ExtremeRavens Posted Wednesday at 07:33 PM Posted Wednesday at 07:33 PM The Pittsburgh Steelers won the coin toss in last week’s AFC wild-card round against the Ravens, and they elected to take the football first. The decision came as a surprise to those watching, including Baltimore linebacker Kyle Van Noy. “The first thing I thought when it happened was, ‘desperate,’” said the 33-year-old defender on “McCoy and Van Noy,” the Yahoo! Sports podcast Van Noy hosts with former NFL defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. “I was like, ‘Oh, we won.’” Van Noy expected Pittsburgh to put its stout defense on the field first, but coach Mike Tomlin and the Steelers elected to trot out their middling offense. Van Noy took the decision personally. “This is disrespectful,” he said. “Taking the ball first? We were all kind of pissed off about that.” The decision didn’t work out for Pittsburgh, which had a six-play, 19-yard opening drive end with a punt. The drive wrapped up when Russell Wilson couldn’t escape Van Noy’s grasp on a third-and-6, only gaining 2 yards and forcing a fourth-down punt. Van Noy finished the game with one tackle and a quarterback pressure. Baltimore drove 95 yards for a touchdown on its first offensive drive, taking an early 7-0 lead and engaging the home crowd. The Ravens never trailed in the 28-14 win, scoring touchdowns on three of their four drives in the first half. As for Van Noy and the Ravens’ defense, they pitched a first-half shutout and held on in the final 30 minutes to secure the win. Baltimore only yielded 280 total yards, sacking Wilson four times and holding the Steelers to 29 rushing yards. Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry had no such issues for Baltimore, as the Ravens ran for 299 yards in the playoff victory. Van Noy made sure to share his perspective on Pittsburgh’s rough defensive outing during the podcast episode. “We stood on business,” Van Noy said. “It was belt to [butt.] Their defense getting almost 300 yards rushing on them, I’d be pretty embarrassed if that happened to me, especially with all the good players they had.” On one drive, Baltimore ran the ball on all 13 plays en route to a touchdown. “That was just bully ball at its finest,” Van Noy said. READER POLL: Who will win the divisional round playoff game between Ravens and Bills? The victory was the latest in a string of strong performances for the Ravens, who are 5-0 after their bye week with an average margin of victory of 21.2 points. Baltimore’s defense has turned a corner after a shaky start to the season, which included allowing an average of 30.3 points per game in Weeks 5-8. The Ravens haven’t allowed 30 points in a game since Cincinnati scored 34 on Nov. 7. Sunday’s divisional round game against the Buffalo Bills, who racked up 471 yards in the wild-card round, will be a tougher test for Baltimore’s improving defense. Josh Allen is an MVP candidate at quarterback, and Buffalo’s rushing attack averaged 131.2 yards per game during the regular season. Running back James Cook eclipsed 1,000 rushing yards and scored 16 rushing touchdowns in the regular season, as Buffalo joined Detroit and Baltimore as the only three teams to average at least 30 points per game in the regular season. “Josh Allen is a great player and they’re well built around him,” coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “They did a good job of building the offense around him.” If the Bills win the coin toss and elect to receive Sunday, it’s unlikely Van Noy will feel the same level of disrespect he held Saturday against the struggling Steelers. Have a news tip? Contact sports editor Bennett Conlin at bconlin@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/BennettConlin. View the full article Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.