BALTIMORE — Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson saw the green grass in front of him, with the end zone within reach, and took off running.
The 36-year-old signal caller scampered for 19 yards to move the ball inside the 5-yard line. Looking to make one more move for the goal line, he cut back inside. As he did, Baltimore Ravens safety Ar’Darius Washington delivered a blow.
“I just thought I had a chance to go for the end zone,” Wilson said. “I tried to cut back and just got hit. Right before I hit the ground, the ball came out. It’s unacceptable. It can’t happen.”
OUR BALL 🗣@ad_washington24 forces the fumble and @KVN_03 recovers!!!!
Tune in on FOX pic.twitter.com/zWEtx7xIQ9
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 21, 2024
During the Steelers’ 34-17 loss to the Ravens on Saturday, plays that can’t happen too often did.
GO DEEPER
Lamar Jackson, Ravens beat Steelers 34-17 to reach playoffs: Takeaways
Any team facing Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry and the potent Ravens offense knows it will need one of its best offensive performances. Sure, maybe the Steelers have been the exception over recent years, as T.J. Watt and company had often proven to be Jackson’s kryptonite. But Pittsburgh entered the game missing three defensive starters — safety DeShon Elliott, cornerback Donte Jackson and defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi — and then lost a fourth when cornerback Joey Porter Jr. exited the game with a knee injury, making it even more important for the offense to keep pace with the high-flying Ravens.
With a chance to clinch the AFC North and secure a home playoff game, Wilson had his dazzling moments Saturday. A Houdini-like escape on third-and-7 kept one touchdown drive alive. A well-timed deep shot for 44 yards to Calvin Austin III set up another touchdown. Wilson finished a respectable 22 of 33 for 217 yards and two touchdowns.
However, the aforementioned fumble and a late pick six when the Steelers were within a touchdown eliminated any chance of Wilson standing toe-to-toe with the Ravens. The Steelers dropped to 10-5 after their second consecutive letdown, as injuries and inconsistencies continued to add up.
“I put that game on me in the sense that there were two great opportunities there,” Wilson said.
Make no mistake: The depleted defense certainly missed Elliott’s physicality in the box and Ogunjobi’s presence in the run game. After the Steelers held Derrick Henry to just 65 yards on 13 carries in the first meeting between the teams in Week 11, he ran wild for 162 yards on 24 carries Saturday. In the secondary, cornerbacks James Pierre and Cory Trice Jr. were thrust into action, and safety Damontae Kazee was elevated into an expanded role.
A year ago in Baltimore, coach Mike Tomlin was shouting in celebration “off the couch” after a host of understudies stepped up in a win-or-go-home season finale. This time, the repeated missed assignments or miscommunications, often involving backups, left Ravens pass catchers running free. The sloppy moments added up to defensive dysfunction.
“We’ve all got to be on one stream,” said inside linebacker and former Raven Patrick Queen, who wears the green dot on his helmet as the defensive signal caller. “It can’t be no one person. It can’t be 10 people. It can’t be nine people. It got to be all 11 on the same stream.
“When we’re in man (coverage), there shouldn’t be a man running free. … We gave up, what, three scot-free touchdowns today. You’re definitely not going to win many games doing that.”
That said, even though the game unfolded unlike most Steelers-Ravens rock fights, Pittsburgh’s offense had its chances. Instead of producing game-breaking plays, the mistakes were magnified. Wilson’s fumble inside the 5-yard line and the subsequent 96-yard touchdown drive allowed by the defense could be viewed as a 14-point swing.
In the fourth quarter, the Steelers were still within one possession, 24-17, when Henry ripped off a long run along the left sideline. Needing a game-changing play, Pittsburgh got one when safety Minkah Fitzpatrick intercepted his first pass since Jan. 1, 2023. However, just two plays later, Wilson looked for tight end MyCole Pruitt in the flat. Ravens cornerback Marlon Humphrey intercepted the off-target pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown, extending the Ravens’ lead to 31-17 and essentially putting the game out of reach with 13:06 to play.
MARLON HUMPHREY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tune in on FOX! pic.twitter.com/LOMbBM914K
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 21, 2024
“It definitely changed the game when they got that interception,” Wilson said. “The defense did a good job getting the ball back. I was trying to throw it to (Pruitt) on his front number, and I felt like the ball just stayed inside, unfortunately.”
Just a few weeks back, the Steelers had a two-game lead, the head-to-head tiebreaker and the inside track to win the division over the Ravens. They called Saturday a “hat and T-shirt” game, with the chance to celebrate another AFC North title in their biggest rival’s locker room. Instead, the Steelers have now faced two tests against legitimate postseason contenders — the Philadelphia Eagles and the Ravens — and lost both by a combined margin of 31 points.
GO DEEPER
Steelers offense faced its biggest test yet vs. the Eagles. And flunked it
The Steelers, who have already clinched a playoff spot, remain in the driver’s seat in the sense that if they beat the Kansas City Chiefs and the Cincinnati Bengals in the final two weeks of the season, they’ll still win the AFC North. That’s true even if the Ravens win out.
Yet, for an offense that has sorely missed George Pickens and a defense that continues to lose starters, the challenge doesn’t get much easier against the Chiefs, with the magician-like Patrick Mahomes and the fourth-ranked scoring defense (18.5 points per game).
“More football to be played, but unless we own what we did, learn from what we did, it’s going to continue to happen,” defensive co-captain Cameron Heyward said. “We’re going to play good teams week in and week out. Especially when you get to the playoffs, there’s not a sorry team there.”
An eternal optimist, Wilson spoke after the game about the opportunity that lies ahead and the resolve of the players in the Steelers’ locker room.
“I think the best thing that we have is high-character guys that love the work, that love the process, that love each other,” he said.
In the next breath, he said something even more on the nose.
“The (key) is just eliminating mistakes throughout,” Wilson continued. “I call them game-altering plays. There’s always two or three that go your way positively. There also can be two or three that go negatively for you.”
The Steelers have been at their best when they play complementary football. Often, when one side of the ball falls short, the other side bails them out. Yet, this formula has also shown that Pittsburgh’s margin for error is razor-thin. Especially against quality opponents, the Steelers need to be opportunitistic, capitalizing on chances and limiting the self-inflicted wounds.
“The biggest thing is we want to be standing in the end,” Wilson said. “It’s not the end yet. We’ve got to respond the right way.
“Everything that we desire and that we’re working for is in front of us still.”
Maximizing these moments will ultimately be the difference between the Steelers celebrating a division title, a playoff win or more … or fumbling the ball near the goal line.
(Photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
