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Jamison Hensley, ESPN Staff Writer
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — At the start of Wednesday’s practice, Baltimore Ravens offensive coordinator Todd Monken was upset about how the players were approaching a ball security drill.
After sprinting across the field, Monken put the ball in one of his wide receiver’s hands and began trying to rip the ball away and punching at it.
When the Ravens play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, Fox), all the talk will focus on Jackson’s 1-4 record against his biggest rival. But Baltimore believes it knows the solution to Jackson’s Steelers struggles.
“It starts with us,” Monken said. “Guys have got to play well around him; [you] can’t turn it over; [you] can’t have penalties that put you behind the sticks against good teams, or you’re going to struggle.”
When Jackson has faced Pittsburgh, he hasn’t resembled a two-time NFL Most Valuable Player. But Jackson’s supporting cast has stumbled as well.
In Jackson’s five starts against the Steelers, the Ravens have lost six fumbles, dropped a dozen passes and committed 51 penalties.
Jackson hasn’t watched a lot of film from the Ravens’ 18-16 loss to the Steelers in Week 11. He remembers the three turnovers and 12 penalties from Baltimore’s lowest-scoring game of the season.
“[It was] just self-inflicted wounds,” Jackson said. “[We had] penalties, turnovers, [trying to get] back on track [on] second-and-long, third-and-long, first-and-long. [With] stuff like that, we’re killing drives before they even get started, and I watched film on that.”
Jackson added, “Last week [against the New York Giants], we did a better job at that. So, [with] us just being on schedule with those guys, I feel like, we’ll be where we need to be.”
On Saturday, Jackson will either end Pittsburgh’s dominance over Baltimore or the Steelers will clinch the AFC North title on the Ravens’ home field. Baltimore (9-5) can clinch a playoff berth and a first-place division tie to Pittsburgh (10-4) with a victory, but they will likely need Jackson to decrease his mistakes as well.
The Steelers are the only team that Jackson has thrown more interceptions against (eight) than touchdown passes (five). Jackson has also fumbled three times against the Steelers while recording his career-low in QBR (39) and completion rate (56.7%) against them.
Pittsburgh’s success stems from its aggressiveness. The Steelers have pressured Jackson on 31% of his dropbacks, sacking him 22 times, including 8.5 by T.J. Watt.
“They’ve created plays against us,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “They’ve had sacks; they’ve had some timely sacks, some timely turnovers and timely stops. They’ve managed to do that, and that’s what it is. That’s what winning games is. They’ve done a good job of that.”
In Jackson’s seven-year career, Baltimore has been held under 20 points and 350 total yards eight times. But three of those games came against Pittsburgh.
Ravens wide receiver Zay Flowers was asked what the Steelers defense does to make it difficult for Baltimore.
“Nothing,” Flowers said. “[The Steelers] don’t really do [anything] that really stresses me, if I’m being honest. You have some [down] games, and [the Week 11 game] ended up being that game, so we’ll figure it out when we get there. This week, we’ve got them, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Still, the Ravens have been held under 20 points in eight straight meetings against the Steelers. The last time Baltimore scored over 20 was 2020, when they lost 24-28.
But this is an offense that has a chance to be remembered as the best in franchise history. The Ravens, who currently lead the NFL with 424.1 yards per game, have never finished as the No. 1 offense in their 29-year existence.
Baltimore also ranks in the top three in the league in rushing (2nd), passing (3rd), scoring (3rd), third-down conversion rate (2nd) and red-zone efficiency (1st). Jackson is surrounded by the likes of running back Derrick Henry, who is second in the NFL with 1,474 yards rushing; Mark Andrews, who is tied with San Francisco 49ers‘ George Kittle for the most touchdowns for tight ends (eight); and Flowers, who is 84 yards away from becoming the team’s first 1,000-yard receiver since 2021.
Asked if he thinks the Ravens should have more answers for this Steelers defense, Jackson replied, “I believe so. I believe we should have answers. I bet I’ll have an answer for you after the game.”