Samuel Njoku: Ravens Simply Don't Have Look of A Contender
BALTIMORE — The Ravens didn’t look like a playoff team on Sunday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Steelers narrowly edged the Ravens 16-13 to keep their playoff hopes alive. Baltimore has already clinched the playoffs but looked to defeat Pittsburgh to keep pace with Cincinnati for the AFC North title.
The Ravens looked to duplicate their dominant performance against Pittsburgh in Week 12 with a dominant run game, but it was evident that Pittsburgh’s entire defense looked to go all-in on stopping the run game.
"They were trying to stop the run,” J.K. Dobbins said. “They did a good job. They came with some adjustments. They did a good job, but we still did a good job in the run game – don't sit here and act like we got shut down in the run game. I don't know the stats or anything, but we did not get shut down in the run game.”
Dobbins is correct. While it’s a far cry from the 215 yards Baltimore garnered in the first meeting, Baltimore was still able to average 4.6 yards a carry on offense. So, what failed on Sunday night?
The Ravens couldn’t make a stop when it counted the most.
The Steelers offense drove 80 yards on 11 plays before Najee Harris caught the game-winning touchdown pass from Kenny Pickett with 56 seconds left. But blaming a defense for holding their opponent to 16 points barely seems reasonable in 2023. But that’s the pressure placed on the unit due to the inept nature of the Ravens' offense.
Pittsburgh didn’t need to worry about putting points on the board as long as they controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. A gameplan eerily similar to Baltimore’s on a weekly basis. The Steelers ran for 198 yards and the Ravens had no answer.
The Ravens now have to hope that the Bills take care of business against the Bengals so that Week 18 becomes a showdown for the division title. If Cincinnati gets the job done on Monday night, next week is effectively meaningless.
“We'll be Bills fans,” stated J.K. Dobbins on Sunday. “And hopefully next week we'll be playing for an AFC North title.”
As it pertains to the division title, the Ravens no longer control their destiny. It’s difficult to be overly critical of the team as they’ve played the last 4 weeks without their starting QB.
The Ravens have given off the vibe that they’ll simply do their best and hope Lamar Jackson can swoop in and save the day. But the glaring flaws on this team are too prominent for even the best of quarterbacks to overcome. If Jackson can come and change the entire dynamic of the offense, then he deserves way more than the guaranteed money he’s currently asking for.
But there are tougher opponents than Pittsburgh on the horizon, and this team doesn’t seem ready to take them on.
