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Five Things We Learned from the Ravens’ 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers

When the DJ at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field first queued up "Renegade" by Styx -- the go-to anthem they blare over the sound system whenever the Pittsburgh Steelers need to come up with a game-changing, momentum-swinging play on defense -- Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs ran to the front of the first row of yellow seats at the frenzied stadium and mimicked the conductor of an orchestra. Suggs loves being the center of attention, but after making a splash in his debut four weeks ago against the Houston Texans, he has mostly been caught up in the wash the past three weeks, often swimming and spinning in space, trying to find his way back to the quarterback. The fact that Suggs is on the field right now, less than seven months after partially tearing his right Achilles tendon, still amazes me. But it seems more and more likely that while he is still an All-Pro entertainer on and off the field, this season we probably aren't going to see the Terrell Suggs that terrorized quarterbacks in his previous two Pro Bowl seasons. In Sunday's 13-10 win, Suggs showed a couple of flashes of the player he once was and will likely be once again. He was one of the many Ravens players who got a good shot in on Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich, and on one fourth-quarter play he knifed into the backfield to tackle a running back for a loss. But on most plays, he was stonewalled by the mediocre Steelers offensive line. The Ravens tried to find a mismatch by flopping Suggs and fellow outside linebacker Paul Kruger -- who had another solid game, by the way -- at times, but Suggs didn't have much luck no matter which offensive tackle he was trying to run by. And the fact that he was unable to catch Leftwich, who after the game described himself as the "slowest black quarterback," on a 31-yard touchdown run that took 12 excruciatingly long seconds, says a lot about where Suggs is right now. He never quit on the play, but he simply lacked the explosion to get there. Suggs has been quiet -- by his standards -- off the field, too, since returning. And while he still jokes with his teammates and brings much-needed swagger to the defense, I get the vibe that Suggs has decided to tone down his act when the microphones and video cameras in his face until he starts to feel like himself again out on the football field. That's a bummer, but he is in a tough spot. He watched the proud Ravens defense struggle in his absence and linebacker Ray Lewis and cornerback Lardarius Webb go down with major injuries. It was his plan all along to rush back and play, but there is a lot of pressure of him -- I bet he is putting more it on himself than anyone else -- to perform like the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year before the playoffs. I now will never count this guy out, but I don't know if the Suggs of old will arrive on time.

When the DJ at Pittsburgh’s Heinz Field first queued up “Renegade” by Styx -- the go-to anthem they blare over the sound system whenever the Pittsburgh Steelers need to come up with a game-changing, momentum-swinging play on defense -- Ravens outside linebacker Terrell Suggs ran to the front of the first row of yellow seats at the frenzied stadium and mimicked the conductor of an orchestra. Suggs loves being the center of attention, but after making a splash in his debut four weeks ago against the Houston Texans, he has mostly been caught up in the wash the past three weeks, often swimming and spinning in space, trying to find his way back to the quarterback. The fact that Suggs is on the field right now, less than seven months after partially tearing his right Achilles tendon, still amazes me. But it seems more and more likely that while he is still an All-Pro entertainer on and off the field, this season we probably aren’t going to see the Terrell Suggs that terrorized quarterbacks in his previous two Pro Bowl seasons.

In Sunday’s 13-10 win, Suggs showed a couple of flashes of the player he once was and will likely be once again. He was one of the many Ravens players who got a good shot in on Steelers quarterback Byron Leftwich, and on one fourth-quarter play he knifed into the backfield to tackle a running back for a loss. But on most plays, he was stonewalled by the mediocre Steelers offensive line. The Ravens tried to find a mismatch by flopping Suggs and fellow outside linebacker Paul Kruger -- who had another solid game, by the way -- at times, but Suggs didn’t have much luck no matter which offensive tackle he was trying to run by. And the fact that he was unable to catch Leftwich, who after the game described himself as the “slowest black quarterback,” on a 31-yard touchdown run that took 12 excruciatingly long seconds, says a lot about where Suggs is right now. He never quit on the play, but he simply lacked the explosion to get there.

Suggs has been quiet -- by his standards -- off the field, too, since returning. And while he still jokes with his teammates and brings much-needed swagger to the defense, I get the vibe that Suggs has decided to tone down his act when the microphones and video cameras in his face until he starts to feel like himself again out on the football field. That’s a bummer, but he is in a tough spot. He watched the proud Ravens defense struggle in his absence and linebacker Ray Lewis and cornerback Lardarius Webb go down with major injuries. It was his plan all along to rush back and play, but there is a lot of pressure of him -- I bet he is putting more it on himself than anyone else -- to perform like the 2011 NFL Defensive Player of the Year before the playoffs. I now will never count this guy out, but I don’t know if the Suggs of old will arrive on time.   (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

Baltimore Sun

Baltimore Sun reporter/blogger Matt Vensel looks back at the Ravens’ victory.

2. Jacoby Jones was a huge signing by the Ravens and he deserves to go to the Pro Bowl.

Ravens wide receiver and return specialist Jacoby Jones, who has a thing for dancing in the end zone after touchdowns, has joked that he wants to one day be on “Dancing with the Stars.” He has been putting together quite the audition tape over the past four weeks. Last week, in the blowout win over the Oakland Raiders, Jones became the first player in NFL history to record two career kickoff return touchdowns of 105 or more yards -- and he did it in a span of four games. And in the first quarter of Sunday night’s 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Jones scored the only touchdown of the game for the Ravens, whose offense once again couldn’t sustain drives away from M&T Bank Stadium. Jones fielded a punt at the Baltimore 37-yard line, ran down the left sideline before cutting across the field to the right sideline, beating overmatched Steelers punter Drew Butler to the pylon for a 63-yard return touchdown, his third of the season. After the game, when asked about Butler trying to catch him, he quipped, “People in hell have snow cones.” Yeah, but they aren’t around for long, just like Jones whenever he gets the ball.

That’s why Jones deserves to hula dance in Honolulu at season’s end, although I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if he had to miss the Pro Bowl to dance in the French Quarter instead. He entered Sunday night leading the NFL with three return touchdowns and also in average yards per kickoff return. Plus, Jones deserves credit for doing double duty, as he averages 37.4 yards per kickoff return and 12.1 yards per punt return after his long touchdown, putting him in the top 10 in that category, too.

It’s crazy to think where the Ravens would be without him -- and that another team would give up on that kind of talent, but he readily admits he had some growing up to do after being cut by the Houston Texans. His 108-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Dallas Cowboys was one of the pivotal plays in the game, and the Ravens might not have made it out of Heinz Field with a win if they hadn’t signed him this offseason. Jones was one of a few veteran special teams players the Ravens either brought in or brought back -- I’m talking about Corey Graham, Sean Considine and Brendon Ayanbadejo -- and while they have all made an impact on what is now one of the NFL’s best special teams units, Jones deserves all the attention he is getting, even if “Dancing with the Stars” hasn’t come calling yet.   (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

3. Pro Bowl back Ray Rice and the entire Baltimore running game is officially in a funk.

An annual rite of fall, Ravens fans a few weeks ago were ready to storm the Cam Cameron household with sharp pitchforks and smoking torches after running back Ray Rice, one of the league’s best at his position, got just nine carries in a 43-13 loss to the Houston Texans. The Ravens got away from Rice, and the fans had every right to be upset with the coaching staff. Even head coach John Harbaugh admitted he wished the Ravens had been more patient with the run. They have showed plenty of patience since then, sticking with Rice and the running game even though they could probably get more traction in a sandpit than they have over the past month and a half. Rice is getting his fair share of carries -- 58 the past three weeks -- but he isn’t getting far as he and the running game is officially in a major funk.

Rice rushed for 40 yards on 20 carries -- a season-low two yards per carry -- in Sunday night’s 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Overall, the Ravens rushed for just 47 yards on 23 carries, though Cameron should get a little credit for not giving up on the run game. Still, their struggles are a troubling trend, especially because they coincide with those of quarterback Joe Flacco, who had yet another uneven game away from M&T Bank Stadium. Rice has carried the ball 83 times the past five games for 278 yards -- an average of 3.3 yards per carry. He hasn’t cracked 100 yards since the Week 5 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, and he has rushed for 42 yards or fewer in three of his past five games. Against the Steelers, Rice did produce with five catches for 53 yards, but his longest gain rushing the ball was just 8 yards.

It’s not all on Rice, who couldn’t find much running room Sunday and who couldn’t slip away from the aggressive Steelers when he tried to cut back across the grain. It’s a plus that All-Pro fullback Vonta Leach is seeing his snaps increase. But the Ravens offensive line -- which had a new starter at left guard in Jah Reid -- has to block better for him. For the Ravens to be at their best in cold December, January and hopefully February, they must get Rice, their best player and offensive spark plug, back in a groove. Until then, you can’t blame for Cameron losing patience, though he would be wise to keep Rice involved.   (Gene Sweeney Jr. / Baltimore Sun)

4. The Ravens entered the season with a lot of depth at cornerback -- and it is probably going to get tested more than ever after the injuries to Lardarius Webb and Jimmy Smith.

When Corey Graham signed with the Ravens this spring, he said that one of the main reasons, if not the most important, that he did it was because he wanted an opportunity to show what he could do as a defender. While he was with the Chicago Bears, Graham was “just a special teams player,” though he was a damn good one, making it to the Pro Bowl in that capacity. But the Ravens offered him an expanded role on defense, though I’m not sure they or Graham figured it would play out quite like this.

Cornerback Lardarius Webb, a budding star at the premium position, a month ago suffered his second season-ending knee injury in four seasons. Jimmy Smith, a 2011 first-round draft pick who replaced Webb in the starting lineup, didn’t play in last weekend’s win over the Oakland Raiders and underwent surgery for a sports hernia last week, putting the rest of his regular season in doubt. Graham took over for him in the starting defense, and he hasn’t looked out of place, playing well even though quarterbacks at times have picked on him. In Sunday’s 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, he picked off quarterback Byron Leftwich early in the third quarter as the Steelers were driving toward the goal line. He returned it 20 yards, almost to midfield, setting the Ravens up for a field goal that ended up being the game-winner.

Graham made a bunch of impressive plays in training camp, and whenever you asked a teammate about Webb or Smith or fellow cornerback Cary Williams, they were always quick to throw Graham’s name into the conversation. He hardly got on the field on defense early in the season, but now you see why having this kind of depth at the position is invaluable -- and you see why it was crazy for some to suggest the Ravens trade Williams after he had a couple of subpar games to start the season. That being said, the Ravens secondary is going to continue to get tested, maybe more than it has already. The pass rush had produced six sacks the past two weeks, but Leftwich still had time to scan the field on most plays Sunday. Capable quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Robert Griffin III -- and maybe Ben Roethlisberger for the rematch with the Steelers two weeks from now -- are left on the schedule, and they are probably licking their chops at the collection of castaways and late-round draft picks the Ravens are throwing out there at cornerback. Graham and the group will have something to prove, and they should get plenty of opportunities -- maybe 40 or 50 a game -- to prove their naysayers wrong.   (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

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5. There is no question the Ravens earned this win and it would be disrespectful to put an asterisk on it, but the outcome may be different if Ben Roethlisberger is healthy next time.

Not long after the Ravens ran down the tunnel at Heinz Field -- some of them wearing Terrible Towels on their heads -- I started getting bombarded on my Twitter feed with excuses from Pittsburgh Steelers fans, who tried to imply that the Ravens hadn’t really earned a victory. But Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said in the days leading up to the Ravens’ 13-10 win on Sunday that “excuses are tools for the incompetent.” The Steelers didn’t use those tools and played another hard-fought game with the Ravens, but backup quarterback Byron Leftwich, who took a pounding and whose teammates said was in a lot of pain throughout the game, lamented the many opportunities he bounced off the grass Sunday. In the Steelers locker room afterward, injured starter Ben Roethlisberger, who spent the game in gray sweats on the sideline, was nowhere to be seen, but his grisly mug was the elephant in the locker room.

The Ravens allowed 5 yards per carry to the Steelers, 31 of which came on Leftwich’s first-quarter touchdown run, but they defended the pass well, holding Leftwich to about 5 yards per throw. The Steelers missed Roethlisberger the most on third down, when the Ravens allowed them to convert just five of 17 opportunities. Instead of shrugging off defenders and slipping out of the pocket, Leftwich was mostly stationary -- after his unbelievable touchdown run -- as the Ravens teed off on him. His teammates praised him for his toughness. Offensive tackle Max Starks called Leftwich “a tiger,” but those hits took their toll.

The Steelers haven’t said when Roethlisberger might return from a sprained throwing shoulder and a dislocated rib he said threatened to puncture his aorta. But knowing him and knowing how badly the Steelers need a win to gain ground on the first-place Ravens in the AFC North, I am already envisioning Roethlisberger revising his famous horror movie villain routine, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Steelers rolled him out onto the field in a straitjacket like Hannibal Lector in “Silence of the Lambs.” The Steelers would likely pose an even greater challenge than they did Sunday, when this rivalry game went down to the wire once again. But a win won’t be guaranteed for them if Roethlisberger does return, especially considering how well the Ravens play while defending their home turf. Plus, the good news is that if the Ravens beat him, too, we won’t have to hear any excuses from Steelers fans as they sharpen those tools for the incompetent.  (Lloyd Fox / Baltimore Sun)

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