December 7, 2025 • 31 mins
Team insiders Ryan Mink and Garrett Downing react to the Ravens' 27-22 loss, including three critical calls that went against Baltimore, where the offense improved and struggled again, the defense's weird day, and how the Ravens can still win the AFC North.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink
here with Garrett Downing. Following the Ravens twenty seven to
twenty two loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in what was
a battle for first place in the AFC North, the
Ravens are now a game behind their rivals. The Ravens
are at six and seven back to back losses, and
the Steelers are in sole possession of first place in
(00:24):
the AFC North. Frustrating tough game here at M and
T Banks Stadium against the Ravens rivals.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Garrett, Yeah, this is a tough loss for the Ravens
and for a team that has not played up to
the level that they expected to coming into the season.
This is one of the toughest pills to swallow because
the Ravens had climbed out of the hole that they
put themselves in earlier than early in the season, and
they had an opportunity here to take pole position in
the division with a month left to play, and now
(00:53):
they're looking up again at the Steelers who are in
first place. It's not like the season's loss at this point.
I don't want to overstated, but the Ravens margin already thin,
margin for air has become razor thin down the stretch.
And they know that with two games left within the
division next week against the Bengals and then week eighteen
against the Steelers, if the Ravens are gonna win this division,
(01:15):
those are obviously must win games. And to be on
the road on the road, and they already beat you
both teams beach you at home, and to be honest,
you're basically hoping to find yourself in a situation where
it's a win and get in in Week eighteen against
the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
That's correct. And for the Ravens that think the most
frustrating part of this boiled down to really three calls
that went against them that had a large bearing on
this game. And I'll preface this by saying, you know,
the Ravens did not have a very good first half.
They put themselves in some holes, but they battle back
in the second half. We're on the cusp of winning
(01:53):
this game. And when you really look at it, three
calls that went against them were extremely frustrating, the biggest
of which, of course, the Isaiah likely touchdown catch that
was waved off after review. Isaiah likely clearly caught the ball,
had it in clear possession, took two steps, was very
(02:13):
close to his foot coming down on a third step
before Joey Porter Junior broke up the pass knocked it
out of his hands. A quick review process on that one,
and they overturned the call that was originally called a touchdown.
After the game, head coach John Harball said that referees
told him that he just didn't get a third football
(02:34):
a third foot down. That was the explanation given to him.
The Ravens then failed to convert on fourth down, came
out of that empty handed, a turnover on downs, and
that pretty much decided the game.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, that was obviously a game change. You play, you
think you have a go ahead touchdown, instead you don't,
and then all of a sudden, a couple of plays later,
you're walking off the field with points. And just in
terms of the officiating component of that, Jeff Rebak from
the Athletic talk to the NFL Vice President of Instant
Replay Mark Butterworth for a pool report on that decision
(03:13):
to reverse the touchdown, and he said that the third
step is an act common to the game. Before he
could get the third foot down, the ball was ripped out.
Therefore it was an incomplete pass. And just to explain
the rules here a little bit. You have to get
two feet down. Everyone knows that. So you see that
likely play, you think two feet down in the end zone,
that's a catch. But the rule requires that you have
(03:34):
to catch the ball with both hands. Obviously you have
to or one hand, but you have to secure the ball.
You have to get two feet down in bounds or
another body part like a knee or an elbow. And
then the third element is that after those two things
have been fulfilled, the rules say that a player clearly
performs an act common to the game, like extending the
ball forward, taking an additional step talking about exactly taking
(03:59):
an additional step, talking the ball away, turning up field,
or having the ball long enough.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Or avoid or ward off an opponent.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Right or avoid a ward off an opponent, or maintain
control the ball long enough to do one of those
acts common to the game. So the officials rule that
he didn't have he didn't make that third step, He
didn't make that move common to the game, and that's
why it didn't count.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
My argument is that he was extending the ball forward,
and I thought he extended the ball forward before both,
So the after A and B have been fulfilled is
the key component here. Isaiah likely caught the ball between
the numbers and then extended the ball away from Joey
Porter Junior. He continued to extend the ball away from him,
(04:45):
basically trying to box him out through the remainder of
the play. So to me, it's a judgment call of
was he warding off an opponent or extending the ball
after he got two feet down? My answer would be yes,
I think that that's a yes. Also, if you're watching
(05:06):
the game of football, this is what's frustrating is this
is just another instance of like what in the world
is a catch? Because if I'm playing backyard, if I'm
playing football anywhere, that's a catch. My common sense watching
that play says that's a catch. Right now. You know,
the NFL on replay is saying, did he extend that
(05:27):
after the first two things are done by the letter
of the law. Maybe can make an argument otherwise, but
like I mean, goodness, gracious.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, just to be clear, like this wasn't a like
the official missed the call. This thing gets reviewed and
that's why it.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Was called a touchdown. On the field.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I know, right, but I'm saying that they gets reviewed.
It's not like, oh man, they just missed that one.
They didn't see it. The league goes through the process
of looking at the review of that play and then determines, no,
that's not a catch.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Would also surprise me is that when it's ruled a touchdown
on the field, you have to have really clear evidence
that it's outside of the rules, right, that the wrong
indisputable evidence that it's the wrong call. I think that
you could make a very strong argument that he was
still in the process of extending the ball or warding
off the opponent after that second foot hits. I think
(06:21):
you can very easily make that case and say that's
really tight. I don't know if you have enough to
overturn that, but they did.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, and so that and it's really tough for Isaiah
likely had a touchdown, of course earlier in the game,
but back to back weeks with unfortunate plays at the
goal liner in the end zone which are like, they're
not the exact same situation. He was asked about that
after the game. Basically the question was, you've had two
plays in back to back weeks here where the ball
has been punched out of your hands.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
At the basis, always extending it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Going into the end zone or in the end zone.
And he basically said that last week's play he was
careless with the football. Just needs to be a little
bit more, you know, conscious of where the players are
around him. And then in this game he just made
the point I got to get that third foot down.
So you know, there's similar plays either. Whatever the breakdown is,
(07:13):
he's just pointing for him, right.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The tough part is if he tries to bring that
ball into his chest, maybe Joey Porter can eat more
easily to knock that out, you know, get an arm
up through between his arm and his body and knock
that ball out. He's trying to play basketball basically, Yeah,
and just box him out and hold it away from
Joey Porter Junior unfortunately has very long arms and got
(07:38):
really lucky. I mean, honestly, this is just flashbacks to
Lee Evans in the twenty eleven days. It was the
same championship, past breakup, same thing, same thing. Yeah, well
I would I'd trained this one for that one.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
If we can go back, sure sure.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
The other thing too, is you talk we talk about
officiating in calls here, different moment, but they're connected. So
the other big calls you talk about the three big
calls that went against the Ravens, Another really big one
was the interception that wasn't which was the deflected pass.
Aaron Rodgers goes up, has control of it, catches it,
goes down to the ground. Teddy Buchanan comes up with
the football. Initially ruled an interception. They go back and
(08:14):
look at that one and they say he controlled the
ball and then went down. His knee was down before
it was ripped away. What I don't understand, like if
I'm looking at this the rules here as we just
spelled them out, like did he make a football move?
Did he make a football move? Did he have time
to make a football move? Certainly not? Did he get
(08:34):
a third foot down? Is a knee and knee counts
as the third foot? I guess that's that's basically what it.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Probably didn't ever complete a secure the control of the
ball in his hands.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I think that that's I think that's yes.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You're gonna check that one off. Yeah, touch the ground
inbounds with both feet or with any part of his
body other than his hands. He dropped to his knees.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, so his knee, yes, okay, my art.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And then did he clearly was there a football move
after that fact?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
No, right right, it was ripped away. I mean, and
that whole thing was a split second. You know. It's
like it literally is in the the time element there
is jumping up and down. I mean, where that's that's
the type of time we're talking about. He jumped up,
caught it well, Jordan, and then went down to the ground.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Who had more possession when his knees hit the ground?
Is the question there? And I think that's very debatable.
A tie in football, for our listeners, tie goes to
the offensive player. Basically, it's like a tie goes to
the runner. If the cornerback and wide receiver on both
catch a bomb and they both hit the ground with
possession of the football, it goes to the offensive player. Yeah,
(09:36):
but in this instance, who had more possession of the football,
better possession of the football when Aaron Rodgers knee hit
the ground his or Teddy Buchannan. I'm gonna argue that
it was Teddy Buchannan.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
H Yeah, that's honestly, that's that was tough to see
there's just.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And what again, do you have indisputable evidence to overturn
the call?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Right there? The evidence there and to be fair, just
just to Gene Sterotur on the CBS broadcast made the
point that he thought that was the correct call. The
correct call was taking the interception away. That was his
interpretation as a former official, that taking the interception away
was the correct call in that moment. Now again you
(10:18):
look at the two side by side and you're like, wait,
that's a catch and that one isn't. How do you
square these two things? And that's part of it.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's back to the backyard football argument I'm thinking before,
where it's just it's hard for a team, for a
fan watching that when you see those two things. Clearly,
Isaiah Likely's was more of a catch than Aaron Rodgers.
It was clearly, but by the letter of the law,
when you go break it down like we are here,
it's pretty it's pretty.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Tough, yeah, and it's it's really tough because they both
went against the Ravens and they were both called the
other way in the Ravens favor on the field, So
you have that moment. I mean Tayu Canada as the
whole celebration, The defense is all celebrating. Everyone's thinking the
Ravens are about to go down and take the lead.
Of the situation comes up with a huge turnover. Isaiah
likely one. Ravens just took the lead late in the
(11:04):
fourth quarter. They're gonna win this game, like you have
that moment and it's fleeting obviously, because then the call
comes in that it's going the other direction based on
a replay.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
It really adds to the feeling that the Ravens were robbed,
that victory was ripped away from them. That's what the
feeling is. I'm not saying that that's that's definitely what happened,
because I think these are tough calls. Yeah, but like
to my eye, I think Isaiah likely possessed that ball
long enough and made a football move.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The other call that did go against the Ravens was
the unnecessary roughness on a field goal that the Steelers
kicked in the first half on Travis Jones. Travis Jones
CJ Quay coming over the middle made contact with the
long snapper, but again Jean Sterotor in reviewing that one,
felt like there was no contact to the head or
(11:52):
neck area. John Harball said the same thing that he
did not see any contact with the head or neck area.
He was making that point to the officials on the game,
which was called the game broadcast with the audio of that,
and in order for that to be a penalty, you
should need to have forciable contact with the headerneck area.
That did not happen. That that play really gave the
Steelers four points. Took it took the they gave him
(12:14):
a fresh set of downs. They then turned that into
a touchdown on the very next play. Instead of three,
they got seven, and so that was a massive point
in the game. Sure, it would have been nice if the
Ravens at the end of the game instead of needing,
instead of being down five points at the end there,
if they were only down one point because of the
not having that four point swing, would have been a
much different situation. If you only need a field goal
(12:35):
to go there to go and win the game.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Obviously, absolutely we'll rewatching the play. Travis Jones clearly is
lined up over the He's yes, he's lined up over
the guard. He tries to split the long snapper in
the guard. He puts a swim move over the long
snapper who then puts his shoulder into Travis, and Travis
just knocks him back because the long snapper puts his
(12:57):
shoulder into him trying to block the gap. There's no
there's no contact to the head or neck area, right,
the long savage just tries to block them and gets
run over.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Right. So that's massive call, massive call that goes against
the Ravens. And those are three, you know, big calls
that were that hurt the Ravens in this game. We're
all kind of swing points at different levels, and it's
it's disappointing. Now with all of that said, like I
think that it's it would be too whatever short sighted
(13:33):
to just look at this and just say, well, blame
the refs. You know, the all the calls went against
the Ravens. There were also things that you know, the
Ravens they don't want to find themselves in that kind
of a situation. And for this team, the offense took
way too long to get going in this game. They
marched down the field on the opening drive, settle for
a field goal, but then there was not much of
anything the rest of the first half. So to me,
(13:55):
it was the story of the game for the Ravens.
Beyond what we talked about. It was the slow start
for the offense and then the inability to capitalize once
in the red zone, which has been a theme for
this team.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, the Ravens are two of six in the red zone.
You know, even after the likely touchdown got wiped off
the board. Okay, second and ten, you get an eight
yard game. You're looking at third and two near the
goal line, and you get blown up for a two
yard loss on a play where the Ravens looked like
they were just not organized and not discombobulated. And so
(14:29):
that's obviously not the X kind of execution that you want.
You got to be buttoned up there. Yeah, and games
on the line, right, I think the final drive of
the game, you know, the Ravens got the ball back
still with the chance to go down and win the game.
You had a minute fifty six on the clock and
way too much time ticked off the board on the
(14:50):
in the first three plays, first four plays, it was
forty seven seconds left by the time they got to
fourth down. So you burn more than a minute. You
burn a minut nine seconds off the clock on the
first three plays, right, That can't happen on that last
drive that was unorganized as well.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, then you get down there, you have a chance
basically for one, maybe two shots at the end zone
from the like the twenty five, and Lamar gets sacked
and the game's over. And it's disappointing to have him
have that play out where he gets sacked and you
don't even get a shot for a heave and a prayer.
It's not even hail Mary, but just a shot at
the end zone. And so it's a tough way to
lose this thing, and it's it was kind of confusing
(15:30):
when you look at like the numbers after the game
and you say, Okay, coming into this game, you want
to establish the running game. Well, Raves did that. They
ran for two hundred and seventeen yards on the ground,
ninety four for Derrick Henry, seventy six for Keaton Mitchell.
All right, they also had two hundred yards through the air,
and so you.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Had the ground. Lamar Jackson didn't play a perfect game,
but he certainly played a better game than last week. Yeah,
he had one bad interception where he tried to flip
the ball to Rasheen Ali and then his cousin, of
all people, burned him and James Pierre makes a one
handed interception against them, and you know, Lamar set off
the game. I just threw it too soft to him.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, you know, kind of floated it and they got
he made a good play on it, but he did
float it. He just floated up there and he tipped
it to himself and made a one hand an interception exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
And but otherwise, I thought Lamar had certainly a bounce
back game from last week. I thought he was moving better.
I mean, the Ravens outgained the Steelers by more than
one hundred yards. Yeah, four hundred and twenty to three eighteen.
The offense certainly in the second half, it started to
look more like itself. Now, you know, we only have
(16:34):
four weeks left in the season, and is it too
little too late here if the offense is going to
get on track, that's the question.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
And but yeah, the Steelers, as they often do, you know,
made some critical plays in critical moments. And you know,
they didn't have any turnovers, in part because of a
referee's you know review overturned one of them. But they
played a clean game. Uh, And the Ravens didn't make
(17:01):
the clutch plays when it mattered.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, yeah, to that point as well. The Ravens the
red zone struggles on one of the possessions inside the
red zone, passed lamar Jack or sorry to reshot Bateman
across the middle of the field. Might have been able
to catch it at least would have had a first down,
might have been able to take it all the way
into the end zone, hits off his hands incomplete, So
(17:23):
you have to settle for a field goal, game changing
type play. There's the likely play that we went through.
And look, you can debate about whether it was officiated
correctly or not, but man, you want to see that caught,
you know, ten steps after that, and again defender made
a good play, but that's when you just wish was
able to be completed. And so that's like it's kind
(17:44):
of similar. You go back a week ago to the
Thanksgiving game and you have like these things in the
red zone that happened that prevent you from being able
to capitalize, And it's the same story here today. And
that's part of what's, you know, so frustrating, is that
he was able to get that ground game going and like, look,
two hundred nineteen yards on the ground, you should win
(18:06):
that every time, like you just should You should be
able to turn that in this type of a game.
If you're able to control the line of scrimmage and
control the time of possession in that way, then you
should be able to win those games. And so to
have to settle for field goals in the red zone
and not be able to capitalize, it's just disappointing.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, Lamar Jackson ran for his first touchdowns since Week
one and ran for forty three yards overall, had seven carries,
so he looked more nimble set after the game, he
felt better in this game.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I thought he looked good, like I thought, especially especially
basically end of second quarter through the second half. I
think it was slow going out of the gate for
him and the offense as a whole. But then as
he settled in, I thought he looked better than he
has in recent weeks, just moving, finding open receivers like
I thought the offense, and that was so frustrating. It's
like it felt like the offense was hitting a groove.
(18:54):
They were moving the ball in the second half. But
you if you're settling for three or turn over, turn
into turn it over on downs because you have to
go for the touchdown. That's just gonna be a tough
way to try to win games.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, And what's been frustrating for much of the season
also is that it seems like the offense and the
defense just hasn't put it together at the same time
really hardly ever at all. Maybe going back to Week
two against the Browns, where the defense is getting turnovers,
the offense punch it in and you know, you kind
of run up the score late in that game when
things clicked on both sides. But it's been a few
(19:30):
and far between times when when they've been doing it
all on both phases, and even today, special teams really
hurt them in this game. I mean, they had an
extra point miss by Tyler Loop his second of the
season he had to kick it, had a kickoff go
out of bounds, a critical holding penalty on KeAndre Jackson
on the final punt of the game that backed the
(19:52):
Ravens up when they were trying to mount a game
winning drive. Those are and I would say consistently the
Steeler just had had better field position by nature of
their special teams unit. I mean multiple times they're starting
at the forty or beyond a drive and so the
Ravens just lost the special teams battle today.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, that was difficult to lose that. You don't typically
see that with this team. But all of those were
impactful moments and plays in this game. One other guy
I want to mention on offense, Dave Flowers, had a
monster day. Eight catches, one hundred and twenty four yards,
had eleven targets. To me, the Ravens came into this
game staying let's get Zay Flowers going. He was targeted
early and often in this game, and that really continued.
Came up with a big play on the drive that
(20:34):
looked like it was going to be a touchdown drive
the Isaiah likely touchdown that wasn't, but big day for
Jay Flowers, so it was good to see him. Like
That's again it goes back to like the disappointing elements
of this game. You're like, all right, let's get Zay
Flowers going. He has a monster day. Let's get Derek
Henry going. He has ninety four yards like we put
up over two hundred yards on the ground. You did
(20:55):
the things that when I think of the Ravens offensive
identity at its best, it's the game you checked the
keys to the game, and like, what is the offensive identity.
It's being able to be have a downhill running game
and then z Flowers really dicing up a secondary and
like the Ravens did that today, but they weren't able
to capitalize enough. Now, just to round out the conversation
(21:17):
on the offense before we go to break, one thing
I do want to mention is that Keaton Mitchell left
this game with a knee injury. He went down after
that long run that he had, the fifty five yard
run that set up an eventual touchdown. He left the
game after that did not come back. Head coach John
Harball said afterwards that the team's gonna have to take
a look at the severity of that, so he did
(21:38):
not have an update on the exact status. The Rads
are gonna be looking into that tomorrow and earlier this week. Obviously,
giving Keaton's injury history, the significance and the severity of
the knee injury that he had previously in his career,
you don't like seeing a knee pop up for him,
especially after such a big play. And I really feel
like he was showing himself to be a true weapon
(21:59):
for this team down the stretch, So hopefully it's minor
and he's able to get back in the lineup soon.
But we should have more information on that here in
the next few days, so that we're gonna take a
quick break and when we come back, we'll dive into
the defensive side of the ball and also talk about
what the Ravens need to do to put themselves back
in the mix in the AFC North. Welcome back into
the Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the
(22:20):
Sea Geek Studio. We want to mention our partners, a
Draft King Sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner
of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown is
yours for the defense today, you mentioned it. They only
gave up three hundred and eighteen yards total in this
matchup and they completely shut down the Steelers running game
thirty four rushing yards for Pittsburgh on this day. However,
(22:41):
the issue for the defense was that they just gave
up too many big plays that cost them. DK Metcalf
opened this thing up. It was basically a precursor of
what was to come in this game. Opens the game
up with a huge play. Yeah, he has two plays
over forty yards in this game really hurt the Ravens.
(23:02):
And then Calvin Austin has a thirty plus yard catch
in this game on a critical third down. And then
the touchdown to Jalen Warren.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Where blowing coverage thirty eight yards just completely a walk
in touchdown thirty eight yards. It was.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I mean that one's like a little bit different in
the big play category. Is a screen pass that the
Ravens just covered poorly and complete blown coverage, miscommunication, miss assignment,
and then it was a walk in touchdown.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, the Steelers. What's crazy about it is that the
Steelers were not a downfield passing attack at all this season.
They've really had the most short passing in the league.
And Aaron Rodgers had gone for thirteen on passing attempts
of twenty air yards or more in November and he
(23:52):
hadn't hit a deep pass since Week eight. And they
come out first play, it's a drawn up bomb to
dk Metcalf with a little misdirection and Aaron Rodgers throws
an absolute dime for a fifty five yard gain. Metcalf
had a little push off on Marlin on that one
that I think you'd like to see flag, especially considering
(24:14):
Zay Flowers got called for OPI last week in a
critical call. But I digress. Great great throw by Aaron Rodgers,
great catch by DK Metcalf, first play the game, and
I think that set the tone for the Steelers offense
that this was not going to be the offense that
they've been operating with in recent weeks upon weeks the
(24:35):
best two months, and that they were going to take
their shots against these Ravens corners on the outside. And
they did. They kept doing it. First play the second half,
forty one yard gain to DK Metcalf that was less
of a bomb, more of a Raven's just got no
pressure on Aaron Rodgers and he was able to stand
back there and kind of move around a little bit
to find DK at Metcalf wide open for a catch
(24:56):
and run. But Metcalf had seven catches for a buck
forty eight.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Welcome to the rivalry for the big bodied wide receiver
that they went out and got this offseason.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, that was the problem for the Ravens. I mean
that first drive, his big play, the fifty two yard
catch for him to set that thing up is also
you get your first play for fifty two yards down
the field and you're in a pretty good position. And
so like he was a problem for the Ravens. Today
was a season high passing yards for Aaron Rodgers two
hundred and eighty four yards. He had one touchdown, no sacks,
(25:29):
no sacks against Rogers.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Forty two year old Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
That's not gonna get it done.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
He ducked under one by Mike Green. Green liked to
have that one back here and had others, you know,
but but yeah, this, honestly, this was a turn the
clock back game for Aaron Rodgers. You know, he was
put he had a rushing touchdown, He.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Had a rush, didn't I mean, he had a rushing
touchdown and did the discount and double check.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It was the end zone exactly. It was a turn
the clock back game for Aaron Rodgers. And I mean
it was his first rushing touchdown since the twenty twenty
two seasons.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah. Well, and he also so he was really I mean, look,
his accuracy has been there, but like he was putting
the ball on the money on those deep shots to
DK Metcalfe, to Calvin Austin, Like he's he's delivering those
throws on the money.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, you look back at the over thirteen on those
shots in the month of November and there's a lot
of overthrows. Put them on the money today. Yeah, and
so you know, another guy new to this rivalry and
had a pretty darn big game here against the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Look, we said also coming into this one that it's
cliche that the turnover battle often decides this game, and
that where is evidence to that. Now, it's hard to
fault the defense too much when you had a turnover
taken off the board that you felt pretty good about
that honestly could have proven to be the difference in
the game, but it didn't go the Ravens way. And again,
the Steelers win the turnover battle and they win the game.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And it's also pretty hard. I mean, yeah, the interception
that was wiped off, you know, the Ravens forced a
punt in march back down the field, so it didn't
end up they ended up. It seemed like if the
Isaiah likely catch had stood that maybe it would even
been a good thing because it took more time. Yeah,
so that that one didn't really decide the game. I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I just think that you want to be able to
get whoever has won the turnover battle, and these Ravens
Steelers catch ups like you for the last twenty years,
has won the game for the most part, and it's
the case once again here today.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So it was, it was. It was a weird defensive performance.
I think in many ways, the defense played pretty darn well.
But you know, it's some individual plays where some yeah
you gotta tip your cat, just good plays by them. Yeah,
but you don't blow and coverage you can't. Yeah, you can't.
You can't have that. That was just bad. Yeah, you know,
there's there's just a few bad plays sprinkled in there,
(27:43):
and it makes what was otherwise a pretty good performance
by the defense not look so good.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah. So the Ravens have four games left now in
the regular season. Next week they're on the road at Cincinnati.
Then they come back home and play the Patriots, who
might be playing for the one seed, probably will be
playing for the one seed in that game. Then you
on the road and play in Green Bay the Frozen
Tundra and Lambeau, and then you close out the season
on the road in Pittsburgh. So three of your last
(28:07):
four on the road, and it's unclear exactly how many
which you're.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Gonna be against division leaders at the time, most well,
who knows about Pittsburgh. Hopefully they're not division leader right right,
but right now, as of now.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It's a tough schedule. It's a really tough schedule to
close out the regular season. Bengals at least lost the
day to Buffalo, but as we saw last week, they're
not gonna be sitting here saying now, who cares about
the rest of the season. They're gonna be trying to
knock the Ravens out. They would love nothing more than
to basically knock the Ravens out of the playoff race.
So they're still going to be motivated and playing hard.
(28:42):
So it's a tough stretch for the Ravens and I
think that at a minimum, absolute minimum, you've got to
win the two AFC North games, and it's probably gonna
take more than that.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, you look at the Steelers schedule. They're gonna have
a home game against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night
Football next week, then they go on the road to Detroit.
That's a tough game for them, then on the road
in Cleveland, and then hosts the Ravens in the regular
season finale. So not exactly an easy stretch for the
Steelers either. I will say the Dolphins have been playing
(29:12):
better football recently. They've won four straight games since losing
to the Ravens. So that's not a gimme game for
the Steelers next week either. So there this is still
we all talked about the odds of winning the AFC North.
We're gonna really swing based on this game today for
both teams. The Steelers are certainly now in the driver's seat,
(29:34):
but the Ravens aren't. They ain't out of this and
that was the message from head coach Sean Harbaugh as
well as others. And after this game, you know, head
coach Sean Harwall sat next to Lamar Jackson in the
locker room. Lamar was the last guy to take his
pads off after this game. He was not happy about
how about losing the Steelers here at home? And Harves
(29:56):
and Lamar talked for a little while in the locker
room and Lamar Jackson said, that was the message, you know,
between That was the conversation between them, that four games left,
all right. You know, the Ravens have had their backs
up against the wall before this season and they were
sitting at one and five, backs were against the wall,
right and they clawed their way back from that. The
question is can they do it again? You know, you
(30:17):
definitely have your backs up against the wall. You have
to win at least three or four. You know, if
the Ravens win three or four, you get to nine
and eight. That could get it done in the AFC
North this year.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, and of course two of those wins have to
be in the division. I think nine and eight could
get it done, yep. But I think like if you
and if the Ravens run the table, then I think
they have a pretty good chance to get If they
if they're at ten to seven, I think you feel
pretty good about that. But but first and foremost, like
they got to beat the Bengals, like it's the true
(30:49):
we can we can play out the next month here.
But the Ravens have to look at this as one
one game at a time, and if they lose the
Bengals next week, then it's going to be really dicey
about climbing their way back into this thing. So disappointing
result here at M and T Bank Stadium again, next
week we'll be traveling on the road to face the
(31:10):
Bengals and another key AFC North matchup. As always, you
can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot NFL
dot net. We always appreciate your emails, even if they're
disappointed and frustrated after a game like this, but we
always appreciate those emails. Thank you so much for listening.
We will be back with you again later this week.
Welcome into the Lounge presented by DraftKings. I'm Ryan Mink
here with Garrett Downing. Following the Ravens twenty seven to
twenty two loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in what was
a battle for first place in the AFC North, the
Ravens are now a game behind their rivals. The Ravens
are at six and seven back to back losses, and
the Steelers are in sole possession of first place in
(00:24):
the AFC North. Frustrating tough game here at M and
T Banks Stadium against the Ravens rivals.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Garrett, Yeah, this is a tough loss for the Ravens
and for a team that has not played up to
the level that they expected to coming into the season.
This is one of the toughest pills to swallow because
the Ravens had climbed out of the hole that they
put themselves in earlier than early in the season, and
they had an opportunity here to take pole position in
the division with a month left to play, and now
(00:53):
they're looking up again at the Steelers who are in
first place. It's not like the season's loss at this point.
I don't want to overstated, but the Ravens margin already thin,
margin for air has become razor thin down the stretch.
And they know that with two games left within the
division next week against the Bengals and then week eighteen
against the Steelers, if the Ravens are gonna win this division,
(01:15):
those are obviously must win games. And to be on
the road on the road, and they already beat you
both teams beach you at home, and to be honest,
you're basically hoping to find yourself in a situation where
it's a win and get in in Week eighteen against
the Steelers.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
That's correct. And for the Ravens that think the most
frustrating part of this boiled down to really three calls
that went against them that had a large bearing on
this game. And I'll preface this by saying, you know,
the Ravens did not have a very good first half.
They put themselves in some holes, but they battle back
in the second half. We're on the cusp of winning
(01:53):
this game. And when you really look at it, three
calls that went against them were extremely frustrating, the biggest
of which, of course, the Isaiah likely touchdown catch that
was waved off after review. Isaiah likely clearly caught the ball,
had it in clear possession, took two steps, was very
(02:13):
close to his foot coming down on a third step
before Joey Porter Junior broke up the pass knocked it
out of his hands. A quick review process on that one,
and they overturned the call that was originally called a touchdown.
After the game, head coach John Harball said that referees
told him that he just didn't get a third football
(02:34):
a third foot down. That was the explanation given to him.
The Ravens then failed to convert on fourth down, came
out of that empty handed, a turnover on downs, and
that pretty much decided the game.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Yeah, that was obviously a game change. You play, you
think you have a go ahead touchdown, instead you don't,
and then all of a sudden, a couple of plays later,
you're walking off the field with points. And just in
terms of the officiating component of that, Jeff Rebak from
the Athletic talk to the NFL Vice President of Instant
Replay Mark Butterworth for a pool report on that decision
(03:13):
to reverse the touchdown, and he said that the third
step is an act common to the game. Before he
could get the third foot down, the ball was ripped out.
Therefore it was an incomplete pass. And just to explain
the rules here a little bit. You have to get
two feet down. Everyone knows that. So you see that
likely play, you think two feet down in the end zone,
that's a catch. But the rule requires that you have
(03:34):
to catch the ball with both hands. Obviously you have
to or one hand, but you have to secure the ball.
You have to get two feet down in bounds or
another body part like a knee or an elbow. And
then the third element is that after those two things
have been fulfilled, the rules say that a player clearly
performs an act common to the game, like extending the
ball forward, taking an additional step talking about exactly taking
(03:59):
an additional step, talking the ball away, turning up field,
or having the ball long enough.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Or avoid or ward off an opponent.
Speaker 2 (04:07):
Right or avoid a ward off an opponent, or maintain
control the ball long enough to do one of those
acts common to the game. So the officials rule that
he didn't have he didn't make that third step, He
didn't make that move common to the game, and that's
why it didn't count.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
My argument is that he was extending the ball forward,
and I thought he extended the ball forward before both,
So the after A and B have been fulfilled is
the key component here. Isaiah likely caught the ball between
the numbers and then extended the ball away from Joey
Porter Junior. He continued to extend the ball away from him,
(04:45):
basically trying to box him out through the remainder of
the play. So to me, it's a judgment call of
was he warding off an opponent or extending the ball
after he got two feet down? My answer would be yes,
I think that that's a yes. Also, if you're watching
(05:06):
the game of football, this is what's frustrating is this
is just another instance of like what in the world
is a catch? Because if I'm playing backyard, if I'm
playing football anywhere, that's a catch. My common sense watching
that play says that's a catch. Right now. You know,
the NFL on replay is saying, did he extend that
(05:27):
after the first two things are done by the letter
of the law. Maybe can make an argument otherwise, but
like I mean, goodness, gracious.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Well, just to be clear, like this wasn't a like
the official missed the call. This thing gets reviewed and
that's why it.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
Was called a touchdown. On the field.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
I know, right, but I'm saying that they gets reviewed.
It's not like, oh man, they just missed that one.
They didn't see it. The league goes through the process
of looking at the review of that play and then determines, no,
that's not a catch.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Would also surprise me is that when it's ruled a touchdown
on the field, you have to have really clear evidence
that it's outside of the rules, right, that the wrong
indisputable evidence that it's the wrong call. I think that
you could make a very strong argument that he was
still in the process of extending the ball or warding
off the opponent after that second foot hits. I think
(06:21):
you can very easily make that case and say that's
really tight. I don't know if you have enough to
overturn that, but they did.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yeah, and so that and it's really tough for Isaiah
likely had a touchdown, of course earlier in the game,
but back to back weeks with unfortunate plays at the
goal liner in the end zone which are like, they're
not the exact same situation. He was asked about that
after the game. Basically the question was, you've had two
plays in back to back weeks here where the ball
has been punched out of your hands.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
At the basis, always extending it.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
Going into the end zone or in the end zone.
And he basically said that last week's play he was
careless with the football. Just needs to be a little
bit more, you know, conscious of where the players are
around him. And then in this game he just made
the point I got to get that third foot down.
So you know, there's similar plays either. Whatever the breakdown is,
(07:13):
he's just pointing for him, right.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
The tough part is if he tries to bring that
ball into his chest, maybe Joey Porter can eat more
easily to knock that out, you know, get an arm
up through between his arm and his body and knock
that ball out. He's trying to play basketball basically, Yeah,
and just box him out and hold it away from
Joey Porter Junior unfortunately has very long arms and got
(07:38):
really lucky. I mean, honestly, this is just flashbacks to
Lee Evans in the twenty eleven days. It was the
same championship, past breakup, same thing, same thing. Yeah, well
I would I'd trained this one for that one.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
If we can go back, sure sure.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
The other thing too, is you talk we talk about
officiating in calls here, different moment, but they're connected. So
the other big calls you talk about the three big
calls that went against the Ravens, Another really big one
was the interception that wasn't which was the deflected pass.
Aaron Rodgers goes up, has control of it, catches it,
goes down to the ground. Teddy Buchanan comes up with
the football. Initially ruled an interception. They go back and
(08:14):
look at that one and they say he controlled the
ball and then went down. His knee was down before
it was ripped away. What I don't understand, like if
I'm looking at this the rules here as we just
spelled them out, like did he make a football move?
Did he make a football move? Did he have time
to make a football move? Certainly not? Did he get
(08:34):
a third foot down? Is a knee and knee counts
as the third foot? I guess that's that's basically what it.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Probably didn't ever complete a secure the control of the
ball in his hands.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I think that that's I think that's yes.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
You're gonna check that one off. Yeah, touch the ground
inbounds with both feet or with any part of his
body other than his hands. He dropped to his knees.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah, so his knee, yes, okay, my art.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
And then did he clearly was there a football move
after that fact?
Speaker 2 (09:00):
No, right right, it was ripped away. I mean, and
that whole thing was a split second. You know. It's
like it literally is in the the time element there
is jumping up and down. I mean, where that's that's
the type of time we're talking about. He jumped up,
caught it well, Jordan, and then went down to the ground.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Who had more possession when his knees hit the ground?
Is the question there? And I think that's very debatable.
A tie in football, for our listeners, tie goes to
the offensive player. Basically, it's like a tie goes to
the runner. If the cornerback and wide receiver on both
catch a bomb and they both hit the ground with
possession of the football, it goes to the offensive player. Yeah,
(09:36):
but in this instance, who had more possession of the football,
better possession of the football when Aaron Rodgers knee hit
the ground his or Teddy Buchannan. I'm gonna argue that
it was Teddy Buchannan.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
H Yeah, that's honestly, that's that was tough to see
there's just.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And what again, do you have indisputable evidence to overturn
the call?
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Right there? The evidence there and to be fair, just
just to Gene Sterotur on the CBS broadcast made the
point that he thought that was the correct call. The
correct call was taking the interception away. That was his
interpretation as a former official, that taking the interception away
was the correct call in that moment. Now again you
(10:18):
look at the two side by side and you're like, wait,
that's a catch and that one isn't. How do you
square these two things? And that's part of it.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's back to the backyard football argument I'm thinking before,
where it's just it's hard for a team, for a
fan watching that when you see those two things. Clearly,
Isaiah Likely's was more of a catch than Aaron Rodgers.
It was clearly, but by the letter of the law,
when you go break it down like we are here,
it's pretty it's pretty.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Tough, yeah, and it's it's really tough because they both
went against the Ravens and they were both called the
other way in the Ravens favor on the field, So
you have that moment. I mean Tayu Canada as the
whole celebration, The defense is all celebrating. Everyone's thinking the
Ravens are about to go down and take the lead.
Of the situation comes up with a huge turnover. Isaiah
likely one. Ravens just took the lead late in the
(11:04):
fourth quarter. They're gonna win this game, like you have
that moment and it's fleeting obviously, because then the call
comes in that it's going the other direction based on
a replay.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
It really adds to the feeling that the Ravens were robbed,
that victory was ripped away from them. That's what the
feeling is. I'm not saying that that's that's definitely what happened,
because I think these are tough calls. Yeah, but like
to my eye, I think Isaiah likely possessed that ball
long enough and made a football move.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
The other call that did go against the Ravens was
the unnecessary roughness on a field goal that the Steelers
kicked in the first half on Travis Jones. Travis Jones
CJ Quay coming over the middle made contact with the
long snapper, but again Jean Sterotor in reviewing that one,
felt like there was no contact to the head or
(11:52):
neck area. John Harball said the same thing that he
did not see any contact with the head or neck area.
He was making that point to the officials on the game,
which was called the game broadcast with the audio of that,
and in order for that to be a penalty, you
should need to have forciable contact with the headerneck area.
That did not happen. That that play really gave the
Steelers four points. Took it took the they gave him
(12:14):
a fresh set of downs. They then turned that into
a touchdown on the very next play. Instead of three,
they got seven, and so that was a massive point
in the game. Sure, it would have been nice if the
Ravens at the end of the game instead of needing,
instead of being down five points at the end there,
if they were only down one point because of the
not having that four point swing, would have been a
much different situation. If you only need a field goal
(12:35):
to go there to go and win the game.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Obviously, absolutely we'll rewatching the play. Travis Jones clearly is
lined up over the He's yes, he's lined up over
the guard. He tries to split the long snapper in
the guard. He puts a swim move over the long
snapper who then puts his shoulder into Travis, and Travis
just knocks him back because the long snapper puts his
(12:57):
shoulder into him trying to block the gap. There's no
there's no contact to the head or neck area, right,
the long savage just tries to block them and gets
run over.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Right. So that's massive call, massive call that goes against
the Ravens. And those are three, you know, big calls
that were that hurt the Ravens in this game. We're
all kind of swing points at different levels, and it's
it's disappointing. Now with all of that said, like I
think that it's it would be too whatever short sighted
(13:33):
to just look at this and just say, well, blame
the refs. You know, the all the calls went against
the Ravens. There were also things that you know, the
Ravens they don't want to find themselves in that kind
of a situation. And for this team, the offense took
way too long to get going in this game. They
marched down the field on the opening drive, settle for
a field goal, but then there was not much of
anything the rest of the first half. So to me,
(13:55):
it was the story of the game for the Ravens.
Beyond what we talked about. It was the slow start
for the offense and then the inability to capitalize once
in the red zone, which has been a theme for
this team.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Yeah, the Ravens are two of six in the red zone.
You know, even after the likely touchdown got wiped off
the board. Okay, second and ten, you get an eight
yard game. You're looking at third and two near the
goal line, and you get blown up for a two
yard loss on a play where the Ravens looked like
they were just not organized and not discombobulated. And so
(14:29):
that's obviously not the X kind of execution that you want.
You got to be buttoned up there. Yeah, and games
on the line, right, I think the final drive of
the game, you know, the Ravens got the ball back
still with the chance to go down and win the game.
You had a minute fifty six on the clock and
way too much time ticked off the board on the
(14:50):
in the first three plays, first four plays, it was
forty seven seconds left by the time they got to
fourth down. So you burn more than a minute. You
burn a minut nine seconds off the clock on the
first three plays, right, That can't happen on that last
drive that was unorganized as well.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yeah, then you get down there, you have a chance
basically for one, maybe two shots at the end zone
from the like the twenty five, and Lamar gets sacked
and the game's over. And it's disappointing to have him
have that play out where he gets sacked and you
don't even get a shot for a heave and a prayer.
It's not even hail Mary, but just a shot at
the end zone. And so it's a tough way to
lose this thing, and it's it was kind of confusing
(15:30):
when you look at like the numbers after the game
and you say, Okay, coming into this game, you want
to establish the running game. Well, Raves did that. They
ran for two hundred and seventeen yards on the ground,
ninety four for Derrick Henry, seventy six for Keaton Mitchell.
All right, they also had two hundred yards through the air,
and so you.
Speaker 1 (15:46):
Had the ground. Lamar Jackson didn't play a perfect game,
but he certainly played a better game than last week. Yeah,
he had one bad interception where he tried to flip
the ball to Rasheen Ali and then his cousin, of
all people, burned him and James Pierre makes a one
handed interception against them, and you know, Lamar set off
the game. I just threw it too soft to him.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, you know, kind of floated it and they got
he made a good play on it, but he did
float it. He just floated up there and he tipped
it to himself and made a one hand an interception exactly.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
And but otherwise, I thought Lamar had certainly a bounce
back game from last week. I thought he was moving better.
I mean, the Ravens outgained the Steelers by more than
one hundred yards. Yeah, four hundred and twenty to three eighteen.
The offense certainly in the second half, it started to
look more like itself. Now, you know, we only have
(16:34):
four weeks left in the season, and is it too
little too late here if the offense is going to
get on track, that's the question.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
And but yeah, the Steelers, as they often do, you know,
made some critical plays in critical moments. And you know,
they didn't have any turnovers, in part because of a
referee's you know review overturned one of them. But they
played a clean game. Uh, And the Ravens didn't make
(17:01):
the clutch plays when it mattered.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
Yeah, yeah, to that point as well. The Ravens the
red zone struggles on one of the possessions inside the
red zone, passed lamar Jack or sorry to reshot Bateman
across the middle of the field. Might have been able
to catch it at least would have had a first down,
might have been able to take it all the way
into the end zone, hits off his hands incomplete, So
(17:23):
you have to settle for a field goal, game changing
type play. There's the likely play that we went through.
And look, you can debate about whether it was officiated
correctly or not, but man, you want to see that caught,
you know, ten steps after that, and again defender made
a good play, but that's when you just wish was
able to be completed. And so that's like it's kind
(17:44):
of similar. You go back a week ago to the
Thanksgiving game and you have like these things in the
red zone that happened that prevent you from being able
to capitalize, And it's the same story here today. And
that's part of what's, you know, so frustrating, is that
he was able to get that ground game going and like, look,
two hundred nineteen yards on the ground, you should win
(18:06):
that every time, like you just should You should be
able to turn that in this type of a game.
If you're able to control the line of scrimmage and
control the time of possession in that way, then you
should be able to win those games. And so to
have to settle for field goals in the red zone
and not be able to capitalize, it's just disappointing.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
Yeah, Lamar Jackson ran for his first touchdowns since Week
one and ran for forty three yards overall, had seven carries,
so he looked more nimble set after the game, he
felt better in this game.
Speaker 2 (18:34):
I thought he looked good, like I thought, especially especially
basically end of second quarter through the second half. I
think it was slow going out of the gate for
him and the offense as a whole. But then as
he settled in, I thought he looked better than he
has in recent weeks, just moving, finding open receivers like
I thought the offense, and that was so frustrating. It's
like it felt like the offense was hitting a groove.
(18:54):
They were moving the ball in the second half. But
you if you're settling for three or turn over, turn
into turn it over on downs because you have to
go for the touchdown. That's just gonna be a tough
way to try to win games.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
Yeah, And what's been frustrating for much of the season
also is that it seems like the offense and the
defense just hasn't put it together at the same time
really hardly ever at all. Maybe going back to Week
two against the Browns, where the defense is getting turnovers,
the offense punch it in and you know, you kind
of run up the score late in that game when
things clicked on both sides. But it's been a few
(19:30):
and far between times when when they've been doing it
all on both phases, and even today, special teams really
hurt them in this game. I mean, they had an
extra point miss by Tyler Loop his second of the
season he had to kick it, had a kickoff go
out of bounds, a critical holding penalty on KeAndre Jackson
on the final punt of the game that backed the
(19:52):
Ravens up when they were trying to mount a game
winning drive. Those are and I would say consistently the
Steeler just had had better field position by nature of
their special teams unit. I mean multiple times they're starting
at the forty or beyond a drive and so the
Ravens just lost the special teams battle today.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Yeah, that was difficult to lose that. You don't typically
see that with this team. But all of those were
impactful moments and plays in this game. One other guy
I want to mention on offense, Dave Flowers, had a
monster day. Eight catches, one hundred and twenty four yards,
had eleven targets. To me, the Ravens came into this
game staying let's get Zay Flowers going. He was targeted
early and often in this game, and that really continued.
Came up with a big play on the drive that
(20:34):
looked like it was going to be a touchdown drive
the Isaiah likely touchdown that wasn't, but big day for
Jay Flowers, so it was good to see him. Like
That's again it goes back to like the disappointing elements
of this game. You're like, all right, let's get Zay
Flowers going. He has a monster day. Let's get Derek
Henry going. He has ninety four yards like we put
up over two hundred yards on the ground. You did
(20:55):
the things that when I think of the Ravens offensive
identity at its best, it's the game you checked the
keys to the game, and like, what is the offensive identity.
It's being able to be have a downhill running game
and then z Flowers really dicing up a secondary and
like the Ravens did that today, but they weren't able
to capitalize enough. Now, just to round out the conversation
(21:17):
on the offense before we go to break, one thing
I do want to mention is that Keaton Mitchell left
this game with a knee injury. He went down after
that long run that he had, the fifty five yard
run that set up an eventual touchdown. He left the
game after that did not come back. Head coach John
Harball said afterwards that the team's gonna have to take
a look at the severity of that, so he did
(21:38):
not have an update on the exact status. The Rads
are gonna be looking into that tomorrow and earlier this week. Obviously,
giving Keaton's injury history, the significance and the severity of
the knee injury that he had previously in his career,
you don't like seeing a knee pop up for him,
especially after such a big play. And I really feel
like he was showing himself to be a true weapon
(21:59):
for this team down the stretch, So hopefully it's minor
and he's able to get back in the lineup soon.
But we should have more information on that here in
the next few days, so that we're gonna take a
quick break and when we come back, we'll dive into
the defensive side of the ball and also talk about
what the Ravens need to do to put themselves back
in the mix in the AFC North. Welcome back into
the Lounge podcast. We are coming to you from the
(22:20):
Sea Geek Studio. We want to mention our partners, a
Draft King Sportsbook. They are an official sports betting partner
of the Baltimore Ravens Draft King Sportsbook. The Crown is
yours for the defense today, you mentioned it. They only
gave up three hundred and eighteen yards total in this
matchup and they completely shut down the Steelers running game
thirty four rushing yards for Pittsburgh on this day. However,
(22:41):
the issue for the defense was that they just gave
up too many big plays that cost them. DK Metcalf
opened this thing up. It was basically a precursor of
what was to come in this game. Opens the game
up with a huge play. Yeah, he has two plays
over forty yards in this game really hurt the Ravens.
(23:02):
And then Calvin Austin has a thirty plus yard catch
in this game on a critical third down. And then
the touchdown to Jalen Warren.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Where blowing coverage thirty eight yards just completely a walk
in touchdown thirty eight yards. It was.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I mean that one's like a little bit different in
the big play category. Is a screen pass that the
Ravens just covered poorly and complete blown coverage, miscommunication, miss assignment,
and then it was a walk in touchdown.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, the Steelers. What's crazy about it is that the
Steelers were not a downfield passing attack at all this season.
They've really had the most short passing in the league.
And Aaron Rodgers had gone for thirteen on passing attempts
of twenty air yards or more in November and he
(23:52):
hadn't hit a deep pass since Week eight. And they
come out first play, it's a drawn up bomb to
dk Metcalf with a little misdirection and Aaron Rodgers throws
an absolute dime for a fifty five yard gain. Metcalf
had a little push off on Marlin on that one
that I think you'd like to see flag, especially considering
(24:14):
Zay Flowers got called for OPI last week in a
critical call. But I digress. Great great throw by Aaron Rodgers,
great catch by DK Metcalf, first play the game, and
I think that set the tone for the Steelers offense
that this was not going to be the offense that
they've been operating with in recent weeks upon weeks the
(24:35):
best two months, and that they were going to take
their shots against these Ravens corners on the outside. And
they did. They kept doing it. First play the second half,
forty one yard gain to DK Metcalf that was less
of a bomb, more of a Raven's just got no
pressure on Aaron Rodgers and he was able to stand
back there and kind of move around a little bit
to find DK at Metcalf wide open for a catch
(24:56):
and run. But Metcalf had seven catches for a buck
forty eight.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Welcome to the rivalry for the big bodied wide receiver
that they went out and got this offseason.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Yeah, that was the problem for the Ravens. I mean
that first drive, his big play, the fifty two yard
catch for him to set that thing up is also
you get your first play for fifty two yards down
the field and you're in a pretty good position. And
so like he was a problem for the Ravens. Today
was a season high passing yards for Aaron Rodgers two
hundred and eighty four yards. He had one touchdown, no sacks,
(25:29):
no sacks against Rogers.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Forty two year old Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
That's not gonna get it done.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
He ducked under one by Mike Green. Green liked to
have that one back here and had others, you know,
but but yeah, this, honestly, this was a turn the
clock back game for Aaron Rodgers. You know, he was
put he had a rushing touchdown, He.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
Had a rush, didn't I mean, he had a rushing
touchdown and did the discount and double check.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
It was the end zone exactly. It was a turn
the clock back game for Aaron Rodgers. And I mean
it was his first rushing touchdown since the twenty twenty
two seasons.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
Yeah. Well, and he also so he was really I mean, look,
his accuracy has been there, but like he was putting
the ball on the money on those deep shots to
DK Metcalfe, to Calvin Austin, Like he's he's delivering those
throws on the money.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
Yeah, you look back at the over thirteen on those
shots in the month of November and there's a lot
of overthrows. Put them on the money today. Yeah, and
so you know, another guy new to this rivalry and
had a pretty darn big game here against the Ravens.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Look, we said also coming into this one that it's
cliche that the turnover battle often decides this game, and
that where is evidence to that. Now, it's hard to
fault the defense too much when you had a turnover
taken off the board that you felt pretty good about
that honestly could have proven to be the difference in
the game, but it didn't go the Ravens way. And again,
the Steelers win the turnover battle and they win the game.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
And it's also pretty hard. I mean, yeah, the interception
that was wiped off, you know, the Ravens forced a
punt in march back down the field, so it didn't
end up they ended up. It seemed like if the
Isaiah likely catch had stood that maybe it would even
been a good thing because it took more time. Yeah,
so that that one didn't really decide the game. I agree.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I just think that you want to be able to
get whoever has won the turnover battle, and these Ravens
Steelers catch ups like you for the last twenty years,
has won the game for the most part, and it's
the case once again here today.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So it was, it was. It was a weird defensive performance.
I think in many ways, the defense played pretty darn well.
But you know, it's some individual plays where some yeah
you gotta tip your cat, just good plays by them. Yeah,
but you don't blow and coverage you can't. Yeah, you can't.
You can't have that. That was just bad. Yeah, you know,
there's there's just a few bad plays sprinkled in there,
(27:43):
and it makes what was otherwise a pretty good performance
by the defense not look so good.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
Yeah. So the Ravens have four games left now in
the regular season. Next week they're on the road at Cincinnati.
Then they come back home and play the Patriots, who
might be playing for the one seed, probably will be
playing for the one seed in that game. Then you
on the road and play in Green Bay the Frozen
Tundra and Lambeau, and then you close out the season
on the road in Pittsburgh. So three of your last
(28:07):
four on the road, and it's unclear exactly how many
which you're.
Speaker 1 (28:12):
Gonna be against division leaders at the time, most well,
who knows about Pittsburgh. Hopefully they're not division leader right right,
but right now, as of now.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
It's a tough schedule. It's a really tough schedule to
close out the regular season. Bengals at least lost the
day to Buffalo, but as we saw last week, they're
not gonna be sitting here saying now, who cares about
the rest of the season. They're gonna be trying to
knock the Ravens out. They would love nothing more than
to basically knock the Ravens out of the playoff race.
So they're still going to be motivated and playing hard.
(28:42):
So it's a tough stretch for the Ravens and I
think that at a minimum, absolute minimum, you've got to
win the two AFC North games, and it's probably gonna
take more than that.
Speaker 1 (28:52):
Yeah, you look at the Steelers schedule. They're gonna have
a home game against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night
Football next week, then they go on the road to Detroit.
That's a tough game for them, then on the road
in Cleveland, and then hosts the Ravens in the regular
season finale. So not exactly an easy stretch for the
Steelers either. I will say the Dolphins have been playing
(29:12):
better football recently. They've won four straight games since losing
to the Ravens. So that's not a gimme game for
the Steelers next week either. So there this is still
we all talked about the odds of winning the AFC North.
We're gonna really swing based on this game today for
both teams. The Steelers are certainly now in the driver's seat,
(29:34):
but the Ravens aren't. They ain't out of this and
that was the message from head coach Sean Harbaugh as
well as others. And after this game, you know, head
coach Sean Harwall sat next to Lamar Jackson in the
locker room. Lamar was the last guy to take his
pads off after this game. He was not happy about
how about losing the Steelers here at home? And Harves
(29:56):
and Lamar talked for a little while in the locker
room and Lamar Jackson said, that was the message, you know,
between That was the conversation between them, that four games left,
all right. You know, the Ravens have had their backs
up against the wall before this season and they were
sitting at one and five, backs were against the wall,
right and they clawed their way back from that. The
question is can they do it again? You know, you
(30:17):
definitely have your backs up against the wall. You have
to win at least three or four. You know, if
the Ravens win three or four, you get to nine
and eight. That could get it done in the AFC
North this year.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Yeah, and of course two of those wins have to
be in the division. I think nine and eight could
get it done, yep. But I think like if you
and if the Ravens run the table, then I think
they have a pretty good chance to get If they
if they're at ten to seven, I think you feel
pretty good about that. But but first and foremost, like
they got to beat the Bengals, like it's the true
(30:49):
we can we can play out the next month here.
But the Ravens have to look at this as one
one game at a time, and if they lose the
Bengals next week, then it's going to be really dicey
about climbing their way back into this thing. So disappointing
result here at M and T Bank Stadium again, next
week we'll be traveling on the road to face the
(31:10):
Bengals and another key AFC North matchup. As always, you
can email us at the lounge at Ravens dot NFL
dot net. We always appreciate your emails, even if they're
disappointed and frustrated after a game like this, but we
always appreciate those emails. Thank you so much for listening.
We will be back with you again later this week.
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