Finally, a late-game triumph
Some might say that it was a game that the Ravens should have won handily.
The Steelers were without their offensive leader in quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, their defensive leader in safety Troy Polamalu, and one of their top offensive linemen, Chris Kemoeatu.
They were starting a quarterback who had only appeared in one NFL game prior to yesterday.
Joe Flacco and company should take that one in a cakewalk, right?
Not so fast. This has been a season where little has gone as planned and seemingly every close game has ended in another tally in the loss column.
A six-point loss to New England. A three-point defeat to the Bengals. That heartbreaking two-point loss in Minnesota. The two-point loss last week to the Colts.
That list of tough fourth quarter finishes is pretty lengthy and could send Ravens fans into a cold sweat just re-thinking what might have been.
But last night, Baltimore was finally able to pick up a big win. And so, to head coach John Harbaugh and his players, the guys who didn't suit up were irrelevant.
"I'm really not interested in hearing questions about who didn't play for them and who didn't play for us," Harbaugh said. "We've had a few of these this year. We've had a few where we've walked in here, been in this kind of football game, and they're not perfect, and they don't lay out exactly the way you might plan them, and we come up on the short end. We didn't come up on the short end tonight.
"Our guys came up on the long end of this one. I was proud of them in those other situations when we didn't win, and I'm proud of them in this situation when we did win. Maybe just a little bit more, I'm proud, to be honest with you."
Baltimore's five losses have been by a total of 23 points, and for a while, it looked like they were set to drop another tight one.
Backup quarterback Dennis Dixon's 24-yard rushing touchdown with six minutes and change left in regulation gave Pittsburgh a 17-14 lead, and the Ravens faced a fourth-and-five in their own territory with three and a half minutes to go.
But for one of the few times this season, they made the plays they needed to late in the game, and were rewarded with a big win over their arch-rivals and the defending Super Bowl champs.
"Obviously, you know we haven't had the ball roll in our court lately," running back Ray Rice said. "And this is a confidence booster, not only against a great team with a great legacy, but a divisional opponent. So, it sets us up for a five game season right now, and we've got to take it one game at a time."
Looking back on the predictions from last week, I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I nailed the Ravens' 20-17 win. On the money.
I'm not really sure how to react to this. On one hand, there's 16 games a year, so I was bound to get close or nail one at some point. On the other hand, I'm really awesome.
Kudos also go out to Brad, who called a 23-20 Ravens OT win, and j-dub, who predicted a 22-17 Ravens victory.
As always, I'll leave you with a Monday morning question:
Are you ready to declare the Ravens a playoff-caliber team after yesterday's win, or do you need to see more?
Was a win over a Roethlisberger/Polamalu-less Steelers squad enough to convince you that this Baltimore team can hang with the big boys? Or have the Ravens still not shown you that they're strong enough to earn one of the two AFC Wild Card spots?
What say you?
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Categories (click for archive)Dan Kolko | Ravens News |
Not just this game, but the dropped pass that would have given a first and goal @ NE, the bonehead penalties to keep Cinn.'s game winning drive alive, the pull field goal as time ran out against Minn., the bad int. late in the 4th against Ind. (and the timeout debacle by Harbs). Add all of those up and you get a playoff caliber team that commits costly mistakes. Yes, this team can play, and has played, with the big boys, but it needs to show that it can keep its poise at critical moments. If it does, then the Ravens can make it to January.
We are still not great team, but we're at least play-off caliber. The off season we'll need to improve the secondary, pass rush (hopefully Kruger can help), and WRs (we still need a high pointer and a deep threat).
This win still feels like an acomplishment even without Pittsburgs two best players. Thats a tough football team that's in almost every game. They had a good game plan similar to all our games last year (run, shorten the game, play good defense, put the young QB is spots to be succesful).
Exciting game, a good showing for a nationally televised audience. Now it's time bring on Green Bay!
Dan-
Does that count as Flacco's 1st game-winning drive?
I said a few weeks ago, 5 to be exact, that Webb and Kruger, and how much they grow in their rookie season would determine the fate of the Raven's season. That both of those position's are key to our success.
Now, the jury is still out, but, I don't know about you but, Webb, to me has emerged as the #1 CB on the team.
EVERYONE throws to Foxworthless's side. Webb is an amazing playmaker on ST and D.
Kruger, had his first great game last night. Blowing up that one 2 and 5 for a 2 yard loss was HUGE because it brought on a 3rd and long on a night were the Steelers were getting 6 and 7 on 1st down every time.
Oh, and the INT.
Preston gave Flacco a C- on his "Report Card" and I thing that is a little harsh. He played better last night than the last 3 games. 23-35 for 289 and a TD is pretty good against the Steelers and that pass rush. COnsider he was sacked about 59 times.
And I still think not having a WR kills this team, and will be their demise.
As nice as that win was last night, it left me skeptical, the best way for the Ravens to convince me their a playoff team is to win these last 5 games and get into the playoffs. They have been so inconsistent on both sides of the ball all year that the only way to convince me that they're a good team is to win these last 5 and get to the playoffs.
Let's see how the Ravens handle Aaron Rodgers and his passing attack. If the Ravens can pull off the upset in Green Bay, then I'll be more a believer. But Foxworth needs to play better next week and our pass rush needs to return. Oh and then we have to deal with Green Bay's #1 defense.
I think the Ravens need to beat some teams with great quarterbacks before they are a playoff caliber team. The teams they have lost to all have great quarterbacks leading the way. Sunday night they got lucky because Roethlisberger did not play but if he did I think Pittsburgh would have put up 30 points on the Ravens "D" and this would be a different conversation.
Next Monday, they will face the Packers. If they can beat them then they should be in playoff talks and contention. The Ravens did not prove a whole lot shutting down Dixon. Lets see what they do against Rodgers!
Not to take anything away from the guys you listed, but--Ray Rice isn't in your list of "player of the game"?!
As for the question--no and yes. This game in itself doesn't convince me of anything. On the other hand, I think that this team is good enough to "hang with the big boys," as I have thought since the beginning of the year. The 5 losses tell us that something is off, but it is just ever so slightly off. If the team wins out, they will likely get a wild card spot, and if they win out, it will show that they have probably fixed that "slightly off" thing, whatever it is.
[Warning: rant to come...]
I'll say this for the next to the last time this year-- a part of what is "slightly off" is a speedster WR who can run routes and catch the ball, as well as return kicks. Not trying at all to take anything away from Webb or Kruger as draft picks, but if Ozzie had done something radical on draft day, and basically given up all his draft picks plus maybe a little more (even throwing next year's 1st round pick in the mix), he might have gotten both Oher and a guy like Percy Harvin, which would, IMHO, have made a really dynamic offense, and made some of these close games blowouts. An offense built around Flacco, Rice and Harvin, along with the talented young O-line in place, would have been something to behold for years to come. Then the next few drafts could have been devoted to shoring up the D, which has some aging stars.
[End rant.]
The Ravens are a borderline playoff team. They have talent, but critical lapses, penalties, lack of a pass rush & lack of WR's hold us back. We have a solid shot to get in though. Next weeks game is a must win, we need Suggs back !
A big win. Does not matter who was playing. This is a team game with 53 players on each team. We have major injuries too. Suggs, Washington and Ayanbandajo. Three key players on D. Some people may say they are concerned that we did not blow them out. You just can not blow a team out of this caliber because they have 2 people hurt. Look at the Bengals. They barely beat the Browns twice this year. The Colts are 11-0 and they barely win their games. A win is a win. It seems like even when we win fans seem to find reasons not to enjoy the win. This is the NFL. Anytime you win it is a great acheivement. Enjoy it. We will win the next 3 like I said and go to 9-5. Green Bay is hurting on D with key injuries so I think we will put up some points next week on them. Look for a Big time win next Monday night. Then back home to play the Lions and Bears (Two struggling teams).
Blaher,
The ravens just put up almost 400 yards of offense on the most recent #1 defense in the NFL, the steelers. I think it's no question Ray Rice is always going to be a big threat against any defense in the NFL. The only thing I hope though, is the ravens fix their pass protection schemes. They seemed to be out of sync in the second half, and luckly that didn't hurt the ravens.