OTL: I’m Really Sick of This

It’s Thursday and I’m still mad about what transpired on Sunday. The Ravens are going to lose the division because they lost a regular season football game, in 2024, to a team with Russell Wilson at quarterback. They did so while not allowing a single touchdown and scoring two of their own, more evidence of the ridiculous voodoo magic Pittsburgh possesses.

Here’s an incredible stat. The Steelers beat the Ravens scoring zero TDs while allowing two, the 11th team to ever do so.

In NFL history, teams are now 11-2,074 when scoring zero TDs and allowing 2+. Pittsburgh had lost their previous 76 such games. #Steelers

— Alex Kozora (@Alex_Kozora) November 20, 2024

At some point, the Ravens learning the same lessons year after year after year has to get tiresome. After all, if you have to keep being taught, you aren’t really “learning” anything.

This isn’t a young football team. They’ve been there and done that with this Steelers team time and time again. I’ve been a staunch John Harbaugh defender, but even I can acknowledge that Mike Tomlin has been feeding him his lunch for years.

The Ravens have one win against the Steelers since 2019. ONE. They’re 1-8 in their last nine matchups. A bad record against Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes? Sure. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick? Fine. A record that bad against a team that you’re supposed to be rivals with is absolutely inexcusable, especially when they’ve been mediocre for most of these seasons.

Perhaps I’m going over ground that my colleagues have already covered, but this situation really is that dire. Losing to Pittsburgh at that clip should be sounding off every alarm bell in The Castle. Being “owned” by Mahomes is one thing. Being “owned” by the Pittsburgh Steelers – Kenny Pickett and now the corpse of Russell Wilson – is unacceptable and shows a systematic failure. The Ravens pride themselves on being big and bad.

Pittsburgh is better at it than they are, at least when it’s Ravens-Steelers week.

This clip makes my blood boil:

Louis Riddick shares his thoughts on why Mike Tomlin has had John Harbaugh’s number in recent years:

“Let me tell you why Pittsburgh beats Baltimore: it’s the mentality. … The best line he’s ever told me is this: ‘They love to be the bully, and we love to play the bully. We… pic.twitter.com/jKjiRaj6JY

— Bobby Trosset (@bobbybaltim0re) November 19, 2024

They’ve got them. They’ve got them right where they want them twice a year and it’s a massive problem. Make no mistake. The AFC North crown will be decided at M&T Bank stadium in December. The Ravens have until then to figure out how to win a football game against the team in black and yellow.

Because I’m an optimist (or insane) I try to paint this team with as positive a brush as I can manage. That is quite easy to do when Lamar Jackson is suiting up. That said, he needs to be better against Pittsburgh, and he knows it. He can’t keep having his worst games of the season against the Steelers. He needs to look like the $250 Million man that he is.

It might seem unfair to put that on Lamar – he didn’t fumble twice or miss two field goals – but this is what he is paid to do. These are games he needs to stop losing. The fact is that he didn’t play well, regardless of the mistakes of his teammates.

That’s all I have to say about the current state of the Ravens-Steelers series. We will circle back to this in about a month. Los Angeles and a prime time slot await.

The post OTL: I’m Really Sick of This appeared first on Russell Street Report.