My Visceral Reaction to the Steelers Win vs. Baltimore - King in the North
Photo via NFL Pro.
I’m TELLING yinz….there’s something special about this group. I was a little too confident heading into this game. We had won 6 of the last 7 (I believe) against the Ravens, with most of those games coming during a period of transition for the Steelers. But, make no mistake about it…this is no longer a transitional period for this team. The goal is the Super Bowl, and anything less would be a failure, in my opinion. It’s been close to a decade since I’ve felt this way about the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Baltimore Ravens marched into Pittsburgh boasting the league’s best offense and looking to dethrone the Steelers from that first place spot in the AFC North. As I mentioned before, the Steelers have their number, so surely they were fired up and ready to get over the hump against us. Sidebar: the Steelers have won 7 of their last 8 games against the Ravens. Their only loss during that span came in December of 2022 in Pittsburgh…a game in which I was in attendance. So, as long as I stay away from Steelers-Ravens games, it seems like we should win every time. Anyway, the Steelers came out on top, yet again, on the toe of Chris Boswell who went a perfect 6/6 on FG attempts en route to a 18-16 win. I’m going to call this a visceral reaction, because I’m not going to watch the film. Like Mike Tomlin said in his rare Monday Press Conference, we’ve got another AFC North battle on a short week, so similar to the Steelers, I’m going to turn my attention to the Cleveland Browns.
With that being said, I started off my ‘pregame thoughts’ on this game by saying it would be really cool if Nick Herbig, who’s still pretty new to this rivalry, could come out and make a splash play against the Ravens. Well, he wasted NO time at all, stripping the ball from Derrick Henry on the second play of the football game giving the Steelers the ball. Per Next Gen Stats, he had a team-high five pressures on 25 pass rushes in this game. I am going to continue to preach to a wall about how this guy is a superstar in the making until the National Media catches on. Herbig is an undersized guy, but he has the heart of a lion, he loves being a Pittsburgh Steeler, and when he’s on the field, splash plays just materialize from thin air. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite players on the team.
The Steelers were able to create three turnovers in this game. There was the aforementioned strip tackle by Nick Herbig, as well as a crazy INT by rookie LB Payton Wilson. I’m not one of those Steeler fans that likes to drag Kenny Pickett through the mud every chance I get like some of yinz, but the pick we obtained from the Philadelphia Eagles in the Kenny Pickett trade was used to take Payton Wilson in the 2024 draft. Given the QB play we’ve had this year, I’d say we came out on top in that trade. Also, former Baltimore Raven, Patrick Queen had a strip tackle on Isaiah Likely in the 2nd quarter. As I watched this game, the broadcast began talking about how the Baltimore Ravens never even offered Patrick Queen a contract this offseason, and quite literally just let him walk away before the Steelers rightfully picked him up. I only bring that up to say…I don’t think any of us, as fans, had any idea how personal this game probably was for him, and it showed with his urgency and emotions in this game. The defense seemed to rally around his emotions, and I’m sure it made for some really special moments for him on Sunday afternoon.
One last thing I want to highlight about the defense is the efforts of Beanie Bishop Jr. @Steelers_DB on twitter/x picked up on something I hadn’t noticed…the coaching staff elected to use Beanie over Cam Sutton as the Nickel guy in man coverage, and it paid off, at least according to Derrick (again, I haven’t gone back and watched the game over). The undrafted (rookie) free agent continues to impress, even in place of a proven veteran in Cam Sutton. I’m rooting so hard for Mr. Bishop.
As for the offense, this was a pretty ugly performance for the most part, especially at the QB position. The INT by Russell Wilson in the end zone was pretty damn bad. Sure, Darnell Washington should’ve jumped, but it was almost an alley-oop and it just looked like a duck. And, it was supposed to. I was pretty equally irritated with them both after that play, and they’re just lucky that they have the best defense in the world to bail them out, because that should’ve probably been a back-breaking mistake. Najee Harris and Jaylen Warren were OK in this game. Between the two of them they were able to muster 3.85 yards per carry (27 carries for 104 yards), which against a stout Ravens defense…we’ll take it. The offensive line played pretty good, even if the box score watchers will disagree. Russ was sacked 4 times, but he was holding on to the ball way too long way too often, so I think he shoulders a majority of the blame for that. There was a point in the game where I was cursing the name Broderick Jones, as I’m sure many others were as well, as he got hit with a few penalties yet again. However, after sleeping on it and thinking about it, I’d rather see him getting flagged for being highly emotional and showing some backbone rather than the pre-snap penalties and holds that have plagued him so far this year. Obviously, I hate that he was flagged, but it had less to do with his performance and more to do with his emotions not being in check, and against the Ravens, I’m ok with that.
Lastly, George Pickens finished the game with 8 catches for 89 yards. He now ranks third in the NFL in receiving yards. I don’t have much else to add other than the National Media better jump on the G.P. hype train or I’m going to start questioning their credibility. I know at least a few people that criticized me for saying George Pickens is a top 5 talent at WR in the NFL (I’m looking right at you John Frascella). And, don’t get me wrong…I love Justin Fields. I was advocating HARD for him to be the starter over Russ this season. However, imagine if Russell Wilson started every game this year. What would Pickens’ numbers look like then?
We don’t get a break this week. We’re right back in the kitchen for another AFC North battle on Thursday Night Football. It has trap game written ALL OVER IT…but more on that later.
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