Kyle Goon: You’re not a Raven until you lose to the Steelers
PITTSBURGH — If I hear this one more time, I'm going to gag: "You're not a Raven until you beat the Steelers."
That might have been true at one time. These days, you're not a Raven unless you're bumbling against the Steelers, doing your one-11th to ensure another trip to Pittsburgh ends in a loss.
In his own unfortunate way, Derrick Henry became a Raven on Sunday by fumbling on the opening drive, a play he called "unacceptable." Nate Wiggins and Sanoussi Kane became Ravens by drawing two of the 12 penalties Baltimore accrued at Acrisure Stadium, this team's hell on Earth.
Those who have been playing this rivalry — which is slipping toward dominance for Mike Tomlin and his Steelers — already knew how to play their roles. Even the most reliable Ravens underperform in Pittsburgh, which triumphed again 18-16 in mudslinging style.
Lamar Jackson had his worst performance of the season, missing open receivers and struggling to string plays together the way he has through what could be a third MVP campaign. His quarterback rating (66.1) was his lowest since playing in Pittsburgh last year . Justin Tucker pulled two more kicks — either of which could have been the difference in a two-point loss — to the left ( some airhead columnist wrote this week that he'd recover ). All three Ravens phases drew penalties galore, wiping out any sense of momentum before it could even begin for the disjointed Ravens.
Coach John Harbaugh, wound tighter than a Swiss watch all week, could not convey his intensity into discipline for his team. The Ravens gave up more turnovers and got more flags than their opponents, who have won eight of the last nine meetings.
DeShon Elliott and Patrick Queen? They became Steelers on Sunday.
Elliott recovered Henry's fumble, and Queen stripped Isaiah Likely and recovered it to help drive another Pittsburgh victory. After so many ugly games here as Ravens, it felt like liberation for Baltimore's castoffs. Queen said he expected to be "a little more pissed off" before kickoff.
"I woke up this morning, and I didn't feel any anger," Queen said. "I just felt content with life and the game and just being where I'm supposed to be."
Maybe you find Zen when you swap purple and black for black and gold. You definitely tend to play better in this series, at least.
Neither team looked particularly clean, but it was jarring to see the Ravens' offense, purring like a Ferrari for so much of this season, suddenly sputtering like an old lawnmower. It's as if Baltimore chooses to tie a hand behind its back just to grapple with its AFC North neighbor.
On what would turn out to be the deciding play, the Ravens ran a 2-point conversion effort that looked more like a disaster. A great swarm of Steelers flooded the backfield and stopped Jackson short on what he called a QB run.
Jackson, at least, was honest about what makes Steelers games different.
"If anything, we just be too hyped at the beginning," he said. "I believe, when we settle down, we start making things happen."
You could see signs of that. Both Ravens touchdown drives came at the end of halves. But whether it's butterflies or whether it's just plain choking, Baltimore's approach to facing the Steelers just isn't working. It takes the Ravens too long to figure out how to play like themselves. Before they scored their first points, the first six Ravens drives ended like this: fumble, punt, missed field goal, missed field goal, punt and punt. To start the second half: field goal, punt, interception.
It makes me wonder whether the mind games Tomlin plays have the intended effect, keeping the Terrible Towel whirling in the Ravens' heads all year. Tomlin put Jackson on a pedestal leading up to the game, calling him "Mr. Jackson" to the media before unbuttoning the MVP favorite with his rugged defense. In the fourth quarter, as the home fans sang along to Styx's "Renegade," Tomlin turned to face them and bopped his head to the music.
We can see how much he enjoys playing the Ravens, yanking their strings like a puppeteer.
This is why, in a nutshell, the Ravens aren't trusted in the most important games. Not by the national media and sometimes not by their own fans. If their schedule were a slate of NFC opponents, I'd pick them to go 17-0. If they simply alternated between the Steelers and the Kansas City Chiefs for a whole season, I'd feel uneasy picking them to win at all.
At least this time, key Ravens offered needed accountability. Offensive tackle Ronnie Stanley told reporters that Baltimore didn't deserve to win. Jackson looked in the mirror when considering some of the team's most disappointing defeats of the last two years.
"It's been that way ever since last year, I believe, going back to the AFC championship game . We killed ourselves," he said. " The Chiefs game, the opener , we killed ourselves. Raiders, we killed ourselves , and today, it's the same thing. We can't be beating ourselves in these types of games. We have to find a way to fix that — it's annoying."
It's more than annoying. It's . And, unfortunately, it's extremely predictable, which is why I suspected Baltimore would find a way to lose .
The Ravens have the talent to be a championship-level team, and a few times they've even achieved that caliber of victory. But whatever credibility they build is undercut by ugly, self-sabotaging performances that show up most often in the playoffs and against the Steelers.
As unsightly as quarterback Russell Wilson's afternoon was (23-for-36, 205 yards, 1 INT), he became a Steeler on Sunday, too. The 13-year veteran was asked what stood out in his first experience of this AFC North rivalry.
"Just the passion, man," he said. "Just the winning."
Gee, it would be nice to know what that side of things is like.
