Baltimore Sun reporter Aaron Wilson breaks down the game film from Saturday's game between the Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC wild-card round at Heinz Field.
GAME PLAN: Gary Kubiak manufactured an aggressive, effective game plan built around Joe Flacco throwing deep and using sound pass-protection schemes to allow the quarterback to escape the Pittsburgh Steelers' blitz packages. The Ravens offensive coordinator came up with timely, unexpected play calls, including a bootleg pass to rookie tight end Crockett Gillmore for a touchdown. The Ravens tried unsuccessfully to establish the run, but they kept the Steelers honest with enough run attempts to make them respect play-action fakes. As a team, the Ravens rushed 25 times for 49 yards and one touchdown, averaging just 2 yards per carry. Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees had outside linebackers Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs pinch off the edge to squeeze the pocket and prevent Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from eluding pursuit. The safeties, especially Darian Stewart, provided more help over the top to cut off deep passes to Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown.
PERSONNEL: The Ravens reconfigured their offensive line once again with both starting tackles injured. With Eugene Monroe out with an ankle injury and Rick Wagner on injured reserve with a Lisfranc foot sprain, Marshal Yanda lined up at right tackle with rookie John Urschel playing right guard. Undrafted rookie James Hurst started in place of Monroe at left tackle and played every offensive snap. Tight end Owen Daniels played all but three of the Ravens' 57 snaps, with rookie Crockett Gillmore having an uptick in playing time to 39 snaps. Wide receivers Torrey Smith and Steve Smith played 40 and 35 snaps, respectively. Kamar Aiken got the bulk of the work as the third receiver with 25 snaps, a dozen more than Marlon Brown and 20 more than Jacoby Jones. Running back Justin Forsett played 50 snaps, rarely leaving the field as backup Bernard Pierce was limited to four snaps. The defensive ironmen with 100 percent playing time were cornerback Lardarius Webb and middle linebacker Daryl Smith. Rookie inside linebacker C.J. Mosley played all but one snap, and free safety Will Hill was on the field for 72 of the Ravens' 75 defensive snaps. Cornerback Rashaan Melvin missed 11 snaps after going to the locker room to be tested and ultimately cleared under the NFL's concussion testing protocol. Suggs (55 snaps), Dumervil (47 snaps), Pernell McPhee (44 snaps) and Courtney Upshaw (40 snaps) all played a lot of snaps and were productive. Strong safety Darian Stewart played 48 snaps in arguably his best game since joining the team, with Jeromy Miles and Anthony Levine playing 32 and 31 snaps, respectively, at safety. Matt Elam went up to 28 snaps, more than the 2013 first-round draft pick has played in weeks. In his return from a four-game suspension, Haloti Ngata played 50 snaps. Chris Canty played 30 snaps in his first game back from an ankle injury. Nose tackle Brandon Williams played 30 snaps and controlled the middle of the defense.
WHAT WENT RIGHT ON OFFENSE: Flacco was sharp, quickly finding his receivers and not playing cautious. He didn't regress to bad habits, as he has done in the past, and he also did a nice job of eluding pressure. Flacco completed 19 of 28 passes for 259 yards, two touchdowns and, most importantly, no interceptions for a 114.0 quarterback rating. It was easily one of his top performances of the season and was similar to his previous postseason outings. He completed 11 of 14 passes less than 10 yards. Steve Smith beat coverage consistently, creating separation to make five receptions for 101 yards on seven targets, including a leaping, contested 40-yard sideline reception that led to a touchdown. Left guard Kelechi Osemele bulldozed defensive linemen, throwing a key block on a touchdown run by Pierce in which he essentially boxed out the Steelers' Cam Heyward as if he were going up for a rebound in basketball. Daniels was a threat on intermediate and short patterns, catching four passes for 70 yards on five targets. Yanda looked fairly comfortable at tackle. Flacco only was sacked once and hit four times. The Ravens converted two of three red-zone opportunities.
WHAT WENT WRONG ON OFFENSE: Center Jeremy Zuttah was dominated by Steelers nose tackle Steve McClendon and easily could have been credited with three tackles for losses since he was shoved into the backfield so frequently to disrupt the Ravens' runs. Forsett lost a fumble, his first of the season, when he collided with Daniels. The Ravens fumbled twice overall with one lost as Zuttah recovered one by Flacco. Sam Koch had a punt blocked when long snapper Patrick Scales had a high snap.Fullback Kyle Juszczyk was beaten by Shamarko Thomas on the play, which resulted in a safety when the ball went out of the back of the end zone. Hurst gave up six quarterback pressures.
WHAT WENT RIGHT ON DEFENSE: Stewart intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and allowed no receptions. He also forced Brown out of bounds on a play in the end zone to stop a potential touchdown. Daryl Smith had a game-high 10 tackles and forced two fumbles. Mosley had nine tackles and excelled in pursuit. Suggs intercepted a pass, trapping the football between his knees. He also was stout against the run. McPhee had four quarterback hurries and two quarterback hits. Ngata had a sack, four quarterback hurries and a pass deflection. Williams had six tackles and one sack despite playing just half the snaps. After many penalties and fines this season, Upshaw picked up his first sack of the season. Elam played better than he did during the regular season, intercepting a two-point conversion attempt by Roethlisberger. Webb and Melvin had eight and seven tackles, respectively. With running back Le'Veon Bell out with a knee injury, the Steelers rushed for only 68 yards on 19 carries.
WHAT WENT WRONG ON DEFENSE: Webb was targeted a dozen times and allowed nine catches for 106 yards and a touchdown. Roethlisberger had a 129.2 quarterback rating when throwing in his direction. Brown caught nine passes for 117 yards while being targeted 14 times. Martavis Bryant caught a touchdown pass on Webb, finishing with five receptions for 61 yards. Steelers tight end Heath Miller finished with six catches for 76 yards.
KEY PLAY: Leading, 13-9, in the third quarter, Flacco rolled out to his left and immediately was under pressure from outside linebacker James Harrison. With Hurst about to give up a sack, Osemele peeled back and delivered a punishing block to knock down the former NFL Defensive Player of the Year at the last second and give Flacco time and a throwing lane. That allowed Flacco to find Torrey Smith in the left corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown pass to give the Ravens an 11-point lead they wouldn't surrender.
BEST HIT: On a strong rip move, Upshaw penetrated the backfield and slammed Roethlisberger to the ground in the fourth quarter. The hit forced Roethlisberger to the sideline briefly and forced backup Bruce Gradkowski into the game.
GAME BALLS: 1. Flacco (114.0 quarterback rating); 2. Dumervil (two sacks); 3. Steve Smith (five catches for 101 yards on seven targets); 4. Stewart (interception, pass deflection, fumble recovery); 5. Torrey Smith (key touchdown reception), Daniels (averaged 17.5 yards per reception).
INTANGIBLES: In a hostile road environment, the Ravens won a playoff game in Pittsburgh for the first time in four tries. They managed to overcome injuries along the offensive line, and Flacco had one of his best postseason performances. The defense came up big when it had to, rushing the passer to prevent Roethlisberger and his receivers from breaking the game open. And several role players contributed heavily, making up for the 19 players on injured reserve.
LOOKING AHEAD: The top-seeded New England Patriots are experienced on the sideline with coach Bill Belichick and under center with quarterback Tom Brady. New England has a potent passing game with the capability of throwing to imposing tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receivers Julian Edelman and Brandon LaFell. Their defense is led by two tough cornerbacks in Darrelle Revis and Brandon Browner. Chandler Jones is an excellent all-around defensive end, Rob Ninkovich is relentless in pursuit and massive nose tackle Vince Wilfork is stout inside. Linebackers Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower have become consistent playmakers with Jerod Mayo out for the season.