Winners
Joe Haden – After a red zone interception thrown by Roethlisberger in the first quarter, the Ravens’ offense took over at their own 6-yard line. On third-and-4 from the Ravens’ 12-yard line, Haden picked off Robert Griffin III and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown to give the Steelers a 6-0 lead. Chris Boswell missed the extra point. Haden recorded his second career interception return for a touchdown, 29th career interception and 10th since joining the Steelers in 2017. Haden's last and only other interception return for a touchdown was in 2013 when he was with the Cleveland Browns against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 11.
Minkah Fitzpatrick – The Ravens had the ball on the Steelers' 1-yard line with the clock running after the Steelers stopped Gus Edwards on second-and-goal, Griffin got the play off with three seconds remaining in the first half and threw a pass to Luke Wilson, which appeared to be a touchdown, but he couldn’t haul in the catch after Fitzpatrick made an incredible play on the ball to force the incompletion. The clock ran out and the Steelers went into the half leading 12-7.
T.J. Watt – Watt was all over the field today and was a handful for Ravens’ right tackle D.J. Fluker to block. Watt finished the game with seven total tackles (four solos), two sacks, three tackles for a loss and three quarterback hits. Watt now has 11 sacks this year, which is the most in the league. He is right there with Los Angeles Rams' defensive tackle Aaron Donald when it comes to the running for Defensive Player of the Year. Watt and Bud Dupree have combined for 17.5 sacks this season, which is the most combined sacks by teammates in the league. Watt is on pace for 16 sacks and 48 quarterback hits this year. Watt would join his brother J.J. (2014, 2015) as the only players since quarterback hits began being tracked in 2006 to have 15-plus sacks and 45-plus quarterback hits -- and J.J. won DPOY both years.
James Washington – Washington had just two receptions for 19 yards on the day, but his 16-yard catch on third-and-6 was the play of the game. Roethlisberger floated the ball up and Washington made a great contested catch for the first down. The Steelers would hold onto their 19-14 lead and closed the game out after a couple of Snell first down runs after Washington’s catch.
Benny Snell Jr. – Snell had a solid performance rushing for 60 yards on 16 carries (3.8) average, along with three receptions for 33 yards (11.0 average). Snell was impressive especially on the Steelers’ final possession to close out the game with two runs that went for first downs, one of those coming on a 13-yard run. Snell also ran over Ravens’ cornerback Marcus Peters on a physical 7-yard run on that final drive.
Losers
Red zone offense – The offense had great field position at the Ravens’ 21-yard line after Griffin fumbled at the mesh point on the handoff and Vince Williams recovered the loose ball. The offense got the ball down to the Ravens’ 1-yard line and went for it on fourth-and-goal, which resulted in Roethlisberger getting picked off by outside linebacker Tyus Bowser in the end zone. Roethlisberger had a wide-open Derek Watt in the end zone on the play but failed to see him. The Steelers had a promising drive on their third possession of the game but stalled once they got into the red zone. Benny Snell Jr. got tackled for a loss of two yards on first-and-goal, Chase Claypool had a drop in the end zone albeit it was tight coverage by Ravens' cornerback Marlon Humphrey on second-and-goal and then Diontae Johnson had a bad drop on third-and-goal. The Steelers had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by Boswell to give the Steelers a 9-7 lead with 11:50 remaining in the second quarter. On their next possession, the offense got stopped again in the red zone. The offense had the ball on the Ravens’ 8-yard line and Roethlisberger threw three straight passes and completed just one, which went for a 1-yard loss to JuJu Smith-Schuster on first-and-goal. On the next two plays, Roethlisberger threw an incompletion to James Washington in the end zone and then Eric Ebron had a drop even though he would have likely been tackled well short of the end zone. Boswell’s kick was good from 27 yards to put the Steelers up 12-7 with 4:27 left in the second quarter. The Steelers finished the game scoring just once on four trips to the red zone.
Ray-Ray McCloud – With the Steelers leading 7-0 in the first quarter and following a three-and-out forced by the defense, McCloud muffed the punt and Anthony Levine Sr. recovered the loose ball at the Steelers’ 17-yard line for Baltimore. The Ravens capitalized off the turnover and four plays later Edwards plunged into the end zone for a 1-yard score to give the Ravens a 7-6 lead with 2:07 remaining in the first quarter.
Third-down offense – The Steelers struggled in the red zone and on third down today, especially when it came to short-yardage situations. The Steelers finished the game converting just six of 14 third-down attempts. They would have been better on third down if the receivers didn’t have so many drops.
The drops – It was the worst game all year by the receiving core, as the receivers just couldn't catch the ball. Roethlisberger should have had a lot more than the 266 yards passing he had in the game. I counted nine drops by the Steelers' receivers in the game. Johnson had three drops and Ebon had two drops. Claypool had two drops as well, dropping a deep pass by Roethlisberger in the first quarter and failed to come up with the catch in the end zone. Washington also had a drop in the end zone and Smith Schuster had a drop as well. It was just an ugly day overall for the receivers today.
Terrell Edmunds – Trace McSorley replaced Griffin in the fourth quarter and threw a 70-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown late in the fourth quarter to cut the Steelers lead to 19-14. Edmunds took a bad angle on the play and missed the tackle, and Brown was off to the races for the score.