Wild Card Game Balls: Gary Kubiak and Dean Pees
By Cole Moog
The Baltimore Ravens upset the Steelers 30-17 last night at Heinz Field, and not many saw it coming, While the Steelers were only a three point favorite, it felt like the Ravens were a 10 point underdog the way the media were on the Steelers side. Even a huge Ravens fan like myself had doubts going into the Heinz field where the Ravens were 0-3 in the previous three tries in the playoffs.
However, as the Ravens always seem to do, they proved everyone wrong. They limped into the playoffs losing to the Houston Texans and scraping by the Cleveland Browns in the final two weeks of the season. None of that mattered, as the playoffs are a totally different beast.
There were some special individual performances last night. Terrell Suggs had a great game, as did Joe Flacco and Steve Smith. However, no two people had a bigger impact on the final outcome than the two coordinators calling the plays. Dean Pees and Gary Kubiak both called masterful games Saturday.
Let’s start with the defense. Obviously there was a well-known weakness on the Ravens defense, that being the secondary. The previous time the Ravens played the Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns.
Pees knows you can rarely send an all-out blitz again Ben because he does his best work when you send extra men after him. It is not an easy task to scheme against a quarterback who extends the play so well. Further, when five of your previous starting cornerbacks go on injured reserve, it is certainly not easy to stop one of the best passing offenses in the NFL.
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Pees did not make excuses, he just found a way to get the job done. The Ravens ended the game with five sacks and having generated three turnovers, especially impressive considering the Steelers only allowed 3 sacks in the entire month of December. Many different Ravens players found a way to get to Roethlisberger. Unexpected players like Brandon Williams and Courtney Upshaw, who are primarily known as run stoppers, both picked up a sack Saturday night.
The defense was phenomenal early on, holding the Steelers to just field goals instead of touchdowns. That was the real key to the game. The Steelers had the ball for twenty minutes compared to the Ravens’ ten minutes in the first half. The defense had to be gassed in the first half but they held their ground, only allowing field goals like they’ve done all year.
Pees did not blitz often, but when he did it was definitely effective. On one drive he blitzed on two straight plays. The second blitz call completely turned the game around, as Terrell Suggs intercepted Ben Roethlisberger with his thighs. The very next play the Ravens scored a touchdown to put the game practically out of reach.
For the Ravens to win, Dean Pees had to call an almost perfect game, and he may have called his best game of the season last night.
Gary Kubiak has received a huge amount of praise this season for the job he has done as the Ravens’ offensive coordinator. He has deserved every bit of it.
The Ravens only had three offensive possessions in the first half, so the Ravens offense had to make the most of out those and be efficient. Gary Kubiak called a very nice first half which led to 10 points, as the Ravens scored on two out of their first three possessions. However, the second half is where he really worked his magic.
The Ravens only punted twice the whole game, which is astounding for how bad their offense has played in the past month.
The running game was non-existent in the second half, which caused the game to fall on the tall shoulders of Joe Flacco, and Kubiak accounted for that well. The most brilliant play call from Kubiak came right after the Terrell Suggs interception, a play action pass rollout, which led to a 21-yard touchdown to Crockett Gillmore to take a 15 point lead.
Both of the Ravens coordinators called some of their best games of the season when it mattered most. I expect to see the same in the AFC Divisional Round.