved the ball more.
Ray Rice had only 50 total yards. POW!
Rashard Mendenhall I think heard footsteps several times tonight. Had a few drops. He had several hard runs though making something out of nothing and passed 1,000 yards tonight on the season.
Hines Ward had another uncharacteristic drop tonight. He will rebound, he always does.
Shaun Suisham was scaring me the way he was catching those punts, but boy did he step up. Even after a penalty by Keenan Lewis. He really has become a Steeler in a hurry.
The first goalline trip was not the best for offensive coordinator Bruce Arians. I knock him when he needs it and the 1st down play was a bad choice and he should of thrown on 2nd once that failed.
Getting the ball out quick to Mike Wallace is highly advised. Pretty soon Mike Tomlin will not call him one trick pony.
James Farrior was there when a tackle needed to be made. Big sack and good pressure when he came.
Someone blew a switch I think on the first deep one to Boldin. William Gay maybe? I think Ryan Clark was supervised to be stuck with him man to man. I will need to watch that again a few times.
Are the kick coverages regressing a bit? I will check those stats for sure.
Ike Taylor quietly had another good game. Big sack too on a semi-delayed blitz.
More to come!
