Ravens report cards: The defense and special teams 9/11/2014
The Baltimore Ravens beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 26 to 6 Thursday night in dominating fashion. For the report card on the offense go here. The Ravens defense did not allow a touchdown the entire game.
Defensive line: The defensive line played well pressuring the quarterback and holding the Steelers run game down. The Steelers only had 99 rushing yards but did allow a five yard average. The Ravens sacked Ben Roethlisberger twice but should have had another one that was taken away on a bad call. Haloti Ngata had an interception and DeAngelo Tyson had a fumble recovery. Grade B+
Linebackers: This unit has something special in C.J. Mosley who forced a fumble and recovered it. Mosley was also second on the team with nine tackles and played well sideline to sideline. Daryl Smith had eight tackles as well playing lights out. Terrell Suggs was doubled teamed a lot but still had three tackles. Grade A
Secondary: Jimmy Smith played outstanding, the Steelers rarely threw in his direction. Matt Elam lead the team in tackles with ten, he played much better in this game. The Ravens secondary played very well as a whole only allowing 217 total yards in the air. Roethlisberger only averaged 5.9 yards per pass, which is extremely low. Grade B+
Overall: The defense did not allow a touchdown and only allowed two field goals. The defense hit extremely hard and played fast with tons of energy. great game all around. Grade A
Special teams: Nothing flashy but Justin Tucker did complete all four field goal attempts. The special teams unit did not allow a long return all game. Grade B+
Coaching staff: What can we say about the coaching staff. The Ravens had a very short week and had a media circus with the whole Ray Rice situation all week. No one was expecting the Ravens to come out to play and they just dominated. Great job by the coaching staff. Grade A+++
