Ravens Rookie Report: Tyler Loop Makes Multiple Mistakes

Despite going up against a 42-year-old quarterback with limited mobility at this stage in his career, the second-round rookie missed a pair of golden opportunities to notch what could've and should've been his third and fourth full sacks of the season in this game. Both of Green's whiffs came on third-downs where the Ravens defense was still able to get off the field, but it took a successful challenge to negate the first down picked up on his first and tipped pass to prevent a completion on the second. In each instance, he has the seasoned signal caller dead to rights and didn't finish the play, and was fortunate that his team didn't end up paying dearly for it.

Green's biggest gaffe of the game, which did end up hurting the Ravens and essentially conceded what ended up being the game-winning score for the Steelers, was a play where he was one of several players who blew a coverage that led to a walk-in touchdown from 38 yards out. It wasn't all bad for the former Marshall standout as he managed to make an impressive tackle for a loss of 2 yards in the low red zone two plays before his second missed sack.

OG Emery Jones

For the third week in a row, the third-round rookie was active, but unlike last week, he was not deployed as part of a two-man rotation at left guard with third-year pro Andrew Vorhees. He didn't even get to see the field for a single special teams snap on field goal or extra point block, showing that his only role at the moment is as an emergency backup in case of injury, but that might not continue to be the case.

"Emery's doing great. He's in a great place; I love where he is at," head coach John Harbaugh said. "I think if he went out there, he'd compete like crazy, and I think he'd play great. I would trust him to go play great. But, based on that performance, you couldn't say it was better or even the same."

LB Teddye Buchanan

The fourth-round rookie had another solid outing in his 12th straight start and was robbed of his first career interception after a review of an inconsistent ruling overturned what would've been a timely turnover in the fourth quarter. Instead of the Ravens getting the ball at the Pittsburgh 32-yard line and only down by five points, Rodgers was tackled for a reception for a loss of 9 yards and the Steelers maintained possession and the lead. Between defense and special teams, Buchanan was on the field for a combined 60 snaps and finished tied for fourth on the team with 4 total tackles, including 3 solos.

"The ball got tipped up, and we kind of both had our hands on it, and I saw the replay," Buchanan said. "It looked like he was probably down, so it's unfortunate, but it was a great play by C.J. [Okoye] to get his hands on that. It's something we emphasize, so shout out to him. [It] almost led to a really good play."

K Tyler Loop

While the sixth-round rookie was perfect on all three of his field goal attempts, marking his ninth such game perfectly executing that key aspect of his duties as a kicker, he fell short in some others that proved costly. He missed his second extra point of the season and first since Week 1, which once again loomed large in a game that was decided by less than a touchdown. Loop also was penalized for his league-leading fifth landing zone infraction on his third kickoff of the game. Even on the kickoffs where he did get the ball inside the landing zone, it wasn't very deep and the which gave the Steelers good field position in some key moments that went on to hurt the Ravens.

"We're not trying to kick the ball to the 10- or 15-yard line,"Harbaugh said. "Those are really tough to cover. It's hard. If you catch the ball to 15-[yard line], how far do you have to run? So, those are too short. And he is a young guy; he's a rookie, and so he's working on it. He's not consistent at this point. We need him to be more consistent. We'd like to have the ball inside the five. If it leaks into the end zone, it leaks into the end zone sometimes."

WR LaJohntay Wester

For the 10th time this season, the sixth-round rookie saw action in multiple phases of the game, with an even split between offense and special teams with 5 snaps apiece. Wester was given opportunities to return the ball on three of the Steelers' four punts, but wasn't able to do much with any of them, as he was only able to muster 14 return yards with a long of just 10 yards.

DB Keondre Jackson

The undrafted rookie out of Illinois State continued to play exclusively special teams in his eighth appearance of the season and unintentionally played a pivotal role in a key moment of the game that hurt the team. Jackson played 23 snaps in the third phase of the game, which was the second-most on the team and he recorded a solo tackle on the Ravens first punt of the game in the first quarter when he pushed the returner out of bunds after only picking up 3 yards.

On his most impactful play of the game, he was questionably called for a holding penalty after the defense forced a third straight three-and-out. While blocking on the ensuing punt, he was the nearest Ravens player to Steelers gunner Ben Skowronek, who fell down on the play after losing his balance. An official of the opposite side of the field, nearly 50 yards threw his flag and backed up the Ravens offense that would've gotten the ball back at their own 44-yard line near midfield to their 36-yard line.

"I think with Keondre in that play, he's doing his job, and I would just say to him, 'If a guy gets out of your framework, and he's falling down, just try to hold him up, try to do something and try to do something differently," special teams coordinator Chris Horton said. "But anytime they see guys on the ground, they tend to want to throw those flags."

CB Keyon Martin

For just the second time this season, the undrafted rookie out of Louisiana Lafayette played exclusively on special teams, with all 18 of his snaps coming in the third phases of the game, which was the fifth-most on the team and third-most among all rookies behind Jackson and Buchanan.