Steelers Steve McLendon top PFF rankings in loss to Ravens

In a game with few positives, there weren't really many positives in terms of player rankings. Pro Football Focus, an NFL plays evaluation web site, agreed with that, by and large, giving only two Steelers players grades above 1.0 from Pittsburgh's 26-6 loss to the Baltimore Ravens Thursday night.

Steve McLendon left the game in the fourth quarter with a shoulder injury, but not before having played a pretty solid game overall. Every member of the Steelers' defensive line shares some blame in allowing 125 rushing yards to Baltimore, but McLendon held his own individually. Perhaps the rough games from defensive end Cameron Heyward (-4.9, lowest of all Steelers) and Cam Thomas (-2.1) were larger contributory factors toward that.

Wide receiver Antonio Brown missed a portion of the game, but recovered and managed to secure a 1.1 grade, his fifth consecutive game on the positive side dating back to last season. Brown had 90 yards on seven catches, giving him 18 consecutive games with at least five catches and 50 yards.

After those two, it's all in the red for the Steelers. Along with Heyward's -4.9, the lowest of his career, cornerback Cortez Allen had a -4.5, and free safety added a -3.3 in one of the worst combined grades the Steelers secondary has had since the site's inception in 2007. That probably won't surprise any Steelers fans who have watched this team since then.

The lack of pass rush is showing as well, as Jarvis Jones (0.8 overall) and Jason Worilds (0.3) combined for a -2.8 pass rush grade. The Steelers failed to register a sack or even a hit on Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.

Offensively, WR Justin Brown's -3.5 was likely influenced by his fumble on the opening drive after his only catch of the game. Left guard Ramon Foster had a -3.0 and Ben Roethlisberger had a -1.9.