The phrase “gut check” is thrown around often in sports, especially in football, but the Ravens survived one Sunday in a before an announced crowd of 66,326 at Acrisure Stadium.
This was a character win, one in which teams are sometimes defined for the rest of the season.
After two weeks of lackluster performances against below-average teams, including a stunning 28-27 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 27, the Ravens came into Pittsburgh and smacked around the Steelers in an AFC North clash.
Forget the score. These are the Steelers we’re talking about here. They are the Ravens’ archrival. Pittsburgh had beaten Baltimore four times in a row dating to 2019, and these teams don’t like each other. It goes all the way back to the early 2000s, when players like Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis and tight end Shannon Sharpe got into verbal sparring matches with Steelers outside linebacker Joey Porter and wide receiver Plaxico Burress.
“Yes, absolutely man,” Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith said about the importance of Sunday’s game. “It’s no other way I’d rather have it. We fought a lot of adversity throughout the game. But that’s what makes everyone special and how you respond once you face it. And we faced it. There’s no other way of winning that, and it was in Ravens fashion. So, I’m just happy to be here.”
Ravens coach John Harbaugh was trying to spread the big narrative last week after a 10-9 win over Denver, but it was a waste of time. The Broncos are one of the worst teams in the NFL with one of the worst offenses in modern-day football. The Ravens were barely able to hang on, and that win was greeted with a big, old yawn.
Beating Pittsburgh is different. Not only are the teams in the same division, but the cities are similar with their blue-collar work ethic. Both teams pride themselves on strong running games and physical defenses, and each team knows they are going to get the other’s best.
Pittsburgh entered having won three of its last four, and the Ravens had won five of their last six. Someone had to blink. It was the Steelers, and Harbaugh was ready to go on a lovefest afterward.
“So, I’m proud of everybody; I appreciate everybody; [I] trust everybody on this team, love this team. [I] love this team; I love every guy on this team and trust and believe in every guy on this team,” he said. “We’re very, very proud of this victory. Past that, we’re moving on to Cleveland. That’s next, and that’s our next challenge in Cleveland.”
You get the feeling now, don’t you? The Ravens played a real team, with a good coach in Mike Tomlin whose teams always play with a lot of heart. This isn’t to say the Ravens will go deep into the playoffs or are headed to the Super Bowl, but teams build off wins like these.
The Steelers have their problems. They have a rookie quarterback in Kenny Pickett who isn’t ready for prime time, and a backup in Mitch Trubisky who played nearly three quarters after Pickett was removed because of concussion protocol.
Trubisky apparently has as much trouble distinguishing colors as he does reading defenses because he threw three interceptions, including two inside the Ravens’ 25-yard line in the first half. Worse yet, those two near the red zone were thrown over the middle and into triple coverage.
“A lot of stuff I can do better, but coming off the bench, just wanted to go in there, try to provide a spark,” Trubisky said.
He did. The Ravens were high-fiving and profiling for the cameras after each interception, causing me to wonder if I was watching football or an old rerun of the dance show “Soul Train.”
The Ravens had their own quarterback dilemma. They were already without starter Lamar Jackson because of a knee injury, and then after he got hit by defensive tackle Montravius Adams and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
The Ravens could have panicked, but instead of trying to have third-string quarterback Anthony Brown throw downfield they had him attempt only five passes, and he completed three for 16 yards. They simply pounded the Steelers with their running game, including a 15-play, 57-yard drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal by Justin Tucker that put the Ravens ahead, 16-7, with 3:22 to go.
On the Ravens’ next possession, they finished off the clock and the Steelers with a six-play drive that included a crucial first-down pickup by running back Gus Edwards on a third-and-3.
Even more impressive was that the Ravens had success against one of the best defensive front sevens in the NFL, which entered Sunday allowing only 107.5 rushing yards per game. The Ravens finished with 215 as J.K. Dobbins had 120 yards on 15 carries, including a 4-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, and Edwards had 66 yards on 13 attempts.
The Ravens started the game without injured right guard Kevin Zeitler (knee) and they had to use both Trystan Colon and Ben Cleveland in relief. Even with this lineup, the Ravens simply knocked Pittsburgh off the ball, including star defensive tackle Cameron Heyward and outside linebacker T.J. Watt.
“It feels good,” said Dobbins, who played his first game since Oct. 16 after having arthroscopic knee surgery. “It’s still not me all the way yet. I’m going to continue to get better, and hopefully those 100-yard games will start turning into 200-yard games, maybe. I’m just going to keep getting healthier, and like I said, I’m going to keep getting better. I got the 100-yard game [today], and I’m just going to keep stacking on that.”
That’s what you want to hear and see in December; no excuses, just production. To get the running game going and to win with a third-string quarterback is huge. The Ravens did allow Pittsburgh to get back in the game with a five-play, 75-yard scoring drive that lasted only 49 seconds late in the fourth quarter, but that’s a discussion for another day.
This game had a bigger narrative.
The Ravens won a “gut check.”
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