Tim Benz: Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances as Steelers stay unbeaten in Baltimore

The calendar flipped to November, and the Pittsburgh Steelers flipped the script on last week’s game in defeating the Baltimore Ravens, 28-24, on Sunday.

Last Sunday in Tennessee, the Steelers managed to hold off a surging Titans comeback in the second half after going into the locker room up 24-7.

This Sunday, they stormed back after being down 17-7 at intermission to beat the Ravens and improve to 7-0.

For the first time since 1978.

“(The Ravens) bring the best out of us, man,” coach Mike Tomlin said after the victory. “This rivalry is what it is. Hopefully, it was entertaining to football fans worldwide.”

Entertaining. Stressful. Maddening. Painful. Exhilarating. Yeah. All of that.

Makes you think you shouldn’t load up too much on Thanksgiving dinner before the rematch in a few weeks. Your stomach is probably going to be doing backflips for four quarters.

So thanks to the Steelers for making “Feats of Strength/Airing of Grievances” still possible to write every week. Because at 7-0 and after beating Baltimore, Tennessee and the Cleveland Browns the last three weeks, I really shouldn’t have anything to complain about.

But if they keep giving us 30 minutes per game to wring our hands, it’s going to happen.

Feats of strength

Seeing red: The story of this game was determined by two sequences in the red zone.

And one play in the end zone.

Ben Roethlisberger’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Chase Claypool gave the Steelers a 28-24 lead in the fourth quarter.

You love to see it!@ChaseClaypool | ? CBS ?https://t.co/tI5aUTu7te pic.twitter.com/jnpvs2XojD

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 1, 2020

Then the Ravens came back down the field and got to the Steelers’ 8-yard line before Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson got stuffed on a fourth-and-3. Technically, Jackson was ruled to have fumbled. But he was stopped short anyway. So the Ravens lost the ball in either case.

Robert Spillane, Vince Williams, Isaiah Buggs and Minkah Fitzpatrick converged on the play.

The @Steelers get the stop on 4th down.

?: #PITvsBAL on CBS
?: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/J6oAb5WnGm pic.twitter.com/77VcQfi1No

— NFL (@NFL) November 1, 2020

After a punt, the Steelers then allowed Baltimore to get all the way to the 23-yard line before Jackson threw the ball to the goal line. It was broken up by Fitzpatrick and Justin Layne to seal the game.

He can’t hurt you from there: As a follow-up to that, though, by scoring on that Claypool touchdown, the Steelers made sure one thing wasn’t going to decide this game in the fourth quarter.

Justin Tucker’s foot.

Tucker might be the best kicker in NFL history by the time his career is done, if he isn’t already. He nailed a 51-yard field goal earlier in the game, and he booted the Steelers off the Heinz Field turf last year in overtime.

Not to mention a few other times in his career.

But there is one place where even Tucker and his limitless range can’t make a field goal.

From the sideline. If anyone is capable of hitting a four-point field goal, it’s him. Luckily, no such rule applies in the NFL yet.

Claypool’s touchdown made sure this game couldn’t be decided or pushed to overtime by Tucker in two straight possessions.

Jamming Jackson: We spent a lot of time this week talking about how this season hasn’t been as smooth for Jackson as last year was.

He was the NFL MVP in 2019. Most of his numbers this season are off from last year’s pace.

And the Steelers, for the most part, kept him struggling. At least in the passing game.

Yes, Jackson hurt the Steelers with his legs, running for 65 yards. He also had a sparkling touchdown taken off the board thanks to a penalty.

But through the air and in the turnover department, the Steelers defense was a nightmare for Jackson. He lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions, including a mysterious throw coming out of the locker room to start the third quarter.

After churning 179 yards rushing in the first half and just 75 passing with one interception and a second one overturned, the Ravens had Jackson throw on first down after their defense forced a quick punt on the Steelers’ first possession of the second half.

The pick by rookie linebacker Alex Highsmith changed the momentum of the game, as Eric Ebron scored on a pass from Roethlisberger two snaps later.

First career interception for @highsmith34!

? CBS ?https://t.co/tI5aUTu7te pic.twitter.com/IJdB7RSKWe

— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) November 1, 2020

Highsmith said Jackson was trying to replicate a completion Jackson made against him earlier in the game when the Steelers were in a defensive look that had three outside linebackers on the field.

“When that play started, I knew they would come back to that,” Highsmith said. “I learned from that play. I just dropped deeper. And the ball fell right into my hands.”

“Say Goodbye to Hollywood … ”: Jackson’s top wide receiver is Marquise “Hollywood” Brown. But the Steelers did a good job of neutralizing him.

Brown caught a 3-yard touchdown pass. But that was his only reception of the day, and he only had two targets.

Jackson’s main pass-catching weapon is tight end Mark Andrews. But the Steelers limited the Pro Bowl tight end to just three catches and 32 yards.

As a result of the attention paid to those options, Willie Snead IV was a surprising pain. He had 106 yards receiving on five catches.

Depth charges: The Steelers depth players responded in some crucial ways. We mentioned how Spillane and Buggs were in on that key stop of Jackson. Highsmith had the interception. Layne helped break up the last pass of the game.

But Spillane also had an interception return for a touchdown to open the scoring in the first half. That play accompanied 10 solo tackles, a fumble recovery and another pass defensed.

The injuries are mounting for the Steelers. And maybe some cracks are showing. But depth players are doing the job in the meantime.

Meanwhile, starting defensive lineman Stephon Tuitt was excellent. He had two sacks and three tackles for loss in the game as he watched fellow starting defensive linemen Cameron Heyward and Tyson Alualu go down with injuries.

Airing of grievances

“About those injuries … ”: Heyward went down at one point in the second half because of what Tomlin determined as potentially a cramp. But Heyward limped off the field again with eight seconds left. Tomlin couldn’t speak to the diagnosis.

Tomlin also didn’t have any further clarification on Alualu’s injury.

Plus, Keith Butler’s defense is already playing without Devin Bush and Mike Hilton. So the ranks are getting pulled thin.

Running wild: It doesn’t matter who was running the ball for the Ravens. Everyone was effective.

Rookie running back J.K. Dobbins had 113 yards on the ground. Gus Edwards had 87. And Jackson had 65 for a total of 265 yards allowed on the ground by a Steelers defense that was the best in football in that category coming into the game.

The Steelers had only allowed 413 on the ground the whole season before Sunday.

The Ravens averaged 5.6 yards per carry. The other six Steelers opponents averaged 3.4 yards.

“We went into the game minus some significant run defenders like Mike Hilton,” Tomlin said. “The loss of Tyson Alualu really stressed us in terms of matching their power in that area. They are a really strong running team.”

Unless those three guys are back next weekend, the Steelers are going to have to scheme around that problem versus the Dallas Cowboys.

Just kidding, J.K.: Actually, I’m kinda glad about this one.

I pointed out a few weeks ago how Pittsburgh fans and media were taking unnecessary shots at Dobbins because Claypool was working out so well.

The 20-20 hindsight tweets about the draft weekend debate between Dobbins and Claypool got ridiculous. The “how do you like J.K. Dobbins now?” routine was awfully thick while Claypool was tearing up the league for two games against the Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles.

Meanwhile, Dobbins was flashing when given a chance. But he wasn’t getting a lot of playing time behind Mark Ingram.

Well, now Ingram is hurt, and Dobbins tore up the Steelers for 16 touches and 121 yards from scrimmage.

So, maybe it’s time to get “Old Tweets Exposed” involved.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: This “Tale of Two Halves” thing is unreal.

On Sunday, the Steelers were rotten to start the game, trailing 17-7 at halftime. Consider these first-half stats:

• Baltimore had the ball for 20 minutes, 9 seconds in the first half. They had 45 snaps on offense to 20 for the Steelers.

• The Ravens had 179 rushing yards and 254 total yards. The Steelers had only 64 yards of total offense.

• Baltimore had 16 first downs. The Steelers only had five.

But the Steelers adjusted in the second half and outscored Baltimore, 21-7, en route to the win.

You can pretty much guarantee the 2020 Steelers are going to be great for 30 minutes. And in the other 30, you are going to wonder, “How is this team unbeaten, exactly?”

The New York Giants, Houston, Denver and Tennessee games all have been defined by 30 to 35 minutes of good football from the Steelers, while the other half of those games allowed the opposition to nearly pull off victories.