Tale of The Tape
KEY STAT | STEELERS | RAVENS |
PPG OFFENCE | 24 (10/32) | 29.9 (3/32) |
PPG DEFENCE | 18.9 (6/32) | 23.7 (22/32) |
PASSING YPG OFFENCE | 198.9 (24/32) | 245.6 (3/32) |
PASSING YPG DEFENCE | 222.3 (22/32) | 258.9 (31/32) |
RUSHING YPG OFFENCE | 126.6 (10/32) | 178.4 (2/32) |
RUSHING YPG DEFENCE | 94.2 (4/32) | 80.7 (1/32) |
Keys to victory
keys to victory
1. Make Lamar uncomfortable
It is clear that Lamar has issues when facing the Steelers, there is a pattern of underwhelming performances and despite the obvious quality the Steelers defence has, he seems to struggle more against them than other elite defences. Earlier in the season the Steelers managed to pressure Lamar 29% of the time - ultimately leading to poor decisions; the main way of doing this was through the blitz which they utilised on 15 of his 33 pass attempts. The health of TJ will obviously be crucial to this and it may mean that Highsmith and Herbig may need to step up in this game.
2. Unleash the MUUUUUUUTH
The Raven’s Defence gave up the 5th most yards to tight ends in the league, and although earlier in the season they actually did a good job of blanketing Friermuth - he received 2 targets, Darnell Washington had a massive TD on the day. Friermuth has been able to take advantage of defences who are poor against tight ends in other games this season with the most obvious example being against the Bengals. While George Pickens had a great game vs the Ravens earlier in the season, this would be his first game back from injury if he even plays, so I’m not as confident that he couldplay up to his normal level, and I feel that Nate Wiggins could be a tough match up for Calvin Austin as they will cancel each others speed out.
3. Win the time of possession battle
I think this is a very underrated stat at times against elite qb’s and particularly against Lamar, while blitzes, false pressures, spies etc is an obvious way of unsettling him. I think that simply keeping him off the field for long spells of time can also have as much of an impact making it harder for the offence to get into a rhythm while simultaneously tiring out the Raven’s defence. This has caused many an elite QB to lose games and this could be no different here, the most obvious way for this to happen would be to utilise the rushing attack again. Baltimore rank best in the league for rushing defence but the Steelers managed to find success last time with a mixture of Harris/Warren/Fields. Wilson accepting check downs to hopefully keep drives going and the clock ticking is also a key part of this - and this hasn’t been something Wilson has been great at this year, utilising TE’s and RB’s in the passing attack would be a good way of doing this.
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