Tim Benz: Final 2019 airing of grievances after Ravens humiliate and eliminate Steelers

The Steelers’ 2019 season is over.

Technically, so is Festivus.

But that’s not going to stop us from engaging in the “Airing of Grievances” about the Steelers one more time before the calendar turns to 2020.

Believe me, after what we saw in Baltimore to wrap up the year, there is plenty to get off our chests before a long winter’s nap.

A nap that will be at least one week longer than it could’ve been before the Steelers house of cards collapsed in December.

We’ll get to that big picture stuff later in the week. But let’s focus on what went wrong specifically in Baltimore, as the Steelers were trounced by the Ravens’ second-teamers Sunday, 28-10.

Because it seemed even more lopsided than that.

Especially bad special teams

The Steelers had a sequence where, over the span of four special-teams snaps, the following things happened:

• The Steelers allowed Baltimore to convert a fake punt from its own 11-yard line.

? FAKE PUNT ALERT?@ALevine41 gets it!@RGIII loves it ? pic.twitter.com/bhhXiHyMze

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 30, 2019

• Steelers punter Jordan Berry dropped a snap, which resulted in a Ravens touchdown.

TOUCHDOWN ❗️❗️❗️❗️ pic.twitter.com/28LUGS6rhx

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 30, 2019

That made the score 26-10 Baltimore.

• On the ensuing kickoff, Kerrith Whyte misplayed the return, and the Steelers had to start on their own six-yard line. Devlin “Duck” Hodges ended up taking a safety thanks to a penalty for intentional grounding in the end zone.

So, a wonderful day all around for coordinator Danny Smith’s boys.

Put that on Twitter

It was another difficult contest for the shell of what remains of JuJu Smith-Schuster.

The Steelers wide receiver may still be a social media darling. But he is nothing close to the Pro Bowler he was a year ago.

Yes, Smith-Schuster is battling through knee pain. However, that doesn’t explain why he can’t catch all of the sudden.

Early in the game he had two passes which he didn’t corral. They would’ve been difficult catches. They were hard plays. But they were catches a “perceived No. 1” receiver should make. Much like a pair that he missed last week in a loss against the New York Jets.

Then, in the fourth quarter, a wet ball slipped right through his fingers and nearly into the arms of a Baltimore defender, but it fell incomplete.

Smith-Schuster had just two catches on the day. One went for 11 yards on a shovel pass. The other lost five yards.

Over his last five games, Smith-Schuster never exceeded three catches. He never exceeded 44 yards receiving. And he never scored a touchdown.

Between injury, ineffectiveness and incapable quarterback play, Smith-Schuster was one of the league’s biggest busts in 2019.

All of the endorsements and cute Instagram videos in the world won’t change that.

Run defense

The 2019 Baltimore Ravens set the NFL record for the most rushing yards in a season with 3,296.

No. Not all on Sunday. It just felt that way.

RB @GodsGiftGus13 has 9 carries for 81 yards in the first half. ? pic.twitter.com/IuL3USrStY

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 29, 2019

Coordinator Keith Butler’s vaunted defense allowed 223 yards rushing on the afternoon. The Ravens averaged 5.1 yards per carry.

In the previous meeting between the teams, the Steelers limited Baltimore to just 138 yards on the ground. Only Buffalo (118 yards allowed on Dec. 8) did a better job containing the Ravens rush attack.

When the two teams met back in Week 5, Pro Bowl quarterback Lamar Jackson, running back Mark Ingram, and offensive linemen Ronnie Stanley and Marshal Yanda all dressed for Baltimore.

None of those guys played Sunday. But the likes of Gus Edwards (130 yards) and Robert Griffin III (50 yards) gashed the Steelers anyway.

Conversely, the Steelers rushed for only 91 yards, the 11th time they were held under 100 for the season.

Lousy O-line

The Steelers offensive line played below the high standard we used to expect of that unit.

Sadly, that’s become the norm in 2019.

Hodges was only sacked twice. But he was under pressure a lot more often than that. The safety was a good example.

Blitz pick-ups were an issue much of the night. Defensive backs such as Chuck Clark and Brandon Carr came free on a few occasions to blow up plays.

And the Steelers rush attack failed to yield a 100-yard rusher for the ninth straight week.

Furthermore, the ability to stay on the field offensively wasn’t there, and that begins up front. The Ravens had the ball 19 minutes more than the Steelers.

Another bad start

Baltimore began the afternoon shoving the ball down the throat of the Steelers defense on the game’s opening drive.

The Ravens offense pounded out 40 yards, over 11 plays, in 7:04. That resulted in a Justin Tucker field goal.

It was the eighth time in the last 10 games when the opponent scored first.

The Steelers offense did nothing on its first possession to offset that score by going three-and-out over 44 piddly seconds of possession time. Baltimore then kept the ball for the next 4:24 en route to another field goal drive.

The Steelers only had possession for nine plays and 3:23 of the first quarter.