Week 2 Thursday Night Football Recap: What We Learned

Thursday Night Football set off for the second week in a row, as the Baltimore Ravens took on the Pittsburgh Steelers. Baltimore was in dire need of a win heading into this one, as they were already 0-1 and a loss to the Steelers would give them a quick 0-2 record inside the AFC North division. Considering only 12% of teams that start a season that way go on to make the playoffs, the Ravens knew what could be at stake.

Luckily they responded quite well, and despite the firestorm regarding Ray Rice and the NFL’s own litigation, Baltimore blew out the Steelers in a convincing 26-6 win. But we learned more than just a score and that Baltimore has some resolve. Let’s break down the key things we learned from last night’s NFL action:

This Steelers Defense Isn’t Elite

Pittsburgh has long been looked at as one of the league’s best defenses, but they’ve gotten older in some areas and are now too young or inexperienced in others. Fans gave them a break after allowing Cleveland to score 24 points on them last week in just one half, but that was only because they stole the win with a late field goal. Pittsburgh got completely out-played in this one, and now have given up 26+ points in back to back weeks to start the year. They could regroup and get better as the season goes on, but right now this defense has to be a bit of  a question mark.

Le’Veon Bell is the Real Deal

While Pittsburgh has some things to figure out on the defensive end, they seem good to go on offense. They did only manage six points in a pretty big game, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort. In fact, they moved the ball quite well and for the second year in a row star running back piled up over 100 total yards. He slimmed down compared to last year and looks fairly spry. He’s going to be a feather in their cap the rest of the year, undoubtedly.

Baltimore Doesn’t Need Ray Rice

Rice was released earlier in the week, and while few want to keep a spouse abuser around, there was some legit concern that the Ravens let their best running back go. We’ve seen in two straight weeks that Baltimore can probably get by without him, though. Justin Forsett showed up in week one and both he and Bernard Pierce showed up again in week two. Pierce is probably going to be the main man going forward, as he bounced back from a fumble in week one to notch over 100 total yards against the Steelers.