Main reason we lost today

Agree 100%.

Catchy phrases don't win Championships. Catchy phrases offer stylish bailout reasons why your team constantly underperforms when it should excel.

I was not one bit surprised about Mallet's performance - this has been the MO of this D for quite a while now, not just this season. It's frustrating, but certainly no surprise at all. Opposing OC's and QB's have to be licking their chops every time we show up on their schedules.

But I'm seriously SMFH at the horrid play calling today. 4th down early in the 1st Q and you go for it? Really? 1st and goal in the 4th and you go empty set, and if not for a boneheaded Offsides penalty by Upshaw the Ravens would have iced the game well before we ever had a chance to make it close again. 3rd and 15, they are giving you the underneath stuff, you have DW underneath who has been a beast all day, and you bomb it on a low-percentage pass to Bryant?

SMFH.

(and to reiterate before folks get testy - Ben gets no pass for his play today. Just terrible)

 

You know who I meant. Mallet is a head case but still better then Vick and I would take him over Jones.

 

I have to think a lot of this game was lost during the weeks preparation. Holidays and over confidence being some major contributors to not keeping focus on the task at hand. This is where the leaders need to step up, both coaches and players. No one seemed to recognize this and the game fell victim. My theory anyway.

 

Going for it on 4th down with a run play when the Raisens stacked the box.Notonly a bad call but it said T did not respect them in there own house. It lit afire in a mediocre team while we had our mo stopped and played flat from then on.Ben didnot help either.

 

Agree 100% about Miller. Never understand why they don't go his way more.

 

Turnovers

 

D first! You notice as soon as Antwon Blake was out opponents stop scoring? Keep Boykin in.

Ben, those stupid force throws when you had Heath and/or D'Angelo for decent gains...please stop trying to force things, we all love Antonio but when he's covered do not try.. You have lots of other weapons and today was by far one of your worst days cause that's all you did, and was obvious to Harbaugh.

And Wheaton, 4th & 15, ball hits you in chest, got to make that catch!!!

 

Not defending the defense at all - they stunk - but there's a lot of precedents for running a stripped down, basic playbook and executing well (as the Ravens did with the new guy), as opposed to getting too clever, using the whole playbook for the sake of it, and moving away from playcalls that the Ravens had no answer for (as we did).

 

I still want to see the source of that quote on turnovers. I'll bet dollars to donuts it's been taken wildly out of context.

 

Don't forget 10 of those points came from Ben

 

2 things in my view.

1. Defense. Lots of holes that a QB that was on the roster for 12 days exploited.
2. O-Line. Its always been an issue but plays wont develop downfield quick enough with ben not getting time. i know its obvious, just stating from what i saw.

 

It was during the Broncos or Bengals game when they mentioned it. He said something about turnovers only being important depending on when they happen. But he was talking from a defensive standpoint. So it wasn't like he was saying that he thought Ben turning it over wasn't a big deal. It was more like he was saying that he didn't really care if the defense generated turnovers or not. It came across to me like one of those comments that coaches make to try and sound like the smartest guy in the room or something like that. It's honestly hard for me to believe that any coach in the NFL or any other level would honestly believe that turnovers don't matter. I'm with you though. I would love to know the context. If he was talking about turnovers in garbage time then I could maybe understand what he means but otherwise I think that's not a very rational thing to say.

 

I am going with Ben and our young WR'S ...I know I will get crushed as normal , but DHB should have got more looks . He got 1 look and he caught it ..Bryant and Wheaton had at least 2 crucial drops a piece... Ben made some bad throws early , but made some very good throws late and our young guys dropped them...

 

No pressure on a guy who was in a crows uniform for 12 days? One sack? ONE SACK? And our patchwork secondary again playing 10 to 15 yards off? Soft zone is the killer. Couple that with Ben's picks, a Offensive line that was outmatched and dropsies from Bryant and Wheaton and bang, Loss.

Total TEAM loss. Except D Will. he played his A## off...

 

I'll say this: we should have used all the weapons a lot more. The theme of the last few wins we had was spreading the ball out properly. I agree that DHB could have been used more in that respect.

 

YUMMY!!

 

Easy to bash Ben in this game. However , he only threw the ball 7 times in the first 24 minutes of the game. My question is who took the ball out of Bens hands early? Tomlin or Haley? It almost looked like Ben was cold the rest of the way.

 

Imo the staff took the ravens too lightly due their record, I seen a lack of preparedness with a team looking lethargic especially Ben. The 4th down (bone headed) call early on gave the ravens a rush.(no pun intended)

Steelers are the laughing stock in Baltimore and beyond. I swear if i hear or read playoffs and steelers in the same sentence anymore this season i'm going to puke!! Forget all mathematical scenarios, they have not the will.. I'ts over folks it's over!!

 

Simple...the Ravens took the game more seriously and played like they needed it for the playoff and the Steelers didn't.

 

The play calling was a big part IMO. We were impatient. That 4th and 1 at the beginning set the tone. That and Ben being off.

I also think we were worn out after two big and emotional games. I see other teams that were red hot unexpectedly lost (Carolina, Seahags). The Patsies lost seemingly almost intentionally (not the players, the coach).

 

This. I agree with the "take what the other team's defense gives you" notion ... but not to extremes. You still need to get your QB's arm and your WRs/TEs involved in the game and into a groove. Haley went too long with the run (successful as it was), and it showed in the passing game. When they finally got around to it.

 

Carolina, Seattle and the Pats didn't need the game like the Steelers did. Teams that needed the games like Atlanta (who were still in the playoffs hunt when they played), KC (who are as hot as anyone) and the Jets (who've won 5 in a row) didn't seem to have a problem getting up for their games.

 

Steelers had about a half-yard to go for the first down. By the time Ben got behind Wallace, there were only 10sec left on the play clock. The running play had him take the snap, back up, and hand off to Williams 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage. By then, no fewer than six Ravens defenders already had penetrated beyond that same line.

Seriously, I can't remember the last time Big Ben ran a QB sneak. It's not like he lacks the size for it. Get behind center, throw a phantom hand signal to Miller or Brown, then snap the damn ball early (for a change) and plunge.

 

It doesn't matter who the quarterback is if you lose the turnover battle you're more than likely going to lose the game. We were -2, when that happens you're going to lose the game more often than not and it's not even close. It's not a statistical anomaly nor is the data manipulated. We were also 25% on third down and that falls solely on the offense's shoulders. Y'all can try to blame the defense all you want, but it is plain as day that this falls squarely on the offense.

I just started charting all the wins of teams where their defense allows 20 or fewer points a game. It's early, but I'll be shocked if the winning percentage is less than 70%. It will take a few days to gather a large enough sample size, but it will get done.