Getty Ravens OLB Jason-Pierre in a regular season game on October 2, 2022.
Despite having only been on the team less than a week, veteran edge defender Jason Pierre-Paul barely came off the field in his debut with the Baltimore Ravens. The three-time Pro Bowler and two-time Superbowl champion played 86% of the team’s total defensive snaps with 55 in a deflating 23-20 loss to the Buffalo Bills.
With fellow veteran and multi-time Pro Bowler Justin Houston inactive with a groin injury, Pierre Paul got to start the game since he and Odafe Oweh were the only healthy outside linebackers that suited up on Sunday, October 2. While he didn’t record a sack or even a single pressure, his effort and high motor were glaringly apparent with the way he chased down plays with tremendous backside pursuit and hustles whenever Bills quarterback Josh Allen or one of the other ball carriers crossed the line of scrimmage.
He finished four total tackles which included three solos and only wasn’t on the field for nine of the team’s 64 total defensive snaps. The 12-year veteran thought his debut with his new team was solid but is still familiarizing himself with the scheme and getting comfortable with the plays that are called.
“It felt okay, I went out there, did what I could do,” Pierre-Paul said in a postgame presser on October 2. “I wasn’t tired at all. [I’m] just trying to figure out all the plays and all the calls. [It’s] different terminology, but I’ll get it.”
He wasn’t sure exactly what went wrong in the game that made it unravel in the second half but believes the team is committed to and capable of fixing the issues they are having when it comes to finishing and not letting big leads slip through their fingers.
“I think any loss is frustrating,” Pierre-Paul said. “At the end of the day, that’s why we go back and correct it and do those things that we did in this game that hurt us, and just get better.”
Oweh Made the Right Decision on Goal Line Tackle
The second-year outside linebacker caught a lot of flack for his decision to tackle Bills’ running back Devin Singletary short of the goal line on the game-winning drive when the rest of the Ravens’ defense was clearly trying to let him score.
Here’s the play where the Ravens’ defense clearly wants Devin Singletary to walk into the end zone
Odafe Oweh comes over and goes for the punch-out, tackling him in the process t.co/xtUKcEsyQO
After the game, he said that they were either supposed to let them score or punch the ball out if the ball carrier tried to go down short of reaching the end zone. Turns out it was the right one to make according to to head coach John Harbaugh upon review of the film.
“Odafe was in a situation where at that point he’s not going to be able to pick him up [and carry him in]; he’s going to the ground, he’s trying to punch the ball out,” Harbaugh said. “So, I thought he did the right thing. … It’s kind of a desperate situation, so I’m not really too worried about that particular communication. Everybody was on the same page with that.”
Should Roughing the Passer Penalties Be Reviewable?
Sticking on the subject of rushing the passer, one of the most pivotal points in the game came on the Bills’ game-winning drive and involved a penalty that was wrongfully called that involved a quarterback getting hit on a routine play.
Ravens second-year cornerback Brandon Stephens was flagged for roughing the passer after hitting Allen on a corner blitz right as the ball left his hands. The penalty occurred on first-and-15 from the Baltimore 41-yard line and resulted in a fresh set of downs for Buffalo that they used to get even closer to comfortable field goal range.
Refs your job is to officiate games not determine them. No way this is roughing the passer. This penalty put Buffalo in FG range at the end of the game. Just because a Qb gets hit, doesn’t mean it’s roughing the passer 🤷🏾♂️🤷🏾♂️
After watching the film of the entire game and receiving an explanation of the crucial penalty from the officials, Harbaugh believes that such fouls should be subject to review to either confirm or overturn the call on the field.
“I didn’t see any head or neck contact in all honesty, so I can’t speak for Jerome,” Harbaugh said. “Jerome is a great official. I have the utmost respect for him. That’s real-time that they have to make those decisions. I wish they would look at those in review. I think they should take a look at them real quick and get them right, because that put them into field goal range.”