What a bad start that was as the referees miss that the elbow was down and the Steelers had to use a challenge early. Props to Shaun Suisham for the effort there. Pretty sure Jeff Reed does not give that effort. Also great deep kick as well.
First offensive drive did not get off to a great start with the Hines Ward penalty. I thought it should of been offsetting, but whatever. Good mix of run and pass and it ended with 7 points. Great start. Offensive line had good push to start.
Held my breath when Ike Taylor went out of the game. Luckily he came back and was pretty much Ike Taylor. Bryant McFadden went down early and William Gay held up the standard. Anthony Madison had a big pass interference call against him and otherwise was mediocre. Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason combined for 1 catch for -2 yards. That is domination.
The offense gave the Ravens two cheap touchdowns on turnovers. You have to play through the whistle and fall in the ball just in case. Hear that Ramon Foster? Jump on every loose ball.
The run blocking and pass blocking got worse as the game wore on except in short yardage situations. Flozell Adams left sick and Jonathan Scott was dinged a few snaps as well. Trai Essex and Ramon Foster juggled positions and Doug Legursky played some right guard. Ben Roethlisberger was sacked 6 times, but his escapability once again was the difference. 73 yards on the ground combine running and scrambling was enough.
Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders showed the game is not too big for them. Sanders had a drop on a nice hit, but overall all the receivers played great.
James Harrison was a beast with 3 sacks and was held on numerous plays that were more obvious than normal. Ryan Clark also played the game of his life outside of the coverage on the touchdown pass to Todd Heap. Clark had an interception and a forced fumble.
Steelers were 7 of 14 on 3rd downs. Not bad considering. On the flip side the Ravens were 5 of 12 on 3rd downs.
Coverage units were not good today overall and Jeremy Kapinos line drive punt almost cost the Steelers a TD. He did have a nice punt called back on offsetting penalties that pinned the Ravens deep. Would like to see a little more consistency though.
I did not think that James Farrior performed above the line today. He had trouble shedding some blocks. Still the line and linebackers only gave up 35 yards rushing and Ray Rice for the most part was hit quickly when he caught the ball out of the backfield.
Ziggy Hood and Brett Keisel I thought were masterful again today. Hood I think was not 100% with another ankle problem.
Isaac Redman had a great special teams block on a return that did not go unnoticed.
Most teams would of folded like a lawn chair after that first half. The Steelers never backed off of what their gameplan was. Also Bruce Arians called a great game I thought outside of a few play calls.
I was on Heath Miller for a missed block on the Mike Wallace end around, but Miller did enough on the play and Wallace did not read the block well and should of stayed outside. Miller was masterful once again in the passing game.
The tape will not lie, but I thought David Johnson was missing on some blocks. I will watch that closely first time back through the tape.
