3 Takeaways from the Steelers win in Baltimore

By: Donny Chedrick  

Photo creds to TribLive

It was a gutsy win, but a rather dominant one. A win that was more convincing than the 23-16 score showed.

The Steelers outplayed the Ravens in basically every facet of the game Sunday, aside from kicking extra points. Whether it was near 13-minute advantage the Pittsburgh held in possession time, the 130 total yards edge while leading in passing and rushing, or converting 10-16 third downs compared to the 4-12 conversion rate from the Ravens, it was a dominant performance on both sides of the ball. Here on some takeaways from what was the Steelers' most significant win of 2018 thus far.

Domination on the Offensive Front 

Matt Feiler has done an admirable job stepping in at right tackle (photocredsto247sports.com)

It was perhaps the best performance of the season for the offensive line, and that's more impressive considering starting right tackle Marcus Gilbert was out with injury. WithGilbert gone, Pittsburgh turned to Matt Feiler, who ended his Sunday being the 11th ranked tackle out 51 in the NFL that played at least 25 snaps. The whole line posted impressive rankings and spoiler – Feiler was the “worst.”

Out of the 50 guards that played at least 25 snaps Sunday across the league, Ramon Foster and David DeCastro ranked eighth and ninth, respectively.  Left tackle Alejandro Villanueva was the seventh-best tackle out of the 51 that qualified and center Maurkice Pouncey was the second-best middleman in the league against the Ravens. Against one of the best overall defenses in football, the Steelers offensive line stood up to the task.

The defense has figured it out

Stephon Tuitt gets a hand on Joe Flacco (Photo creds to Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)

The Steelers defense didn't force a turnover, but once again, the unit showed improvement. The same defense played the same quarterback (Joe Flacco) in Week 4 and got burned. Week 9 was a different story. The front seven was strong and the secondary, for the most part, limited the big throws for Flacco – although he did get his usual three pass interference calls. In total, the Ravens picked up just 265 total yards, and only 61 on the ground.  It seems that this crew is settling into a spot that was seen a lot last year. Obviously, Ryan Shazier was in the 2017 edition of the Steelers defense, but Jon Bostic has impressed and then some so far this season.

Boswell is still a concern

Those who were expecting big things out of Chris Boswell this year have been MISStaken (Photo creds to Washington Post.)

It should continue to worry Steelers fans that the recently extended, “franchise” kicker has continued to struggle for the first half of the 2018-2019 season after signing his name on the dotted line in the off-season. Although he has still been money on field goal attempts between 20-39 yards, he is 1-4 on kicks more than 40 yards this season, which draws a huge concern. Another, perhaps even bigger problem, is his extra points. Coming into this season, in three years of NFL service,  Boswell missed a total of three PAT's. 26-27 in 2015, 36-36 in 2016, 37-39 with multiple game-winners in 2017. Then there is this year.

22-26, including another miss against the Ravens, a percentage of 84.6 -- by far his worst in his career and the season is only at the halfway point. If the trend continues, it could cost the Steelers wins and a potential run in the playoffs.