SUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTERS
ADVERTISE| CLASSIFIEDS| JOBS| E-TRIB
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS NETWORK TRIBLIVE LOCAL
Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
Airing of Grievances: Ravens exploit Russell Wilson's mistakes, overmatched defense in sound defeat of Steelers | TribLIVE.com
Steelers/NFL

Airing of Grievances: Ravens exploit Russell Wilson's mistakes, overmatched defense in sound defeat of Steelers

Tim Benz
Tim Benz

Sponsored by:

Mike's Beer Bar
8051463_web1_ptr-SteelersRavens08-122224A
Chaz Palla
Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson can only watches as the Ravens’ Marlon Humphrey returns an interception for a fourth-quarter touchdown Saturday Dec. 21, 2024 at M&T Bank Stadium.

So much for the concept that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ recent dominance over the Baltimore Ravens had diminished this great AFC North rivalry. So much for the idea that the Ravens had developed “little brother” syndrome when seeing black and gold on the other side of the field.

If that was the case, then the little brother just showed the big brother who gets the top bunk now.

On Saturday, the Ravens won the battle along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. They made more big plays. They avoided the volume of mistakes that have cost them so often in this head-to-head battle recently.

As a result, for just the second time in the last 10 meetings — and the first time in the last five at home — the Ravens dealt the Steelers a defeat.

That means the clubs are in a tie atop the AFC North with matching 10-5 records, splitting the two head-to-head games with two weeks remaining.

So, as Festivus nears, let’s air our grievances after a Steelers 34-17 loss in Maryland.

AIRING OF GRIEVANCES

Some ‘disasteRUSS’ mistakes: Down 24-17 in the fourth quarter, Steelers safety Minkah Fitzpatrick made a clutch interception of Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson in the red zone. Unfortunately, as soon as the Steelers got the ball back, disaster struck.

On the second snap of the ensuing drive, Russell Wilson threw a bad pass behind MyCole Pruitt. It was intercepted and brought back for a touchdown by Marlon Humphrey.

That made the score 31-17. It was the first pick-6 of Humphrey’s career. But it wasn’t the first gigantic mistake of the game for Wilson.

Tied 7-7 in the second quarter, Wilson was scrambling for what looked like a touchdown, or at least a run that would put the Steelers inside the 10-yard line.

However, he didn’t slide near the end zone and was hit by Ar’Darius Washington after 19 yards, causing a fumble at the 4-yard-line that was recovered by Baltimore linebacker Kyle Van Noy.

“Right before I hit the ground, the ball came out. Unacceptable. That can’t happen,” Wilson said after the game. “I didn’t want to slide there. I felt like we could have gotten in the end zone. They made a good play.”

The Ravens capitalized by going 96 yards with almost no resistance from the Steelers defense. It only took eight plays. The only third down Jackson faced ended up turning into a touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman.

For the most part, the Steelers defense was impotent. Jackson was sacked once. Baltimore won the time-of-possession battle, staying on the field for 32 minutes and 25 seconds. That’s after the Steelers held the ball for less than 21 minutes last week.

Foreshadowing failure: There was another drive by the Ravens that was similarly painful to watch from a Pittsburgh perspective.

After the Steelers scored to make it 17-17 with just over five minutes left in the third quarter, Chris Boswell made a rare mistake. His ensuing kickoff went out of bounds. That allowed the Ravens to start at their own 40-yard line.

They proceeded to trot 60 yards on just six plays. Tight end Mark Andrews hurt the Steelers on that possession, converting a 16-yard reception for a first down and scoring a touchdown.

Andrews ended up with four catches for 37 yards. The Steelers also were torched by receiver Zay Flowers. He had 100 yards on five catches.

Tight end trouble: Andrews wasn’t the only tight end to hurt the Steelers. Isaiah Likely also had three receptions for 29 yards and a touchdown.

As Tom Brady pointed out on the Fox broadcast, Fitzpatrick “got stuck in no man’s land” on the Likely TD catch.

Meanwhile, Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth caught just three passes on three targets for 16 yards. Pruitt did have a 1-yard touchdown catch. Connor Heyward had one catch for 3 yards. Darnell Washington didn’t have any catches.

Figured it ’aht: The Ravens finally used the Steelers’ recent strategy of stopping Jackson against them.

For a while in recent matchups, the Steelers have been selling out to hit Jackson on the read options no matter what, using the edge rushers to pen him in the pocket and taking away his looks to keep the ball on the run option.

So the Ravens just gave the ball to star running back Derrick Henry and let him work. He frequently ran through gaping holes along the line, and far too often, the Steelers relied on Damontae Kazee to make tackles deep into the secondary.

“We didn’t control the run game. We never did,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “When you don’t, you’ve got to do some splash plays or win the turnover battle in a significant way. We didn’t do that either.”

Baltimore totaled 220 rushing yards on the day. Henry ended up with 162 yards. He had six rushes of more than 10 yards.

Jackson only rushed for 22 yards and threw for a modest 207. But he tossed three touchdowns and had a passer rating of 115.4.

Scarred secondary: Some of the issues on defense were understandable in the sense that the Steelers played most of the game without three starters because of injury in the secondary.

DeShon Elliott and Donte Jackson didn’t dress. In the first quarter, Joey Porter suffered a leg injury that originally was reported on television as a calf. He tried to come back once, but he missed most of the game. After the game, Tomlin called it a knee injury.

Hopefully, they are all healthy next week. The notion of facing Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs with Cory Trice, Kazee and James Pierre as the other three starters in the secondary is … suboptimal.

While Fitzpatrick made a big tackle of Jackson in the open field once and had the huge interception, a lot of the other defensive stars had trouble generating negative plays.

Performing on an injured ankle, T.J. Watt had just one solo tackle, none for a loss and no sacks or QB hits. Cameron Heyward had six tackles, just one for a loss. Alex Highsmith had one sack early in the game but nothing behind the line of scrimmage after that.

“We need to start faster. We need to play gap sound,” Watt said via the KDKA-plus “Xtra Point” show. “We have to rely on our brothers in run defense. We just have to do things that make defenses good.”

The Steelers didn’t force a three-and-out the whole day.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: Sports | Steelers/NFL | Breakfast With Benz | Tim Benz Columns | Top Stories
Sports and Partner News