The Baltimore Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. It wasn’t the most convincing win but it was a tough win in Heinz Field. Here is the good, the bad and the ugly:
The Good:
The Baltimore Ravens have the best field goal kicker in the National Football League. Justin Tucker went 4-4 on field goals and hit the game winning kick in overtime. On a windy day and in the toughest stadium to hit field goals in the NFL, Tucker delivered. The Ravens needed every single point and Tucker scored 12 of them on field goals and two on extra points. Tucker gets the game ball without question. Marlon Humphrey set up the game winning field goal by punching the football away from JuJu Smith-Schuster and then recovering the fumble. That was a play that showed a lot of heart, skill and effort.
The defense still has a lot to work on however the run defense was much improved against the Steelers. Pittsburgh had just 77 rushing yards. After seeing what Nick Chubb did against this defense it was a solid improvement. The Steelers only had 269 yards. It wasn’t a great defensive performance but the Ravens made more stops in this game and they made the stops they absolutely needed to. Josh Bynes had an interception as a new member of the Ravens defense and Patrick Onwuasor may have had his best game of the season.
Lamar Jackson was inconsistent in this game yet his touchdown pass to Marquise Brown was a thing of beauty. The catch was incredible, the throw was perfect. Jackson’s legs kept the Ravens out of some very bad situations. If Joe Flacco was the quarterback in this game, Pittsburgh may have broke a record for sacks in a game. The point here is that Jackson is an incredible athlete who makes magic happen sometimes.
Willie Snead made some of the most important plays of the game and had four grabs for 51 yards. The Ravens offense was able to dominate the time of possession battle. Baltimore had the ball for just over 39 minutes of the game clock.