Taken from the grade book who has seen his failing student earn straight A’s since getting a failing mid-term progress report, here is the Pittsburgh Steelers Report Card for the Christmas comeback win over the Baltimore Ravens.
Bud Dupree sacks Joe Flacco during the Steelers Christmas win over the Ravens. Photo Credit: Chaz Palla, Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Quarterback
How do you grade this one? Ben Roethlisberger got off to a strong start, then sputtered a little in the first half, only to throw two Kordell Stewartesque interceptions in the third. That would normally be enough to earn the signal caller an “F.” Then came the 4th quarter, where Ben Roethlisberger completed 14-of-17 passes for 164 yards for two touchdowns while hitting 6 different receivers. Players grades come as a product of performance and results. Do the results of Ben’s 4th quarter play outweigh earlier performances? Yes they do. Grade: A
Running Backs
Coming into the game the Baltimore Ravens had the NFL’s second best rushing defense that only allowed 3.5 yards per carry. Moreover, this is a rush defense that smothered Le’Veon Bell just two months before.
- But in the Steelers Christmas comeback against the Ravens, Le’Veon Bell reminded everyone that ball players and not bean counters determine the outcome of games.
Le’Veon Bell rushed for 122 yards on just 20 carries (that’s an average of 6.1 yards per carry), scored 1 touchdown on the ground and another through the air, where he made 3 catches for 15 yards. Roosevelt Nix only appeared in 19% of the snaps, which is perhaps a surprise, but he blocked well when he was in the game. Grade: A+
Tight Ends
The big question going into the game was how much Ladarius Green’s absence would impact the passing game. The answer was that the men below him on the depth chart stepped up. Xavier Grimble caught the game’s first touchdown pass holding on to the ball when he knew he would get drilled. Jesse James came up big late in the game, catching 3 of his four passes in the 4th quarter. David Johnson didn’t have a target, but was a force in as a blocker, as were the other two Steelers tight ends. Grade: A
Wide Receivers
Antonio Brown was quiet for much of the first three quarters, but exploded in the 4th quarter, catching 6 passes for 73 yards in the final 15 minutes.
- However, if Brown’s only catch had been his last one, the touchdown catch, he’d have had a great game.
Eli Rogers put on another strong performance, catching a couple of field-stretching that set up scores, including a 20 yarder that put the Steelers in the Red Zone. Cobi Hamilton only had on catch, but it came on the game’s final drive.
You wouldn’t think that Antonio Brown, plus a 7th round pick playing his first game and two undrafted rookie free agents would be the recipe for success in a playoff-defining game but was it ever. Grade: A
Offensive Line
If you really want to see how much the Steelers have grown since their last loss to the Ravens, then offensive line provides the perfect gauge. Sure, the offensive line kept an injured Ben Roethlisberger clean down at M&T Stadium, but the Steelers rushing offense went nowhere, on a day when Pittsburgh needed it to.
- The Steelers came out of the gate intending to run the ball, and dared the Baltimore Ravens to stop them.
Back-to-back Le’Veon Bell runs for 23 and 13 yards to start the 4th quarter for the Steelers show just how badly Baltimore failed. Ramon Foster also deserves extra credit for making sure Bell got into the end zone on the penultimate touchdown. Grade: A+
Defensive Line
This game looked to be a tough one for the Steelers defensive line, with Stephon Tuitt out and Ricardo Mathews nursing an injury. Suffice to say, no one envisioned the Steelers starting L.T. Walton, Javon Hargrave and Mathews on Christmas with the playoffs on the line.
- The Steelers defensive line did encourter some rough sledding against the Ravens.
While the Steelers bottled up Terrance West, Kenneth Dixon and Kyle Juszczyk ran with authority, often times not going down on either the first or second contact. Still, while the Ravens did establish the run, their running backs never came close to taking over the game. Grade: C
Linebackers
James Harrison led the Steelers with 11 tackles. For all of the ink that Harrison generates as a pass rusher, he is perhaps even stronger against the run. Lawrence Timmons had 10 tackles, and a key sack of Flacco that put the Ravens out of field goal range. Ryan Shazier was next, with 10 tackles and a pass defense. Bud Dupree had another drive ending sack of Joe Flacco and got a hand on a pass on third down.
A little more consistent pressure on Flacco would have been nice, and perhaps a little better performance in the against the run. Nonetheless, it was a good night for the Steelers linebackers. Grade: A-
Secondary
Sean Davis made what was perhaps the most underrated play of the game when the Ravens had the ball on third down at the Steelers four, by knocking a way a touchdown and forcing the Ravens to settle for a field goal, keeping the Steelers within 10 as the 4th quarter began. William Gay led the Steelers defensive backs with 7 tackles, while Artie Burns and Ross Cockrell had 7 a piece, followed by Mike Mitchell who had 5 tackles and a pass defensed. Overall the Steelers pass defense was good against the Ravens, but Joe Flacco did complete 7 of 10 passes on the Ravens go-ahead touchdown drive. Grade: B+
Special Teams
Chris Boswell was perfect making his only field goal attempt and hitting on 4 extra points. However, he did get flagged twice for knocking kickoffs out of bounds, something which cannot continue.
The Steelers got little out of their return game, but their coverage units didn’t allow the Ravens much either. The same cannot be said for the Steelers punt coverage units, which allowed an average of 12.5 yards per return. That was hardly lethal, but with the top gunner Shamarko Thomas out for the year, the someone will have to step up.
The Steelers field goal until also reached on a botched snap. Those types of things usually hurt the kicking team, but if the defense isn’t on its toes, the opposing team’s kicking unit an turn a disaster into a big play. Danny Smith’s unit made sure that didn’t happen. Grade: B
Coaching
Amazingly enough, the Steelers coaching staff entered this game under attack. But the coaches answered the call.
Keith Butler was essentially forced to go into the biggest game of the season playing his 2nd string defensive line. That fact does show up on the stat sheet, but isn’t evident in the final score.
The bottom line is that Butler found a way to make it work. The Ravens did put up 27 points, but the telling statistic there is that the Ravens went 2 for 5 in the Red Zone, including one Red Zone possession that came as gift wrapped by Ben Roethlisberger.
Todd Haley also had his work cut out for them, given how well the Ravens defense has played the Steelers. The credit for the Steelers success rushing the ball lies with Le’Veon Bell and the offensive line, but Todd Haley and Mike Munchack were smart enough and confident enough to trust in those two units.
The Steelers offense put on a championship caliber performance in the 4th quarter. Again, the men who authored those plays on the field deserve credit, but they only excel in those situations on Sunday if they’ve been well-coached during the rest of the week.
- Finally, we come to Mike Tomlin.
The Steelers entered this game fighting a lot of history and knowing that none of their previous 5 wins would mean anything if they’d lost. The Steelers came out and played focused football, daring and succeeding in attacking the strength of the Ravens, their rush defense.
- But that wasn’t the whole story of course.
The Steelers offense sputtered for much of the 2nd and 3rd quarters, and easily could have folded or devolved into finger pointing when they began the 4th quarter down by 10. The same could have happened when they were down by 3 with 1:25 to play.
But the Steelers refused to blink and that reflects on their coach. Grade: A
Unsung Hero Award
There are so many candidates worthy of this honor in the Christmas win over the Ravens. All the well-placed praise lavished on the game stars, Roethlisberger, Bell and Brown, doesn’t change the fact that their heroics are only possible if their supporting cast does their job.
- Jesse James and/or the entire Steelers tight ends receiving corps earned strong consideration.
But here we’re going to follow Mike Tomlin’s lead and give recognition to the young 7th round draft pick, how drew a 35 yard pass interference play and then blocked for Le’Veon Bell one touchdown drive. He then made 9 yard catch AND got out of bounds as the clock was ticking down towards zero.
- All of this came in his very first NFL game, during the 4th quarter with the playoffs on the line.
This young player answered the challenge, and for that Demarcus Ayers wins the Unsung Hero Award for the Steelers Christmas Day win over the Baltimore Ravens.
