Mistake-ridden Ravens and 4 more takeaways after loss to Steelers

Some questions were answered while others came into focus on Sunday afternoon.

Despite coming off a mini bye after playing on Thursday to kickoff the previous week, the Baltimore Ravens laid an egg in two of three phases as they fell to the Pittsburgh Steelers on the road, 18-16.

Offensively, the Ravens set themselves back and negated positive plays with penalties and didn’t protect the ball. Defensively, Baltimore had its best outing of the season in a losing effort as they didn’t allow a touchdown for the first time, holding Pittsburgh to six field goals.

The loss was the Ravens’ second in their last four games since starting the season 0-2 and knocked them two games back of first place in the AFC North. This result also marked Baltimore’s eighth loss in their last nine meetings in this lopsided rivalry.

While there were several encouraging performances by players and units on defense, there were others on offense and special teams that cost the Ravens dearly, causing their overall record to fall to 7-4.

Here are five takeaways from Sunday’s embarrassingly frustrating defeat at Acrisure Stadium.

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Lamar Jackson Loses Ground in MVP Race

Pundits and detractors of the two-time recipient of the prestigious honor have been looking for any and every reason to hurt his case to receive it a third time in favor of someone else. However, prior to Sunday, Jackson had not given any of them a leg to stand on, as even in the Ravens’ losses he played well and was far from the reason they came up short. Against the Steelers, there was plenty of blame to go around for the offense’s disappointing performance, and he was included.

While Jackson nearly led a game-tying drive before coming up short of the end zone on a two-point conversion attempt, he had his worst day as a passer this season. He completed less than 60 % of his passes for the first time this season (16-of-33, 48.4%), threw one touchdown to one interception and finished with a season-low passer rating of 66.1. With the loss, he now falls to 1-4 as a starter against the Steelers, tying for his worst against a single opponent (Kansas City Chiefs).

Speaking of the two-time defending Super Bowl Champions, they suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the Buffalo Bills, who were led to a 30-21 victory in the Sunday late window by Pro Bowl quarterback Josh Allen, another prime MVP candidate. Even though Allen has had more than one subpar outings — including against the Ravens in Week 4 — because he beat Mahomes head-to-head and snapped the Chiefs’ 15-game winning streak dating back to last year, he’ll be lauded above Jackson for the foreseeable future.

Tre’Davious White Earns Bigger Role

One of the most encouraging aspects of the Ravens’ impressive defensive performance was the strong play of the veteran newcomer, Tre’Davious White. White rotated with Brandon Stephens and performed exceptionally well, warranting a larger role at the spot moving forward.

The two-time Pro Bowler and former First Team All-Pro proved he can succeed and be more consistent. Stephens struggled to get to tackle Steelers wide receiver George Pickens in space and gave up a key 37-yard completion to him on a scoring drive.

Meanwhile, White recorded both of his pass deflections against Pickens. Moving forward, he should earn more snaps on defense as his presence could help cut down on explosive plays.

Special Teams Impacting Ravens’ Record

On a day where Steelers Pro Bowl kicker Chris Boswell looked like vintage Justin Tucker, going 6-of-6 and recording all of his team’s points in the game, the future Hall of Famer himself was anything but reliable. He missed multiple kicks in the same game for the first time since Week 15 of the 2022 season.

As back-breaking as Tucker’s early misses were, he wasn’t the only liability on special teams in the game as the return units were less of a help and more of a hindrance on Sunday. Penalties on the return were frequent — a recurring theme for the unit and team writ large.

Penalties Continue Killing the Ravens

The flags they accrued on special teams weren’t nearly as debilitating as the ones they accumulated on offense and defense. Far too often, the Ravens would have a chunk gain on early downs to set them up with shorter distances to convert only to have it negated by some sort of procedural penalty, ineligible man downfield or a hold.

Baltimore continues to be one of the most undisciplined and heavily penalized teams in the league. They were flagged five more times than Pittsburgh for nearly twice as much yardage. Championship-caliber teams know how to avoid self-inflicted wounds and Sunday showed the Ravens still aren’t there.

David Ojabo Healthy Scratched for Third Time

The Ravens’ pass rush continued to heat up and play with more consistency this week and once more did so without the third-year outside linebacker who was a healthy inactive for the third time in the last four weeks.

In his place, the team decided to play third-round rookie Adisa Isaac for the second time this season. The first-year pro didn’t play an abundance of snaps, but forced an incompletion by batting down a pass from Wilson in first down in the second half.

Ojabo was a second-round pick in 2022 who was tabbed a first-round talent before a pre-draft injury caused him to fall to the Ravens. Despite being fully healthy for the first time in his young career, he is struggling to consistently dress for games. Prior to last week, he had been a healthy scratch the previous two games in favor of veteran Yannick Ngakoue.

Since Ojabo has not featured on the injury report with any ailment, his lack of playing time and dressing for games can only be boiled down to a coaching decision based on performance in practice. In eight games, he has recorded just one sack and four quarterback hits in 192 defensive snaps, whereas Isaac has recorded three total tackles including one for a loss and pass breakup in a fraction of that action.