ExtremeRavens Posted December 15 Posted December 15 EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The Ravens will be playing against the varsity next week. Actually, they’ve had two straight weeks off. On Dec. 8, they had their bye and Sunday they beat the New York Giants, 35-14. Bye, bye Giants. This game was as ugly as most of us predicted, and of course the Ravens celebrated Sunday night on their trip back to Baltimore, but don’t party too hard. The Pittsburgh Steelers will be in Baltimore on Saturday for a game that will have definite playoff ramifications. The last time we checked, Pittsburgh had beaten the Ravens in eight of their past nine matchups. Yes, those Steelers, the bully boys coached by Mike Tomlin. Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson toasted the Giants on Sunday, completing 21 of 25 passes for 290 yards and five touchdowns. Offensively, the Ravens dominated New York, at one time scoring touchdowns on five straight possessions. But that’s unlikely to happen against the Steelers, especially if the Ravens continue to lead the league in penalties. They had 12 for 112 yards Sunday. On a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive by the Giants in the second quarter, the Ravens committed four. The drive resulted in a 2-yard touchdown run by Devin Singletary just before halftime. That’s OK when the opposition is the Giants or New York’s other loser, the Jets, but not in the postseason or when the Steelers are coming to town. Oh, heck no. There were other troubling signs. The Ravens missed a lot of tackles, particularly cornerbacks Tre’Davious White and Brandon Stephens. And while we’re on the subject of Stephens, why doesn’t he ever turn around to find the ball? Twice he was called for pass interference Sunday in matchups with Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers, which made me wonder why the Giants didn’t keep throwing at him for the entire game? The one time he did get caught looking at the quarterback, Nabers blew right by him for a 20-yard completion to open the third quarter. Giants wide receiver Malik Nabers, catching a touchdown pass in front of Ravens cornerback Desmond King, was a mismatch for the Ravens’ secondary. (Frank Franklin II/AP) “Well, the biggest thing was the pass interference calls,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “I don’t know about the one late against ‘Des’ [Desmond King II]. I’ll have to see that one. The other ones, [we] just [have to] get our head around quicker, play the ball [and] play the ball sooner. One time we were playing the ball, but there was a grab. They called it tight. Those are tight, tight called plays there in terms of pass interference, so we have to adjust. “[For] roughing the passer, you have to find a way to get off to the side. You have to find a way to do it, so we’ll be drilling it. We’ll be working on those. Those are kind of technique things that we just have to do a good job of working on because that’s really … Their drives were penalty inspired. If it wasn’t for the penalties, those drives wouldn’t have happened, so it’s obviously something that’s very important.” It’s not a good matchup with Stephens against Pittsburgh receiver George Pickens (55 receptions, 850 yards) next week, even though Pickens claims to be bothered by hamstring issues which have forced him to miss the past two weeks. Pittsburgh quarterback Russell Wilson doesn’t remind anyone of his gunslinging days when he won a Super Bowl with Seattle in 2013, but he still is very accurate on short passes and can chuck up those long bombs that are so high they have dew on them when they come down. Plus, Pittsburgh has a formidable running game in Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren. They aren’t great, but effective and certainly better than the Giants, who couldn’t push the tush on their two “Brotherly Shove” quarterback sneak attempts Sunday. Gosh, that was a bad football team. It was good to see Jackson throwing the ball all over the field. His passer rating was somewhat misleading because his receivers were wide open. On Rashod Bateman’s 49-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter, Bateman had time to make a reservation, eat lunch, burp and then run to the men’s room before one of the Giants came into the same vicinity. There were times when the Ravens’ offensive tackles, veteran Ronnie Stanley and rookie Roger Rosengarten, were beat to the outside, but Jackson was elusive and able to find more time to either connect with receivers or run down field. That worked against the Giants, but it won’t so much against Pittsburgh with edge rushers Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt. The Steelers are allowing only 7.7 yards a catch. It’s not like Pittsburgh is unbeatable. The Steelers probably aren’t even the best team in the AFC. But when it comes to playing against the Ravens, they have owned this franchise lately. It will be much different than Sunday. Once the coin flip was over, there was no longer any suspense about the outcome of the game. It was just a matter of determining the degree of the beatdown. Pittsburgh is different. The bye weeks are over. Have a news tip? Contact Mike Preston at epreston@baltsun.com, 410-332-6467 and x.com/MikePrestonSun. View the full article Quote
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