Its painful to see Todd Heap disappear from the offense. If he ges it back together, the offense can have something.

It amazes me how poised Joe Flacco is under pressure. He is phenomenal for a rookie QB. I think the Ravens will grow into a better team and last night's game gave us every indication that this is going to be a much better team than last year's edition. The Steelers paid dearly for their victory as they lost their starting right guard, their first round draft choice running back and several others while being punished by the Ravens. One thing about the Ravens: teams remember us.

Mr Young has a history of criticisms, verbal barbs and condescending remarks regarding the Ravens, so it is no surprise he would make such a statement. Some people just aren't happy. Maybe he just needs a hug and a warm glass of milk?

It's no news the national sports media hates Baltimore and always has. Ron Jaworski was the only MNF commentator who seemed to recognize and appreciate Joe Flacco and the rest of John Harbaugh's first year revamped offense. On both sides of the ball, the Ravens played a very respectable game and showed how far they have come. People like Tony Kornheiser, who is constantly putting his foot in his mouth and has never done anything in his life except make inept comments about a sport he could never play, annoy Baltimore viewers but I'm sure that's his intent. Oh and Steve Young is a has-been idiot.

It seems that the players are to blame for their continued undisciplined play. It was supposedly Brian Billick's fault. Now we see that the players are actualy responsible for therr own behavior. What a novel concept.

Let's put lil' Stevie up against the Steeler's blitz with our young offensive line and see how he does!
I thought the Ravens played very well, with a couple of lapses in execution.
They needed to be more aggressive in the 2nd half, as they were in the first.

Steve Young is an idiot. He isn't familiar with the Ravens in any way, and bases his knowledge on the team on the handful of games he's watched when we play on the national stage. He's uninformed, and his assessment carries no weight.

The ESPN "experts" vacillate between extremes, in EVERY assessment of a team. One week, a team is in the dumpster and considered by them to be awful, and the next week they are lauding their tremendous accomplishments. See Brett Favre two weeks ago, and then this weekend. They are hyperbolic idiots with no concept that it is a 16 week season. I give their opinions zero credibility.

Why is it that every analysis of the Ravens of current or past seem to belittle their growth and accomplishments. Now Steve if you were that much of a football GURU, you would be coaching!

Why did Tony Kornheiser refuse to say anything remotely positive about the ravens? It got so bad that Jaws even made a comment about it. Everything that the ravens did well was flipped in his mouth to the Steelers doing wrong. And anything that the ravens (especially flacco or the offense) was because the Steelers screwed up or blew coverage. He even failed to recognize a comment by Jaws when he said "Well it is the Ravens Defense." Kornheiser just laughed it off. On a national televised game, analysts cannot voice biases. Did anyone else notice how poor he was at refraining to do this?

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Keep in mind that Tony makes a living skewering people, not complimenting them. I've always gone on the assumption that if Tony likes you, you're probably doing something wrong. He doesn't like me, so I guess I have to have that philosophy.

Like all the other commentators on ESPN (and every other channel), Young's comments were like chaff drifting with the wind: support the winner, chastize the loser. Just like his number, Young needs to be retired.

As Ravens fans, we should be proud of our team and their performance last night. I look forward to the rest of the season.

.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: I do too, because I believe they learned something from what happened that will help them in Indy and the other tough road stadiums.

Love them STEELERS!!!!

I thought it was a good game overall. A test for the players and a nail biter for the fans of both sides. Now, I'm glad the Steelers became victorius, But I'm not naive enough to believe that one play or series of downs didn't make the outcome. One more pass completion or first down in either direction would change the game and the so called annoucers would be calling one team more dominant than the other. The Steelers used experience over rookies, but you can't get any closer of a game. The Ravens should not hang their heads.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: They won't, and I agree it was a very good game and they showed a lot. Hopefully, they learn from a couple of those mistakes and are better in their next road game.

Steve Young has always been a Ravens hater. I have never heard him say one good thing about the Ravens.

I honestly think the Ravens offense is a lot better than its been in a long time. No, its not going to turn into San Diego offense overnight, but its not a Billick offense anymore either.

I actually agree with both Steve Young and Peter Schmuck.

I think Young is talking about the many drives that resulted in very little, even lost yardage rather than the unfortunate turn of events. If so, he's right.

But I also agree with Schmuck that the overall analysis of where this team is -- not just Flacco -- and where it may be heading (hopefully) does indeed bode well.

Give it up for the Steelers. They Won the game. So the Raven's lost, but R'burger won the game with his ability to make plays. How many teams would drive down the field in OT to win the game against the Steelers? Not many.

.............................................................................................
Pete's reply: Not many would drive down the field to score a tying touchdown at Heinz Field in the final minutes, so give Flacco some credit too. It was a very good game.

At half time you would have thought the Ravens, Joe Flacco and John Harbaugh were the second coming according to the talking heads. At the end of the game they were all bums.

As a fan I was disappointed they lost but happy that they showed well on the national stage. Finishing games is tough or everyone would be able to do it. Joe and John have had a steep learning curve but they do learn and don't repeat mistakes. Billick was still trying to learn how to finish games years into his learning curve. Of course getting a lead was an even bigger problem for Billick. We have a great kid in Joe Flacco with an excellent future; what Steve Young doesn't know about Flacco and the Ravens would fill a book. His attack was ill founded and lacked any semblance of deeper thought than the Ravens lost must be the offense. In truth it was two big plays against the defense that cost us this game. Don't give up those plays and maybe they don't score a touchdown and we win in regulation. Given our past history, at least for now, the defense has to hold if they are given 20 points.

Steve Young has always been an idiot, and to be honest most of the comments from him and Emmitt were uninformed. Jaws is the only one with a clue, because he watches tons of film each week. Before the game they kept saying how bad the Ravens offensive line was - Clue #1 that they did not watch any of the first two Ravens games. Jaws (and Mark Schlereth, along with Tom Jackson, the only other ESPN NFL analysts that have a clue) noted how improved the line was. Young obviously comes out and wings it every week. One too many shots to head me thinks...

id hardly call steve young an idiot. i mean he has atleast one more ring than most of the ravens team

and stop babying pro atheletes. if joe flacco wants a 6 million dollar signing bonus, he better not fumble the ball

back to steve young, didnt he beat the great cowboys dynasty in the playoffs to get that ring?

a dallas teams whos defense was just as powerful as their offense. young was playing against guys like reggie white, charles haley, ken norton jr.....so dont act like he doesnt know anything about a pass rush.....his career ended on an aneas willams blitz from the blind side

Where is Todd Heap? Maybe we should trade or release him if he doesnt step it up! Bring back Shannon Sharpe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The best way to watch a Ravens game on any of the networks is to turn down the sound and turn on the local radio coverage. Best of both worlds!
The Ravens are much improved and will only get better as the season progresses. We'll beat the Steelers when we play them later this season!

Tony Kornheiser is a total idiot. Nothing came out of his mouth but nasty critizism. But, he is from Washington, so what else can we expect.

Jaworski is the only announcer I pay attention to because he's the only one that prepares for the games. He analyzes hours of film preparing for the games and really knows his stuff. The other guys just regurgitate tired stereotypes about the Ravens.

Ryan, Down after down the Steelers were outplayed last night, and their injury report shows it along with the key stats. The biases of the announcers was clear, but not particularly on the part of Steve Young. If you really listened to what he said, he lamented the continual losing on NATIONAL TV. And went on to generalize based on what he has seen, the prime time appearances. Lets not forget that in this league, its results that count, and he has witnessed what, six prime time losses in a row... What do you expect him to say? Recognize your own biases Ravens fans. We have not delivered on the big stage in years. Our time will come... One other thing - Pittsburgh has 14 MNF wins at home going back to 1992. Is it fair that they even get that many MNF games at home ?

Wow...I love the idea of turning down the national broadcast and listening to the local via radio. I listen to both Steelers and Browns games in the car on the way to work. I like to get both perspectives.

Oh well... maybe next year the Ravens won't suck.

I believe Steve is correct in his own right. You have to remember, this is a national audience he is talking to, and has to compare the Ravens to the rest of the league when giving his 'snap judgements'. But keep it in context, the offense in Baltimore has never really been that great, and we see signs of hope (in that changing), but right now, it is not that good - compared to the rest of the league. Yes - Flacco looks like he may be a great quarterback one day...but not yet. He does control the game well, but only if the Ravens are running the ball well, which they have done this season until the 2nd half of the Steelers game. Willis seemed to be the only one to get substantial postive yards - until he got hurt. Then a fumble and a bone headed lapse in judgement by the D, and the game is over. IF there was a potent offense in existence here in B'more, than we could have overcame this - and proved Steve Young wrong. But.........you see the outcome, and now more negative comments will probably come.

Another issue...why is Tony K calling games and inserting his annoying jabs on MNF? ESPN needs a reality check. No more than 2 people are needed in the booth.

As a Steelers Fan I was very, very Impressed with Flacco. Perfect, no, but Baltimore fans have something to look forward to. He kept it together and I think (again a steelers fan here) Baltimore should've let him run the 2 minute offense at the end of the game. He will have to do it sometime and it could've ended up winning the game for Baltimore. The Steelers D-fense was GASSED and you could see it in their eyes. Harbaugh will learn also, put you're foot on the other teams throat when you have the chance. We escaped and I will take it, a win is a win. Big Ben might be dead by the end of the year!!!!
Tony Kornholio is a complete and total waste. PLEASE TAKE HIM OFF THE AIR.

Do you guys all forget, that Flacco fumbled twice to lose the game for the ravens. He tried to do too much instead of just protecting the ball and taking the sack.

Let's start by agreeing that Joe Flacco is playing as well or better than can be expected for a rookie QB and that Cam Cameron seems to have an actual game plan. Let's also agree that the Ravens still have a fearsome defense. Almost all the right ingredients for a Playoff caiber team. What they don't have is a legitimate vertical threat who can actually catch the ball, a kick returner who has field awareness, Safetys who have yet to understand that on any long passing situation the opposing team is going to run a deep middle of the field pattern and......team awareness that talking trash doesn't win football games.

Poor punt totally changed the game...
Field position was CRUCIAL in order to win this game.

Special teams was horrible!

Tony K is today's Howard Cosell. Very obnoxious, makes silly comments and everyone hates him.

I'm writing to ESPN because I don't want them to assign Steve Young or Emmitt Smith to a Ravens game. Young has always whined about them, and Emmitt just disagrees with Young on analyses all the time. Emmitt is somewhat arrogant and bombastic.

I'm tired of hearing how the Ravens will earn from this defeat or that. Pete forgets how old most of them are. If they haven't learned by now, they never will. They deserve biting criticism in some respects.

Like Young or not he's right on. The Raven's always seem to shoot themselves in the foot on national t.v.
What I want to know is why wasn't the no TD not challanged. I thought the reciever ,Mason?, was in.

the steelers came out banged
up losing their 2nd string running
back and one of their offensive
linemen.

they certainly will have all they
can handle next week in jacksonville,
a tough running team....

look for the ravens to upset tennesee
at home and be 3-1 on top of
their division next sunday night....

How long will it take Willis Magahee to get in shape? He staggers off the field looking like he just crawled out of the desert after 7 days with no water.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: He's all banged up, though being out of shape may have made him more vulnerable.

Steve was correct, on paper anyway, that the defense continually outperforms and the offense underperforms. However, he failed to recognize that we have instituted an entirely new offense, new coordinator, new head coach, rookie QB. Growing pains are to be fully expected at this stage.

Instead of bashing the team, which he certainly did, I would have preferred him to be a little more forward-looking. That particular trait seems to be lacking from most of the "analysts."

Don't fret Raven fans on Dec 7, you'll be able to see what a well rounded football team looks like.

Old man Tony K. showed no class for disrespecting the Ravens football team as second class,from what he was saying to a national audience.He was actually disruptive to the broadcasting team "flow" and I will personally tell him that he blows if I ever run into him around the area.I wish the Ravens could lose the Billick references,but I understand it's the first yr. away from his command;we're stuck with them for awhile.

Young's a tool.

They've pumped up Favre, trashed him, and now annoited him better than ever already...and we're 4 games into the season. He just fills teevee time

Figurs looked intimidated and/or confused. He actually ran backwards once. Why do we let Ward goad us in to 15 yeard penalties year after year? Johnson's 15 yards on top of the shank turned the ballgame, and Ward laughing the whole time. I thought we past that junk. Why did we let them get 5-6 yards on uncontested passes in the flat on multiple third downs? I was calling it before it happened each time. Those 6 yards might have been the difference in the final FG too.

The reasons the Ravens lost the game:

Jarret Johnson's penalty
Lost the field positon game BAD
The fumble return TD

Ravens looked spectacular otherwise, Im very optimistic about this season. go ravens!

I don't mind Steve Young--except for the fact of his being extremely over-rated as a QB, riding Montana's Coat Tails to the HOF, and his zero-personality compared to Boomer, Tom Jackson, and company.

On the other hand, when it comes to crappy commentators, Kornheiser is in a league of his own.

I completely concur with your statements Peter. I hated how Steve Young and Emmit Smith were critical of the Ravens offense during the postgame commentary. This game was lost by horrible special teams play by the Ravens. The Ravens either didn't block anybody or made stupid penalties on kickoff and punt returns. Figurs had a bad day as well, he just didn't look himself fumbling (which he recovered) and making poor decisions. But to say that our offense lost this game as Young and Smith were arguing is completely unjustified. The Ravens offense and defense are finally helping one another out, and trusting each other. For instance, the Ravens defense held the Steelers to a field goal, and then their offense marched down the field with a beautiful drive and tied the game. Since Harbaugh is a special team’s guy, we should be much more consistent with special teams going forward. Eventually, the Ravens should continue to get better in all three facets of the game as the season progresses.

I ignore the announcers. Tirico and Jaws were fair to the Ravens. Kornholio is a poor man's Dennis Miller. Washington, elitist, know-it-all. The antithisis of a Baltimorean. Young--one in a long line of players who makes a terrible analyst. A national version of Tom Matte or Bruce Laird. Jaws puts him to shame which is why Jaws is in the booth and Young is not.

Bottom line is, Flacco is playing much better than could ever have been expected, but his fumble was a major reason for the loss. Bouncing back to tie the game, however, was tremendous and showed he has the potential to be something really special. Mistakes are going to happen, and the other team gets paid to play too. The Steelers did what they needed to do to win, and, much as I hate them, deserve credit for pulling out a victory.

Those who are railing about Heap don't know football. The guy was kept in to block except on a small handful of plays. That was the only way we had a shot to get passes off, and was a good choice by Cam Cameron.

Although the defense is still the dominant side of the ball for us, we have more balance than I can ever recall. And, we actually have a shot of making a playoff run in a year where everyone wrote us off. If we can play Pittsburgh to the wire in their house, whom can't we play with?Be happy people! Baseball season is over and the Ravens are back.

I really don't understand why ESPN dumped their GREAT trio of Sunday Night Football announcers when they moved to Monday Night. In my opinion, they were head & shoulders over the rest for many years. Mike Tirico is a very good play-by-play guy. Jaworski is an excellent analyst, but I feel too indepth and better suited to his pre & post game X's & O's shows. BUT, Tony K, excellent on PTI, severely detracts from the broadcast.

Hey Peter,

Going along the lines of some of the other comments, I've always found Kornheiser fiercely annoying. I think it's because his whole shtick to argue about anything and everything, and that approach has no place in a football broadcast. And what was with his negative spin on everything all night until they started talking about Mike Tomlin? Kornheiser goes off on some weird tangent about Tomlin's "philosophical" statements. I think he even used the word "poetic." Bizarre. He's a fool, and he looks like he belongs on the radio.

Am I the only one who saw a holding on the fumble recovery that went for a touchdown for the Steelers? It happened right around the 10 yard line and would have pushed them back to the 20 or so and the defense might have kept them out of the end zone and forced a field goal.

Check the replays! (I didn't read all the posts - if someone already wrote about this - my bad!)

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: I saw it in the corner of the picture, but not well enough to know it was flag-worthy.

Tony K hasn't been fired yet he is so lame

There were three significant mistakes made last night. 1. The rookie coach mistake, Harbaugh should have challenged the Mason touchdown, he was in and everyone knew it except Harbaugh and the official. 2. The stupid mistake, the Johnson foul, enough said. 3. The rookie quarterback mistake, Flacko held on to the ball trying to make something happen, God bless him, when the sack was inevitable. Instead, he should have protected the football. The Steelers were lucky and experienced enough to take advantage of the opportunities WE gave them. They certainly didn't do it on thier own.

How come no one is talking aboout the touchdown in the first half that no one reviewed. Derrick Mason clearly had both feet in, but it was just brushed under the rug. ESPN showed the play once during halftime, and then i havent heard anything about it.

..............................................................................................
Pete's reply: They were talking about it for an hour tonight on Harbaugh's WBAL show.

Someone tell Steve Young to shut his mouth. I was disappointed by the loss but they played tremendously last night, especially compared to last years MNF game where they were injured and didn't look prepared at all. Yeah, Flacco wasn't perfect but for a rookie making his first road start in PITTSBURGH on national tv, he was impressive and I think its a sign of things to come. The young O-line was a little disappointing but this was a big test for them as well, they'll get better against tough defenses. I think it was a really good game overall and it showed us some positive things about this team, and you know I don't want to get crazy but they could have a shot this year.

But I am gonna say that Harbaugh should have challenged that Flacco to Mason pass in the end zone in the first half, I think that would have been a TD.

Joe Flacco was trying to make a play on numerous occasions. I comned him for trying to be a football player and not a coach's automaton. Yamon Figurs was waaay slow out of the end zone on each kick off; Leonard or Zbikowski showed more on kick returns.
Bench Clayton or Demetrius Williams and spread Todd Heap as a wide receiver. He has good hands and speed and will get more balls than the current receivers. Insert Chester or Willie Anderson as the tight end, since all they are doing is blocking anyway.
I'm encouraged.

I have absolutely NO respect for Kornheiser. Before he was gifted with the MNF gig, he use to proudly proclaim that he seldom watched MNF because it was on too late for him. He was commenting on sports on his radio program, but it wasn't a priority to be well-enough informed about the bilge that spilled out of his mouth.

Also, on his radio show it seemed evident that he knew nothing about any athlete who hadn't been on the scene for at least five years and been celebrated and already proclaimed in the media. That's a wordy way of saying Kornheiser is a front-runner.

I thought Dennis Miller was the worst MNF announcer I ever heard until Tony Kornhieser came along. My prediction: MNF will fire TK and hire Dick Vitale because he is so much less annoying.

DAMMIT!!! SO PAINFULL WATCHING JJ DOING STUPID THINGS!!!! this defense needs some discipline, I hate watching every game at least 2 personal fouls just because!

from watching the game and listening to Steve Young's comments, I interpreted it as he was a Baltimore fan, at least of the defense. He said the Raven defense is the best he has seen over the last decade and feels terrible that the Raven's offense cannot put up enough points to win games. Young said the Raven's defense lay their souls out on the field every week and they loose games because of ineptness on offense. I think it's a spot on assessment. Raven's offense will be good one day, but it's pretty much on par for the last 8 yrs now. Schmuck, you should have quoted the whole statement by Young to keep context.

I dont get the comment that the Ravens dont have enough offense to be a playoff team. The Ravens Played against the no.2 Dfense at Heinz field. and scored more points, had more rushing yds and passing yards than the "top of the AFC" Squeelers. and with a rookie QB. as far as Todd Heap and a legitimate deep threat, maybe its not the receivers fault. In all 3 games we had people open deep but Flacco threw too late [ yeah I know , hes a rookie] As Flacco developes we'll get better and he is developing FAST. And I wouldnt put too much blame on J.Johnson for the big turnsround, that fumble and missed tackels were why we lost.

Flacco's performance didn't compare to what Troy Smith did last year against the Steelers. Or is that too long for anybody here to remember?

Flacco is the real deal. Its nice to see we finally have a QB that can deliver. I think Flacco had an excellant performance while going up against a physical defense. Flacco will only get better as seasons pass. Now we need a real time wide reciever. Maybe trade Suggs for Anquan Bolden ??

"Why did Tony Kornheiser refuse to say anything remotely positive about the ravens? It got so bad that Jaws even made a comment about it."

Der. Kornheiser is a Washingtonian. Better chance of getting an objective opinion of a Huto from a Tutsi than an objective opinion from a Kornheiser of a B sports team.

I heard Young's comments and to me they we're actually Raven friendly. For example, he said something like "My heart bleeds for Ray Lewis and that Ravens defense -- to be great for so long and be denied the chance of multiple championships due to an inept offense -- it's terrible." His frustration stems from their prime time appearances mainly, and in fairness, we've lost a lot of games on Sunday or Monday nights when we've been unable to score: e.g., Denver and multiple games vs. Indy and the Steelers, so he's commentary was actually dead on. Nevertheless, just like the rest of you, as someone who's seen almost every Ravens game since they beat the Raiders in 1996, I was surprisingly impressed at how the offense responded in the 4th quarter. Better yet, I'm inspired: Flacco's going to special (heck, even Mike Preston thinks so!) -- and for me to admit that, especially because I'm still waiting for Kyle Boller to become the 2nd coming of my childhood hero, the original #7 from Baltimore, Bert Jones -- that says a lot. And as for Mr. Tony: if he's derisive of B-more, it's because (a) he's a Washingtonian at heart, and (b) in his own words: "We kid because we love." He used to kill Billick (always referred to him as "that preening schmoe") on air but they'd actually had dinner and played golf together, so I agree with Peter: It's part of his schtick.

steve young does not know the ravens very well. he is a bunch of stuff. the ravens looks a lot better with coach harbaugh than billick. j. flaaco will be a good qb for sure. the defense will be tough as ever.