Taken from the grade book of a furious teacher who watched in dismay as his students did well enough on the test to pass only to fail because THEY FORGOT TO PUT THEIR NAME ON THEIR papers, here is the Steelers Report Card for the 2019 loss to the Ravens at Heinz Field.
Mark Andrews hurdles Minkah Fitzpatrick. Photo Credit: Barry Reeger, PennLive.com
Quarterback
Mason Rudolph was 13 of 20 for one TD and no interceptions. The coaches took the training wheels off a bit, and Rudolph did OK, but his downfield accuracy left a lot to be desired. He made a phenomenal play just as he got KOed. Devlin Hodges entered the game and played far better than anyone had the right to expect him to. Grade: B
Running Backs
James Conner ran well, but his carries were limited. Jaylen Samuels didn’t run as well, and his interception while running the Wildcat was disastrous. Sure, he didn’t call the play that never should have been called, but he did throw the pass, and it went right to the Ravens. Grade: D
Tight Ends
Vance McDonald had 3 catches on 3 targets including one that set up James Conner’s touchdown. Nick Vannett had one pass thrown his way. Grade: B-
Wide Receivers
JuJu Smith-Schuster again showed that he is a legitimate big play wide receiver catching all 7 passes thrown his way. James Washington reappeared, making 3 catches including two of great consequence. Diontae Johnson caught 5 passes but he fumbled the ball, which mercifully went out of bounds. While it’s not fair to scapegoat JuJu Smith-Schuster, there’s no sugar coating the fact that his fumble was fatal. Grade: F
Offensive Line
Mason Rudolph was only sacked once and had good time to throw. The run blocking looked to be a little better, but it is hard to be sure because the Steelers really didn’t try to establish the run. Grade: C
Defensive Line
Stephon Tuitt led the unit in tackles, Cam Heyward had a sack, a tackle for a loss, and two more QB hits. Javon Hargrave had a sack, a tackle for a loss and another QB hit. Baltimore ran the ball well coming into Pittsburgh. The defensive line slowed them down. Grade: B+
Linebackers
Devin Bush was second in the unit in tackles, and caught his first interception, even if it should have been overturned on replay it was a heads up play by the rookie. T.J. Watt added another sack and dropped 3 defenders behind the line of scrimmage. Bud Dupree had a sack in overtime. Grade: B
Secondary
Mike Hilton had a stand out game with an interception prior to the 2 minute warning. He also batted another pass away and dropped a defender behind the line of scrimmage. Kameron Kelly had an interception, and you didn’t hear the names of Joe Haden, Steven Nelson and Terrell Edmunds much. And that’s good. Grade: B
Special Teams
The Steelers special teams gave up another long run, which didn’t result in points but it does highlight their weakness. Worse yet was the Steelers kick return team who averaged 15 yards per return. Ryan Switzer had one nice punt return for 13 yards. Chris Boswell was perfect and Jordan Berry pinned the Ravens inside the 20 twice.
When your coach defers on the toss in overtime because he’s worried about how bad his return team is, things are bad. Grade: D
Devlin Hodges passing for the Steelers in the 4th quarter. Photo Credit: Barry Reeger, PennLive
Coaching
So, the Steelers go into a show down with a division rival, starting their backup quarterback who gets hurt three plays into the second half. Their 4th string quarterback comes on, leads a comeback, forces overtime, only for the Steelers to lose because of a fumble in OT.
- So that’s a phenomenal reflection on the coaches. Right?
Well, yes it is, but it is also much more complicated. Mike Tomlin claims that the Steelers weren’t planning on deploying a gimmicky offense going into the game. Fine. Let’s take him at his word.
But the Steelers started the first two series using those gimmicks, and the Wildcat pass was a disaster which set up an easy 7 points for the Ravens.
- Sure, the Steelers offense put up enough points to win given the circumstances.
- Sure, the Steelers defense kept the team ahead in take aways and put in a strong effort.
- Sure, the game turned on a fumble in overtime, which is decidedly NOT the coaches’ fault.
But Jaylen Samuels never should have been passing from the Steelers 12 yard line. Never. This is a case where one bad call is indeed a difference maker in a game. Grade: F
Unsung Hero Award
He’s one of the few on that side of the ball with no premium draft or free agent pedigree. Fans and Twitter general managers regularly scheme to find ways to take him out of the lineup. But while he might not have the freakish athletic talent of some of his peers, he’s a hard hitter and he gives it all on every play.
Against the Ravens this player returned to the lineup with a vengeance, leading the team in tackles and notching a stat in just about every category save for an interception and, for that reason, Vince Williams is wins the Unsung Hero Award for the loss to the Ravens.
