Steelers' playoff hopes still kicking after dramatic victory over Ravens

BALTIMORE — All of the pieces are in place for the Pittsburgh Steelers to play a meaningful game on the final weekend of the regular season.

After getting the requisite help outside M&T Bank Stadium, the Steelers kept their once infinitesimal playoff hopes chugging into Week 18 with their third consecutive victory, a 16-13 decision against the Baltimore Ravens.

Kenny Pickett’s 10-yard touchdown pass to running back Najee Harris with 56 seconds left lifted the Steelers to the come-from-behind win. It was the second game in a row that Pickett led a late touchdown drive, and it was the third fourth-quarter comeback of his rookie season.

The Steelers, who trailed 13-3 in the third quarter, have won six of eight since the bye week and are 8-8 heading into the final weekend of the season.

“There are going to be challenges,” coach Mike Tomlin said. “You’re going to be up against it. It’s not about what happens to you, it’s how you respond to it.”

To make the postseason as the No. 7 seed, the Steelers need to defeat the Cleveland Browns and have the Miami Dolphins lose at home to the New York Jets and the New England Patriots to lose on the road to the Buffalo Bills.

The website fivethirtyeight.com calculates the Steelers’ odds of making the playoffs at 15%. Then again, the Steelers had less than a 1% chance to make it just a few weeks ago.

Before they took the field Sunday night, the Steelers’ chances were bolstered when Seattle beat New York and Miami lost at New England.

“You’d be lying if you said you weren’t peeking at it,” Pickett said, “but we knew we had a job to do tonight. We all saw what was going on, and we were laser-focused when we came here tonight.”

Related:

• Feats of Strength: Another late Kenny Pickett TD drive, Najee Harris' exploits 'push' Steelers to victory in Baltimore
• First Call: Update on Miami QBs; checking Deshaun Watson's progress before Steelers game; Winter Classic preview
• Steelers’ path to the playoffs now clear: beat Browns, have Patriots, Dolphins lose
• ‘The kid’s growing before our eyes’ — Another winning drive led by Steelers’ QB Kenny Pickett

The Ravens, whose record dropped to 10-6, held a 10-3 lead at intermission and got a field goal from Justin Tucker on the opening drive of the second half to push their advantage to 10 points. But from that point, the Steelers allowed just two first downs and 44 yards on the Ravens’ final four drives.

“Just being aggressive,” said outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who had the Steelers’ only sack. “As a defense, we’ve been playing more aggressive but when you play a zone-read team sometimes it kind of slows you down. You’ve got to go. We did a better job of that.”

After allowing the Ravens to rush for 215 yards in the matchup at Acrisure Stadium in Week 14, the Steelers lowered that number to 120. J.K. Dobbins had 93 yards on 17 carries, but the Steelers held the Ravens to 32 yards rushing in the second half.

On the flip side, the Steelers had their second most productive rushing game of the season, totaling 198 yards. Harris had his first 100-yard game of the season, gaining 111 on 22 attempts. Jaylen Warren added 76 on 12.

Despite all of the yards, the Steelers were held to three Chris Boswell field goals until the final drive.

Trailing 13-9, the Steelers needed to go 80 yards for a touchdown when they got the ball back with 4 minutes, 16 seconds remaining.

“Like last week, nothing needed to be said,” center Mason Cole said. “We all knew what had to be done.”

Pickett led the Steelers to the end zone in 11 plays. He had a pair of sneaks for first downs and had completions of 20 yards to tight end Pat Freiermuth and 28 yards to slot receiver Steven Sims, the latter putting the ball at the Ravens 22.

After another first down, on third-and-8 from the 10, Pickett eluded pressure in the pocket, then found Harris at the goal line for the touchdown.

“Two highly competitive guys finishing and making a play,” Tomlin said.

The Ravens had the ball at their 38 while trying to position Tucker for a game-tying field goal. But Huntley’s throw deep down the middle was intercepted by Minkah Fitzpatrick with 13 seconds left to seal the victory.

Nobody was happier by the win than defensive captain Cameron Heyward, whose unnecessary roughness penalty late in the first half led to a Ravens touchdown on the next play with 0:07 left in the half.

“I would have felt horrible if we had lost this game because that was such a critical play,” Heyward said.

The flag was thrown after the Ravens, content to let Tucker kick a short field goal with the score tie 3-3, ran the ball on third-and-16.

After Dobbins was tackled about 9 yards short of the first down, Heyward was involved in some pushing and shoving with offensive linemen Ben Powers and Ronnie Stanley. Heyward said he accidentally made contact with an official as he was being pulled back down on the pile. Referee Land Clark, however, said it was the extended pushing that led to the flag against Heyward.

Huntley’s touchdown pass to tight end Isaiah Likely on the next play provided the Ravens a 10-3 halftime lead. Soon they trailed by 10 points.

“I’m just proud of the guys that we were able to get it done today,” Heyward said. “Our resilience showed today to keep battling back.”