The 23-20 overtime victory over the Steelers was too sweet to forget about it a few days later.
Now that you’ve had a weekend to sit back and enjoy a stress-free Sunday of NFL football, let’s review Baltimore’s first win of the year.
All of these plays were viewed using NFL Game Pass, which is available for fans to purchase.
Play Where Smith Was First Injured?
Wide receiver Steve Smith Sr.
left Thursday’s game with an injury that Head Coach John Harbaugh described as “small microfractures in his back.” When asked about the injury after the game, Smith said Steelers safety Mike Mitchell speared him in the back and then said, “how do you like that?” But the play that ultimately forced Smith out of the game was late in the third quarter when linebacker Lawrence Timmons hit him along the sidelines.
Mitchell, however, did hit Smith in the back in the first quarter (video below). After the tackle, Mitchell then appeared to get in Smith’s face while the two players were still on the ground. If that first-quarter tackle is where the injury first occurred, then it’s pretty remarkable that Smith played through the pain for two more quarters.
Yanda Crushing Run Blocker
Right guard Marshal Yanda has established himself as one of the NFL’s top guards, and perhaps the league’s best overall run blocker. He’s graded as the best run blocker in the NFL by Pro Football Focus, and plays like this show how dominant he is at the line of scrimmage. The Ravens had Yanda pull on this fourth-quarter run, and he opened a huge running lane for Justin Forsett with a crushing block on Steelers linebacker Sean Spence.
Earlier in the game, Yanda paved the way for Forsett on a 33-yard carry through the middle of Pittsburgh’s defense. Watching how Yanda finishes blocks is a lesson in near perfect fundamentals. On this play, he pushed defensive end Stephon Tuitt off the ball and then continued to block him more than 10 yards down field. That’s what you call finishing a block.
Game’s Most Overlooked Play
In a game with a thrilling overtime finish, it can be easy to overlook some critical plays down the stretch. The 17-yard catch by rookie receiver Darren Waller in the fourth quarter falls into that category. That play came on Baltimore’s final possession of regulation and helped set up the game-tying field goal. It was the first catch of Waller’s career, and the sixth-round pick did a great job of finding the soft spot in the coverage and then turning upfield once he got the ball in his hands. The catch-and-run jump started the game-tying drive when the Ravens needed somebody to step up and make a play.
Standard Williams Dominance
It seems like every week defensive lineman Brandon Williams does something that stands out on film. The 335-pound defender is virtually unblockable in some situations, and he can wreak havoc in the backfield if offenses don’t account for him. That ability was evident on Pittsburgh’s first play from scrimmage, when Williams ran through a pair of offensive linemen to put a big hit on quarterback Mike Vick. The Steelers tried to set up a screen pass to tight end Heath Miller, which is why the linemen broke away from Williams, but the Baltimore defender blew the play up before it even had a chance.
Where Did The Fans Go?
Heinz Field has a reputation as one of the toughest places to play in the NFL, but a number of the hometown fans made an early run for the exit. The video shots of the scoreboard on the coaches’ film show plenty of extra seats in the game’s final minutes.
