The Steelers' 26-14 loss to the Ravens put several problems on display for the team as they go into the second quarter of the season with a losing record and one and a half games out in the AFC North race. That losing record has a lot to do with the Steelers' problems converting third downs, as they only converted two third downs against the Ravens and have a 31 percent completion percentage on the season.
Let's dig deep ...
TWO-MINUTE DRILL
• Where scheme beat team: The Ravens knew they needed to find ways to confuse Ben Roethlisberger to win this game. Without Jimmy Smith at cornerback, they were dipping into their reserves to cover the talented Steelers' receivers. Even with Smith on the field, the Steelers had torched the Ravens in the past, so the best way to negate their advantage was to get in the head of the quarterback, especially on third downs.
The Ravens' defense flows through the five-time All-Pro safety, Eric Weddle. Weddle is a seasoned veteran who has conducted secondaries and entire defenses in the AFC, and this marked the ninth time he had faced the Steelers. So it made sense that when Dale Lolley reported that Weddle and the Ravens saw Roethlisberger as the primary play-caller for the Steelers that they would have a plan to work against what they knew about him.
That showed in how the Ravens were able to confuse Roethlisberger and forced the Steelers into converting only two of twelve third downs on the night. Whether Roethlisberger or Randy Fichtner is actually calling the plays at this point proved irrelevant as they held the Steelers' offense to a single touchdown.
The Ravens knew when and where to disguise their coverages and take away the primary looks by diversifying their defensive fronts and disguises that showed false weaknesses.
Take this third down pass to Brown when Roethlisberger thought he had single coverage. The Ravens load the box to show that they might be bringing heat from different points, including Weddle who patrols like a linebacker. But as soon as the ball is snapped, Weddle quickly retreats to help Marlon Humphrey in his coverage against Brown. The double coverage is there and Roethlisberger either missed on the throw or he knew they had him fooled and threw the ball away:
Also take notice of Roethlisberger's eyes and how he goes right to Brown and never leaves. Weddle knew right where he was going and jumped all over it. The Ravens keyed in on how Roethlisberger would be predetermined in his targets on third down and took advantage of it.
Later in the game, Roethlisberger faced another third down in which what he thought he saw before the snap was quickly taken away. Take a look at the Ravens' alignment as they look to be blitzing and thin in the middle with coverage.
Roethlisberger believes he's reading the middle wide open, but as soon as the ball is snapped, the Ravens flood the middle of the field, and Roethlisberger has no chance of completing the pass as his primary read in Brown and his secondary read in Vance McDonald are both taken away.
The Ravens came out with a plan to limit Roethlisberger by taking away his early reads and jumping all over what they predicted to be his tendencies. For the most part, they were right throughout the game, and that contributed to their high rate of success in snuffing out the Steelers' third down offense.
• All about the tackling: Missed tackles were a main problem of the Steelers in 2017, as Pro Football Focus revealed with their number-crunching on that team:
Last season, the #Steelers missed a tackle on 16.1% of run plays (31st in NFL).
They added sure tackling veterans this offseason in S Morgan Burnett and LB Jon Bostic, who ranked 1st and 8th respectively at their positions in tackling efficiency. https://t.co/R2sUJejvPY
— PFF PIT Steelers (@PFF_Steelers) July 19, 2018
Because of that, our commitment this season is to keep a close eye on this facet.
Once again, Jon Bostic led the charge in tackling for the Steelers. Both he and Vince Williams were active in the middle of the field with nine tackles and only a single tackle missed during the game.
Haden's two missed tackles didn't lead to too much yardage surrendered, but there's a pattern revealed in how much the Steelers are giving up in passing yards without that many actual missed tackles: Teams are throwing through the Steelers' defense. Though the Steelers limited the Ravens' ground game and did a good job tackling the catch, they still gave up too many yards by failing to defend intermediate routes.
• Top matchups: I picked three top matchups for the Baltimore game in our preview last week:
And here are how those matchups played out:
• Steelers' defensive front vs. Ravens' stretch runs: The Ravens' top two running backs gained a total of 62 yards on 21 carries for an average just short of three yards per carry. Though the Ravens did move the ball on occasion, the Steelers kept the Ravens' ground game contained. The late game runs by Javorious Allen and Alex Collins came as a result of the defense trying to strip the ball and give the offense another chance to score while only down by two possessions. Last year those two running backs averaged over six yards per carry. Advantage: Steelers.
• Steelers' safeties vs. Flacco's heaves: The Steelers' defense knew they had to limit Flacco's deep passing game to contain a Ravens offense that was ranked fifth in the NFL in points per game. For all but two plays, they did just that. Joe Flacco started the game with a 33-yard strike over the head of Joe Haden on what looked to be Haden's blown Cover 3 assignment. The other came when Terrell Edmunds got beat by John Brown on a deep crossing route. After that, Flacco's bombs weren't a factor in the game, but the damage was done. Flacco's intermediate passing was at a much higher level than expected and he only needed a couple shots to create big plays. Advantage: Ravens.
• Steelers' underneath passing vs. Ravens' tackling: The Ravens' defense had given up the fewest yards in the NFL coming into the game, but the Steelers' offense had three of the top fifteen players in the NFL with yards after the catch — JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner and Jesse James. The Ravens neutralized those extra yards with excellent tackling, and the Steelers' lone touchdown came on a deep ball to Brown. Though some of that was because of missed opportunities for the Steelers, this was still an area the Ravens won. Advantage: Ravens.
Had a big play or a decent game 
Very impressive, multiple big plays
Elite performance
Gave up a big play without redemption 
Total performance was a disappointment
Horrible, inexcusable
QUARTERBACK: D-
Though the stat sheet won't reflect it as much, Roethlisberger had a bad game and was a key factor in the offense's inefficiency.
Ben Roethlisberger:
The Ravens' defense was not the smothering group that they were in their best defensive days. Several opportunities were presented for Roethlisberger to get the offense going and too many chances were missed. This is the second consecutive game in which the offense hasn't scored a single point in the second half.
RUNNING BACKS: C
While the running game was squashed, Conner showed again that he can help in pass protection and as an adequate receiving back.
James Conner:
When I watched the game live, I took away that the offensive line was beat in the ground game and that the Ravens were swarming all over every gap for Conner to attack. But on review I saw multiple one-on-one opportunities Conner had to beat a defender and did not capitalize. When Le'Veon Bell got those opportunities he would win them more often than not.
Watch how the offensive line gets him a single shot against Weddle. Conner has just one man to beat and he could be off to the races, but Weddle breaks down in the hole and Conner is unable to either run through him or make him miss:
Missed opportunities like that take away confidence the Steelers need for a strong ground game. It's tough to go to a well that's already proven to be dry, and that led to Conner only getting nine attempts.
OFFENSIVE LINE: B
Though the run game never got started, it wasn't for a lack of victories up front. They also limited the Ravens to a single sack that came late in the game.
Marcus Gilbert:
Gilbert locked down his edge for most of the game and kept Roethlisberger's front side clean.
Ramon Foster:
I saw some very good blitz pickups by Foster on the interior. The Ravens were trying to confuse the Steelers' protection packages and weren't able to generate much interior pressure on Roethlisberger that he couldn't handle.
Alejandro Villanueva:
It wasn't a horrible performance, but he still gave up the lone sack of the game and didn't win in key moments against the Ravens' outside linebackers. In the past couple years, Villanueva had done a great job against Terrell Suggs at Heinz Field, but that was not the case in this game.
WIDE RECEIVERS/TIGHT ENDS: B+
Despite the lack of consistency in the passing game, a film review shows a group of receivers that continue to get open.
Antonio Brown:
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the reason Brown isn't getting huge yards early in the season isn't because he's not open, it's because he's not being thrown the ball when he is open. Roethlisberger's lone touchdown came when he took a shot to Brown in single coverage, but several third down oppoortunities showed Brown was open and either the pass was off or Roethlisberger looked elsewhere.
Ryan Switzer:
Switzer's become the utility player that can be placed all over the field and create ways to make easy completions for Roethlisberger. Seven catches on seven targets is solid, even if it's only for 32 yards. For a guy this new to the team, he's fit in faster than I expected.
Vance McDonald:
Though his five catches on five targets for 62 yards looked good, he never provided the splash play needed to make up for his fumble in the first quarter that set the Ravens up for their second touchdown and 14-0 lead.
DEFENSIVE LINE: B
The group may not have been the chaos creators in the pass rush, but they came up big against the run in certain moments and did a good job changing the line of scrimmage, as well as taking on double teams.
Stephon Tuitt:
Tuitt still needs to be a factor in the pass rush, but he was an aggressive force that helped keep linebackers clean throughout the night. Take Vince Williams' big third down stop at the end of the second quarter as a solid example. Look at how Tuitt burrows deep under Marshall Yanda, a superstar guard, and takes out the center in the process. Doing so left Williams untouched and allowed him to deliver the big hit in the hole:
Wins like that won't show up on the stats sheet, but they are big plays.
Javon Hargrave:
Hargrave finally looked like he was a factor again with a sack and a solid game of changing the line of scrimmage on multiple plays. He needs more consistent play, but it was good to see him rebound.
Cam Heyward:
Heyward may have looked quiet with just five tackles, but he still made his presence felt. Bud Dupree's sack came as a clear result of a double team that Heyward drew, a factor which the coaches expected to favor Dupree's rushing style. But what might've been Heyward's biggest moment was one that seemed to go unnoticed.
The Ravens' first punt of the night came as a result of a missed pass to Michael Crabtree on a third-and-8 situation in the first quarter. Crabtree had beaten Haden on a double move, was open for a potential touchdown, and Flacco saw him. While many categorized the play as a poor pass, Flacco missed because Heyward drove his man into Flacco right as he released the ball, hitting him at just the right time. Again, nothing that shows up as a stat, but a saving moment.
LINEBACKERS: C+
The Ravens went to plenty of sets with two tight ends in hoping to catch the Steelers' linebackers in mismatches. It gained them yards, but never became a determining factor.
Jon Bostic:
Bostic continues to look good at understanding his role in the defense and making tackles in space. He's becoming more consistent every week and continues to lead the team in tackles.
Bud Dupree:
His lone sack came as a result of Heyward's double team, which was good because he showed off his explosiveness. He also had flashes of winning edge battles, but when that sack was literally the only time he made a tackle all night, that's not good.
T.J. Watt:
Watt now has three straight games without a sack and looks like he's still struggling with pass rush moves. The whole point of moving him to left outside linebacker was to put him where he was most comfortable because of his experience in college. That worked against the Browns, but has not led to many big moments since.
Vince Williams:
He helped limit the run game and kept gap integrity. His tackle on Allen at the point of attack on a third-and-one situation late in the second quarter was a huge moment.
SECONDARY: B-
After giving up two big plays early, the secondary seemed to rebound and limit the Ravens from breaking the game open.
Joe Haden:
Haden was to blame for the Ravens' touchdown to start the game, but he made up for it by not giving up another big play all game. He had a big save on a pass breakup against John Brown in the third quarter and kept tight coverage for most the game.
Coty Sensabaugh:
A solid bounce-back game for Sensabaugh in stayed in close proximity of his man and challenged some passes.
Sean Davis:
Davis played a lot more in the box this game and seemed to be back in his regular role at strong safety. He had some key tackles to limit plays, but nothing was bigger than his forced fumble at the one during the second quarter. That was the first possession the Ravens didn't score in the red zone all season, and it came from Davis attacking the ball.
Terrell Edmunds:
The rookie had a rough night despite his seven tackles. Haden's deep pass breakup in the third quarter became that much more important because Edmunds wasn't there to help when he should've been. He also had Brown beat him by crossing his face on a deep crossing route.
When you're the deep middle safety, you have to stay in front of your man and at least challenge the ball. Edmunds looked completely unable to do that:
It does seem that Edmunds was asked to play more free safety in this game, something I hadn't see him do much of in camp, but it's something he needs to be able to do.
THE ROAD AHEAD
The Steelers host the 1-3 Falcons on Sunday, another team that is underperforming in 2018. The Falcons' issues start with injuries on defense — their star linebacker Deion Jones and both starting safeties, Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen, are all on injured reserve. If there's a team to attack in the middle of the field, this is it.
But their offense is explosive, with weapons all around quarterback and former league-MVP Matt Ryan. Julio Jones has been the receiver always mentioned next to Brown as one of the best in the NFL, while Calvin Ridley has emerged as the best rookie receiver through the first quarter of the season.
The Steelers' defense won't get a break next week in trying to keep another dangerous passing attack under control.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Steelers vs. Ravens, Heinz Field, Sept. 30, 2018 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
