PITTSBURGH — Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson once called the Kansas City Chiefs his “kryptonite.” It turns out that it actually grows at the convergence of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers inside Acrisure Stadium.

Once again, the yellow and black made Jackson and the rest of Baltimore’s high-powered offense succumb.

“We had a lot of slow starts, if anything, a lot of penalties, three turnovers, stuff like that,” Jackson said Sunday after an 18-16 loss. “We can’t have that in these type of games.”

All of it added up to a familiar result with a familiar refrain and another of those games against the Steelers.

The Ravens came into their critical AFC North tilt with Pittsburgh with the NFL’s best offense, both in yards and points, among other categories, and led by the league’s reigning Most Valuable Player and this year’s front-runner in Jackson. All the Steelers needed, though, was kicker Chris Boswell.

He connected on all six of his field goal attempts then watched as his defense stopped a would-be game-tying 2-point conversion with 1:06 left to lift them to victory that puts the first-place Steelers (8-2) in control of the division and leaves the Ravens (7-4) wondering how they could commit so many of the same mistakes they’ve made all season.

Of their first 60 meetings, neither team had won a game without scoring at least one touchdown, according to Steelers Depot.

Until Sunday, of course.

There were a litany of penalties (12 for 80 yards) and turnovers (three). The defense had one of its best showings of the year, holding the Steelers to just 4.1 yards per play and 4-for-16 on third down. The Ravens sacked quarterback Russell Wilson four times and held him to 205 passing yards while limiting running back Najee Harris to 63 yards on 18 carries. But not even Jackson and his usual otherworldliness could rescue Baltimore, in part because of the Steelers defense keeping him off-kilter, but also because of errors by those around him.

“It’s annoying,” Jackson said. “We’re busting our behinds out there just like anybody else. We’re trying to put points on the board. We’re getting costly penalties each and every drive.

“That’s crazy. But it’s part of football. We’ve got to overcome it and put points on the board.”

It was evident from the start that would be a struggle.

Four times Baltimore had the ball in the first quarter of the game. But the Ravens came away with zero points after a fumble by running back and NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry (13 carries for 65 yards) on the game’s second play and the first of Justin Tucker’s missed kicks. Those weren’t the only missed opportunities.

“It’s certainly frustrating,” Tucker said of his two missed field goals from 47 and 50 yards, both missing wide left. “Especially when we know that these games come down to the wire like this one did today that I let a couple get away.

“I’m still confident I’m going to go out there and nail every single kick.”

There was confidence in the quarterback, too.

Trailing 18-10 with 3:29 remaining, Jackson drove Baltimore 69 yards in nine plays, hitting Flowers for a 16-yard touchdown with 1:06 left to pull within two. After the Steelers called timeout once the Ravens lined up for a game-trying 2-point conversion, Jackson ran left on a discombobulated play that was snuffed out short of the end zone.

But as left tackle Ronnie Stanley said, “I don’t think we needed to be in that position in the first place.”

Much of the blame could be cast upon penalties that often put the Ravens’ offense off schedule.

“We just got into second-and-long too much,” coach John Harbaugh said. “Then it ends up being third-and-long too often. We gotta cut down on the penalties. Today that was a big problem.”

It’s been a problem much of the year, too, from false starts to holding to formation penalties and beyond.

“That’s the biggest thing in winning games; taking care of the football, limit the amount of penalties,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “At the end of the day, it’s only hurting our drives. It’s not fun to be first-and-15, second-and-10 all the time.”

Tensions were also high from the start between the two bitter rivals with first place in the division at stake in their most meaningful contest in years.

Harris exchanged words after getting stuffed on a fourth-and-1 then linebacker Nick Herbig had words for Jackson after a first down. It kept going, too.

Harris pointed for a first down in front of Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton after trying to hurdle him. A brief melee broke out after Steelers center Zach Frazier took a run at cornerback Marlon Humphrey after an 8-yard completion to Pickens. Then Humphrey and tackle Broderick Jones drew offsetting unsportsmanlike penalties.

The Ravens’ offense only briefly came to life.

Trailing 6-0 with about five minutes remaining in the half, Jackson hit Rashod Bateman for a 19-yard gain over the middle. Then Henry shot through a hole off left tackle for a 31-yard gain with only Minkah Fitzpatrick’s shoestring tackle saving a touchdown.

It was only a matter of time.

Jackson connected with tight end Isaiah Likely (4 catches for 65 yards) for an 18-yard gain down the left sideline and two carries later Henry plunged across the goal line for the touchdown. But even when the Ravens took a step forward, they took two back.

On first-and-10 from their 9-yard line with just 38 seconds remaining in the half, Jackson hit Likely on a short pass, but the tight end was stripped by former Ravens linebacker Patrick Queen, who also recovered the fumble, leading to an easy 32-yard field goal to push Pittsburgh back in front 9-7 at the half. Things also got tense immediately following the turnover with Mekari and Fitzpatrick getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Then with the Steelers clinging to a 15-10 lead, Jackson appeared to complete a long pass down the left sideline to running back Justice Hill. But linebacker Payton Wilson wrestled the ball away from him for an interception, killing the drive and giving the ball back to Pittsburgh at its 36-yard line.

The Steelers then methodically moved 32 yards in 10 plays, chewing up 4:39 before Boswell made his final kick of the day.

The Ravens still had a chance, until they didn’t. Rather than try an onside kick with all three timeouts remaining and just over a minute to play, the Ravens kicked off. The Steelers then converted a third-and-1 to seal it.

Baltimore, which has now dropped four straight and eight of its past nine against Pittsburgh, will harp on its missed opportunities.

It was also a wasted effort for what has been a much-maligned defense.

Odafe Oweh had three sacks. Broderick Washington added another. Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson was held to just 205 passing yards for the game and without a touchdown, and Harris averaged just 3.5 yards per carry with a long of 13 yards.

It still wasn’t enough.

“It’s been that way ever since last year, I believe, going back to the AFC championship game — we killed ourselves,” Jackson said. “Chiefs game, the opener, we killed ourselves; Raiders we killed ourselves and today it’s the same thing.

“We can’t be beating ourselves in these type of games. We’ve got to find a way to fix that. That [crap] is annoying.”

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