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Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer
PITTSBURGH — Many of the Baltimore Ravens players, including quarterback Lamar Jackson, sat in disbelief at their lockers after a 17-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
The Ravens spoke about the need to fix their mistakes, which included three turnovers, five dropped passes, a blocked punt for a safety and a miscommunication at the end of the first half that eliminated a chance at a field goal.
“It’s almost like a sleeping giant, man,” Ravens tight end Mark Andrews said. “We need to wake up.”
Instead of a victory that would have allowed the Ravens to sweep all of their AFC North road games this season, Baltimore (3-2) is now in a first-place tie with the Steelers.
The Ravens showed how out of sync they were at the end of the first half, when coach John Harbaugh said a “miscommunication” took away an opportunity at a 40-yard field goal. Baltimore wanted to run down the clock in the final minute before kicking the field goal, but center Tyler Linderbaum mistakenly snapped the ball when he thought he saw a Steelers defender jump offside. A surprised Jackson threw an incomplete pass on fourth down and the Ravens led only 10-3 at halftime.
“Really, it’s on me just understanding the situation and making sure that he gets across the ball before I snap it,” Linderbaum said. “That’s my fault not being aware and putting our team in a bad situation.”
Baltimore also left points on the field because of its inability to catch the ball. The Ravens dropped five passes, which were its most in a game since 2021. Wide receiver Rashod Bateman couldn’t hold on to a third-down pass in the end zone in the second quarter.
“That stuff can’t be contagious,” Andrews said. “If one [drop] happens, whatever, [we have to] move on and get to the next play. We need to be better. Obviously, Lamar is putting the ball right where it needs to be, and we need to be there for him and make plays. We do that, we win this game.”
In the fourth quarter, Jackson threw an interception in the end zone and fumbled while getting sacked, his seventh fumble of the season.
“Well, we emphasize it in practice every day, and we’ll just keep working to do that,” Harbaugh said of the turnovers. “There’s a lot of things that go into that. Obviously, you have a great pass rush out there, they’re bringing heat in those situations, and [we’re] trying to make plays and do the things we have to do. So, it’s definitely something we’ll be chasing going forward. It’s not something that we want to do. It makes a difference in games, there’s no doubt about it.”
Jackson is now 1-3 against the Steelers, the only team against which he has thrown more interceptions (seven) than touchdown passes (four).
Jackson was asked if the Ravens gave the game away to the Steelers.
“I believe so,” Jackson said. “We didn’t want to, but [we had] little mishaps. We’re right there. We had [the Steelers] beat. [On] offense, we had to find our groove; we didn’t find it. The defense played a great game — kept stopping, kept giving us opportunities. We’ve just got to do what we do [and] finish drives.”
Source: www.espn.com