Lamar Jackson takes blame for Baltimore Ravens' defeat to Pittsburgh Steelers

Lamar Jackson finished 13 of 28 passing for 208 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, as well as fumbling the ball twice as the Baltimore Ravens were beaten by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a battle at the top of the AFC North.

By Cameron Hogwood

A look back at the action and talking points from Week 8 of the NFL season

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson shouldered the blame after his side were beaten by the Pittsburgh Steelers in a battle between two of the AFC's leading contenders on Sunday.

Jackson threw a pick six on just the third play of the game before beginning the second half by throwing a momentum-swinging interception that was followed up by successive touchdown drives from Pittsburgh.

The reigning league MVP also fumbled the ball twice, the Steelers recovering the first inside the own 10-yard line shortly after the first interception, before pouncing on a second on fourth and three at the two-minute warning.

"The turnovers I feel is the reason why we lost the game," Jackson said. "I put that on me.

"The start of the game, the first job is a pick six, then we jogged to the redzone and I fumbled. Then the pick off the player on the flat throwing to Mark (Andrews), gotta clean those up."

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Reigning MVP Lamar Jackson saw his pass intercepted as the Pittsburgh Steelers ran in to take the lead against the Baltimore Ravens.

Explaining the second pick, he added: "When I had Pat (Patrick Ricard) in the flats, he (Alex Highsmith) looked like he was going to defend Pat but when I threw it and tried to drop it over to Mark he fell off and made a great play."

The reigning league MVP finished the game 13 of 28 passing for 208 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions, as well as 65 rushing yards from 16 carries as the Ravens slipped to 5-2.

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Jackson's ability to win big games again came under the microscope as he works towards not only another playoff berth but the first playoff win of his NFL career.

His interception to begin the second half came in a strange deviation from head coach John Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Greg Roman after the Ravens' No 1 ranked rushing attack had dominated the Steelers in the first period.

Pittsburgh did just enough to hold off Baltimore as they moved to 7-0 for the season.

"He played hard, he made a lot of plays," said Harbaugh. "The turnovers, obviously, were disappointing. That's the difference in the game in some ways, obviously.

"We're disappointed with that part of it. We're very happy with other parts of it. I thought he competed, made a lot of great throws and runs and things like that. So, it's a mixed bag in that sense, but of course we're not pleased with losing the turnover battle."

Baltimore suffered a major blow as left tackle Ronnie Stanley, who signed a five-year extension on Friday, suffered a season-ending ankle injury.

"That's our brother," said Jackson. "We wanted to win this game for him. It was all about him at that point when we see him go down.

"He means a lot to our offense and we don't want to see our brother go down at all no matter what position he plays. I hope he's doing good. Just sorry we couldn't get the victory for him."

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