5 Things to Expect: Steelers vs. Ravens
Nothing comes easy when the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens meet. That being said, even one of the greatest sports rivalries have expectations.
Here's what you could see as the Steelers host the Ravens.
Baltimore Pressure
The Ravens defense under defensive coordinator Don Martindale love to bring pressure and harass the quarterback by forcing them into making quick decisions with the football.
This is a unit that plays an aggressive brand of football, they have a plethora of different blitz looks that they look to employ and they believe in their corners to play man-to-man behind it. According to sports info solutions, they've generated 49 hurries on opposing teams quarterbacks using the blitz, the fourth most in the NFL.
The Ravens have a trio of talented rushers off the edge in Odafe Oweh, Justin Houston and Tyus Bowser that are a terror to deal with.
Alejandro Villanueva
Villanueva played the first six years of his professional career in the steel City before signing a one-year deal in Baltimore during the 2021 NFL offseason.
Villanueva had the worst year of his career in his final year in Pittsburgh and things haven't been smooth sailing this year, either. According to SIS, the former Army ranger has 24 blown blocks in the passing game this year, the fifth-most among tackles across the league. He's also been penalized four times for holding.
Now back to his familiar left tackle position following the season ending injury to Ronnie Stanley, he'll match up against Alex Highsmith who's generated pressure at a solid rate despite only have three totals sacks on the season.
Lamar Jackson
The 32nd pick of the 2018 NFL draft is a showstopper at the quarterback position. The same elusiveness and playmaking ability that led to a Heisman Trophy while in college at the University of Louisville is now giving defensive coordinators grey hairs.
While Jackson can make plays from the pocket throwing the football to his favorite targets, Marquise Brown and Mark Andrews, he's most dangerous as a runner. Baltimore's signal caller has forced a whopping 28 missed tackles as a runner so far this season, with the next highest being Jonathan Taylor from the Colts with 15.
The Steelers have struggled mightily to get ball carriers on the ground this season, just one reason that the defense has taken such a dramatic step backwards in 2021. The Ravens want to run the football and they're not afraid to draw up designed runs for Jackson.
If the Steelers want to come out of this game victorious, they'll need to be sound, fundamental football.
Baltimore's Secondary
Having already lost starting cornerback Marcus Peters to a season ending injury, Jim Harbaugh's Ravens have a lot of new faces in the back end.
Even more concerning on that front is that five cornerbacks popped up on the injury report this week. While Marlon Humphrey and Tavon Young missed practice Friday with an undisclosed illness, they still have a shot to play. Even with those guys healthy, this hasn't been one of the great secondaries that we are accustomed to seeing year in and year out.
On throws 20 yards down the field, Baltimore has allowed 25 completions on 52 attempts for 824 yards and seven touchdowns, according to SIS. All of those marks are among the three highest in the league so far this season.
Some of that is due to the amount of pressure that they bring, offering a boom or bust type of approach. While the Steelers don't have a ton of speed at the receiver position, there are plays to be made down the field if they can protect Ben Roethlisberger long enough to find them.
Red Zone Matchup
As noted above, this isn't necessarily a dominant Baltimore defense but they have performed exceptionally well with in two key areas: third down defense and red zone defense, leading the entire NFL in both categories.
If there is a weakness in that area of the field, it's that the Ravens haven't done a very good job defending tight ends.
Enter Pat Frieirmuth, who has become Ben Roethlisberger's security blanket on third downs and in the red zone since JuJu Smith-Schuster was lost for the season.
The two converted for a score last week in garbage time, their sixth hookup of the campaign. The rookie from Penn State trails only Hunter Hentry in tight end scores inside the red zone. Perhaps offensive coordinator Matt Canada will look to get his tight end a favorable matchup near the goal line, potentially on Brandon Stephens who allowed a touchdown in coverage against Browns tight end, David Njoku.
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