The Steelers defense will look to pressure Jackson and confuse him with their coverages.
NFL Network’s Kurt Warner: “The best way to deal with Lamar Jackson is to get to him quickly, and so pressuring is often the best way to get to a guy quickly. If you can figure out a way to overload their protections, you get a free hitter, that forces people off schedule. The second part of that is as you’re bringing pressure to give different looks on the back end. So even if he sees your pressure and he knows a guy’s coming, does he know exactly what he’s seeing on the back end and where to get the football out. That’s what confused him a little bit last year when they played in the game that he started, and that’s what Pittsburgh does extremely well.”
The Ravens need a big performance from center Matt Skura.
Penn Live’s Aaron Kasinitz: “Every Ravens offensive linemen will face a stiff challenge against an uber-talented Steelers defense that has piled up the most sacks in the NFL and allowed the fewest total yards through six games. … Skura is extra important as the man in the middle. The Steelers, much like the Ravens, dial up creative blitzes at a high rate. … To combat the Steelers’ talent and aggressiveness, Skura must help Jackson direct traffic and make protection calls. And he’ll probably need to level a couple blocks on star pass rushers, too.”
New Raven Yannick Ngakoue will be a factor.
CBS Sports’ John Breech: “If Jackson is going to be running for his life, it only makes sense to make Ben Roethlisberger do the same and no one is better at making Big Ben do that than Ngakoue. In three career games against Roethlisberger, Ngakoue has two sacks, one forced fumble (that was returned for a touchdown) and five QB hits. As a matter of fact, I’m mildly convinced that the only reason John Harbaugh traded for Ngakoue was so he could play in this game. Any other production after Sunday is just a bonus.”
Ravens TE Mark Andrews vs. Steelers ILB Robert Spillane is a key matchup.
Russell Street Report’s Matt Wise: “With the Steelers in 2019, Spillane exclusively played on special teams. As a replacement for the injured Devin Bush in 2020, Spillane got his first start on defense [last week]. Spillane plays hard all the time and made a highlight play against the Titans [laying a big hit on Derrick Henry at the goal line], but he is completely unproven in pass coverage. Offensive coordinators spend a lot of time working on how they can create favorable matchups for their best weapons. If the Ravens can get Andrews isolated on Spillane, they may have a very favorable matchup that they can go to against a very tough Steelers defense.”