Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens Recap

Couldn't quite get there is the theme of this game. Steelers fall, again, in OT. This time in Baltimore 20 to 17.

It was a typical physical Steelers vs Ravens contest. And the Steelers went to battle with their 3rd string QB Dennis Dixon. Who I thought had thrown 1 pass in the NFL in 2008 but the broadcast said he hasn't thrown any. Nevertheless going in the usually dominant Steelers defense had to be thinking they had to come through.

Ironically, the usually dominant Steelers defense has not been very dominant this season. Oh they have had their moments and the defense is ranked 4th overall as of Monday Nov 30. The problem is at times they are vulnerable to things they haven't been in years past. Maybe I am being a little harsh because they have been that good in previous seasons. But the numbers alone do not always tell the whole story. Sunday night was a prime example.

The Steelers came after Flacco with a vengence and sacked him 5 times. They also caused 3 fumbles and recovered 2 of them. But they also got killed by the Baltimore backfield.

This also made Flacco's job easier with play action type plays.

The 4.6 yards per carry and the 8.3 yards per attempt is not good overall. It's really leaning toward bad. The reality is the Steelers would be aggressive and physical and the Ravens would pull a big play out of their rear-end. Sometimes it was a great play like the Mason re-adjustment for the TD or it was blown coverage. At times they would smother the line of scrimmage and at times they would get pushed aside like the Ravens O-Line was holding the door open for Ray Rice and LeRon McClain.

At the end of the day though, to the credit of the defense they still held the Ravens to 17 in regulation and 20 overall. In my preview I thought 16 would be enough. 17 should had been enough. And it looked like it might be.

Now mind you my first preview was under the assumption that Ben was playing. With Dixon playing I would have hoped the defense could have held the Ravens to 13 or less. But 17 is still plenty good enough for a win. And Bruce Arians did what you expected him to do. And that was run more. 26 pass attempts and 38 rushing attempts.

One thing that resulted from this that I thought was important was the time of possession. Which Pittsburgh won by 3:34. Which can be a huge difference. The problem was they did not get quite enough overall offense.

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For his first NFL start I thought Dixon demonstrated potential. At best though he was solid. He had very good moments though. He had a tremendous QB keeper that was extremely well designed by Bruce Arians and executed perfectly. And he had some nice throws. But he did not do enough efficiency wise to move the ball forward. He had a legit chance to win nonetheless, let's make not mistake about that.

In fact he had the ball in his hands and was driving for a potential game winning FG or TD in OT. But he got fooled by the old D lineman falling back into coverage. Something he probably never saw at the inferior NCAA DIV 1 level. PAul Kruger turned into Freddie Krueger and it was Nightmare on Ravens Street as Kruger picked off Dixon and the Ravens were handed a chance for another FG in OT loss. Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff almost won it in regulation as he tried a hurried 56 yarder so he was happy to get another crack at it.

Some Highlights:

• Lawrence Timmons had 2 sacks

• LaMarr Woodley had nice sack where he ran down Flacco

• Dixon's 24 yrd end around keeper for a TD

• Mendenhall had a strong 24 carries for 95 yards

• Santonio Holmes had 6 catches for 74 yards but his TD catch was spectacular as he headed into mid field and spun back for the catch and out sprinted the CB for a 33 yrd TD

• Hines Ward had a nice day with 3 catches for 47 yards

• Nice to see Carey Davis play and his 2 carries for 15 yards (1 was for 14 though)

Bottom line is this was a bad loss putting the Steelers had a blah 6 wins and 5 losses. Tied with Baltimore and 2 wins behind the Bengals in the AFC North. The Steelers are still in the Wild Card playoff spot hunt. BUT they are tied with Baltimore and Jacksonville for the last and final playoff spot!

GOOD NEWS!:

• Next week should be a Bye week with Oakland and the game following should be a Bye week going to Cleveland. However the Kansas City game makes you worry and wonder.

• After that you got very winnable games with Green Bay, Baltimore, and Miami.

• Cleveland and Miami are the only road games left.

• Oakland, Baltimore, and Green Bay visit Pittsburgh.

The remaining schedule is tailor made for a playoff spot.

BAD NEWS:

• Ben?

• Troy?

By: Andy Natalie
ProFootball-fans.com Pittsburgh Steelers Correspondent