Wild Card Round - Steelers @ Ravens - Pregame Thoughts
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It’s hard to find the gusto to be TRULY excited about this game. Obviously, what took place with this team throughout the month of December was not ideal, but it truly means absolutely nothing today. The bracket is set in stone, and the potentially magic run for the Pittsburgh Steelers begins in Baltimore.
We just met this team 21 days ago, in what was a closer game than the 34-17 final score would indicate. Derrick Henry really took that game over and did whatever he wanted, finishing with a 6.8 ypc average on 24 carries. This time around, they’ll be without their number one receiver, Zay Flowers, who has bounced back in a big way this season after the bad playoff game he had last year.
Also, in the last meeting between these two teams, the Steelers were without Donte Jackson, and lost Joey Porter Jr. in-game to injury, and Lamar Jackson was able to take advantage of that on the back of Derrick Henry’s big game. It was a bad day in the office for our defense, for sure, and the two Steelers I just mentioned that were missing in our last game @ Baltimore have had their fair share of bad days at the office this season, but having them available to us this time around gives us our best chance at winning today.
I said, after the last game against the Ravens, that there was nothing mystical about that loss, and I meant it. At the time, these were two teams that were trending in opposite directions. The Ravens were getting healthier and making some personnel changes on their defense that was really helping their secondary, and they were getting better. The Steelers, on the other hand, were dealing with some significant injuries, and just weren’t able to overcome their shortcomings in those spots on the field. Looking at this from the Steelers’ perspective, it seems like the offense just hasn’t recovered from the lull that began when George Pickens missed a few games with injury. Even with him back in the fold, the offense isn’t nearly as effective as it was in the middle of the regular season, and it’s something they’re going to have to figure out today in Baltimore if we are to have any chance, at all, of winning this game. I mentioned in my last post that during the Steelers 4-game losing streak, they are averaging 8.5 yards to go on third down. They are consistently behind schedule on offense, and it has resulted in an ungodly amount of extremely short drives on offense. In each of the Steelers last 4 playoff games, their offense has started slow and it has resulted in a blowout every single time. The offense CANNOT fall into a hole today. A lot of that falls on Arthur Smith to call the right plays, but execution, specifically on the part of the QB and the offensive line, is going to be equally paramount for the offense. There are rumblings that Arthur Smith is planning to utilize Justin Fields often in this game, which makes me both excited and anxious at the same time. But what we’ve been doing hasn’t been working, so at this point let’s give it a go. The defense showed signs of life in the season finale against the Bengals, and we’re going to need Russ, Fields, and the boys to keep our defense off the damn field.
As I mentioned before, Derrick Henry had himself a day the last time he met the Pittsburgh Steelers, but with Zay Flowers ruled out, and the Steelers’ secondary completely healthy (and thus more apt to hold up in man coverage), I fully expect the Steelers to sell really fuckin hard on the run, and force Lamar Jackson to win it with his arm. Teryl Austin actually utilized the blitz quite a bit last week against Cincinnati, which I had been begging him to do for weeks, and I hope he does the same exact thing today. Make Lamar Jackson as uncomfortable as possible. There is a path for us to win this game. All the pressure falls on Baltimore to come out here and spank us like the entire world expects them to. We can really go out here and play pretty freely, and maybe show some looks we haven’t tried yet this season. I mean really pull out all the stops. We’re playing with house money. And, remember when we played 21 days ago and the whole big storyline was “Can Lamar Jackson ‘get over the hump’ and beat the Pittsburgh Steelers?” Folks were out here saying that Mike Tomlin had Lamar Jackson figured out. So Lamar Jackson takes a late lead and beats us one time, and now that storyline just disappears into thin air? Tomlin is Lamar Jackson’s bitch now or what? I’m confused. How easily folks forget. With all that being said, the Ravens are the heavy favorites to win, and they should be. They’re the better team. But, being completely written off by everyone is pretty crazy. This is the NFL. If this is where the season comes to an end, then it has been an honor serving with yinz. Steelers. Ravens. Let’s ride.
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