Teams also played a 17-10 Pittsburgh win on October 1.
Saturday, January 6, 2024, M&T BANK STADIUM, BALTIMORE – Some late-season football games aren’t important, but every game is important to somebody. That axiom applied on Saturday in Baltimore. The Ravens played for pride and to remain fresh but without a slew of starters, including Lamar Jackson, receivers Odell Beckham, Jr. and Zay Flowers, right guard Kevin Zeitler, safety Kyle Hamilton, inside linebacker Roquan Smith, and cornerback Marlon Humphrey. Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Steelers played with a playoff spot on the line.
The contrast was apparent to the 70,355 drenched, wind-blown fans and millions viewing around the globe. A snow/rain mix pelted the East Coast throughout the afternoon. It began as wet snow before changing to rain a few hours before kickoff, making for less-than-ideal conditions. Predictably, the ground game made the difference on the sloppy field, with the Steelers getting 155 yards and the Ravens getting held to 106, which barely extended their 100-yard rushing streak to 33 games. Najee Harris led the visitors with 112 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown, while Gus Edwards’ 48 yards on 10 carries led Baltimore.
The game ended up 17-10, the same score as when the teams met in Pittsburgh on October 1. On that day, 14 of the 27 points were scored in the last quarter, and on Saturday, 13 of the 27 points were scored in the same stanza. Notably, the last of Saturday’s points–Justin Tucker’s 36-yard field goal with 18 seconds left–made it the 11th straight one-score game played between the two teams.
With Saturday’s win, Pittsburgh was rewarded with a third head-to-head sweep over the Ravens in the last four years and the eighth sweep since the teams began meeting in 1996. Baltimore has swept Pittsburgh four times (2006, 2011, 2015, 2019), and there have been 16 splits.
The win also enabled the Steelers (10-7) to complete their 20th straight winning season, one short of the NFL record set by Dallas (1965-85). That’s an important historical note. But whether Pittsburgh will make the playoffs is far more important for the current squad and its fans. Going into Sunday’s play, the odds are pegged at 63%. To get to 100%, Pittsburgh will need help on Sunday–either from Tennessee beating the Jaguars in an early afternoon game or Miami beating the Bills in the night game. If either happens, the AFC North will have three teams involved in post-season play (all but the Cincinnati Bengals). If neither happens, the Steelers will stay home.
Meanwhile, the Ravens (13-4) were denied a tie for a franchise record for most season wins (14) set in 2019. Now, the Ravens await the identity of the AFC team that will travel to Baltimore on Saturday, January 20, or Sunday, January 21, with the day/time/network to be determined. Home playoff games aren’t taken for granted because Baltimore has played 21 of 28 (75%) lifetime playoff games away from M&T Bank Stadium.
If Baltimore wins that opening round game, the Ravens will host an AFC Championship Game, which would be only the second ever held in Baltimore and its first-ever post-merger title tilt. In 1970, the then-Baltimore Colts defeated the Oakland Raiders, 27-17, to advance to Super Bowl 5, where the Colts beat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13. Back then, home field for the AFC title game was not earned by seeding or a gaudy record; it was done so on a rotating basis.
Not so these days, though, because home advantage has to be earned on the field, and the hope is that the weather will be more cooperative than it was on Saturday. Both teams struggled to get their footing, and after each team punted on its first possession, Pittsburgh was the first to put together a cohesive ground-oriented drive – going 76 yards in a dozen plays, lasting seven and a half minutes.
Najee Harris bulled into the west end zone from six yards out for the game’s first points, defying the fact that his Steelers had the fourth-worst-ranked red-zone offense. To get there, backup quarterback Mason Rudolph–starting against the Ravens for the first time in four years–hit drop-prone receiver Diontae Johnson three times on the drive, and he wasn’t pressured by the Ravens’ league-leading pass rush. Rudolph has been sacked just three times in limited duty this year.
With the Ravens never getting the ball across midfield, the Steelers’ scoring drive was the only offense in the first quarter. Baltimore’s offense in the first stanza was almost non-existent. The team did not secure a first down, gained only ten yards, and possessed the ball for only two and a half minutes. Despite tying the game before intermission, the Ravens’ numbers weren’t much better at halftime–five first downs, 105 yards, and ten minutes with the ball.
As the second quarter began, the Ravens handed the ball to backup running back Melvin Gordon three straight times to get their initial first down of the game. But the ball was punched out on the third carry, and Larry Ogunjobi recovered it for the visitors on the Ravens’ 45. It was the Ravens’ 22nd fumble of the year, a total that belies their NFL-best plus-12 turnover ratio (Pittsburgh came into the game second at plus-11). But Pittsburgh couldn’t capitalize as backup middle linebacker DelShawn Phillips forced a Steeler fumble that ex-Pittsburgh secondary utility man Arthur Maulet covered.
The Baltimore offense finally came to life through a six-play, 71-yard jaunt that featured season-long backup Laquon Treadwell’s first catch of the year and an Edwards 29-yard burst down to the Steelers’ 25. Isaiah Likely ran down the seam two plays later and hauled in a 27-yard touchdown pass to tie the game. Then, reserve linebacker Kyle Van Noy put the capper on the Ravens’ momentum grab by knocking the ball from Rudolph just before halftime. Broderick Washington recovered the drop.
The Steelers’ offense had begun to stagnate under the weight of five fumbles (two lost) and three sacks through the midpoint of the third quarter. The third of those sacks, by rookie Trent Simpson, was the Ravens’ league-best 60th of the year, tying a team record set in 2006. But the most significant play happened when Pittsburgh’s NFL-leading sacker, TJ Watt (18 sacks), collided with a teammate late in the third quarter and fell to the ground in obvious pain with a left knee injury, diagnosed after the game as a Grade 3 MCL sprain.
Watt’s absence opened up a door for Huntley and the Ravens as the game entered the fourth quarter still tied at 7-all. At that point, neither team had gained as much as 200 yards of offense in the sloppy elements, which was just as much a testimony to stout defense as anemic ball control. It seemed as if a big play would decide things–and that’s precisely what happened. On the first play, Johnson grabbed a slant, beating safety Marcus Williams and running 71 yards for the go-ahead touchdown–the longest play allowed by Baltimore all season.
The Ravens tried to rally, but Edwards fumbled midway through the final quarter, and Pittsburgh’s Keanu Benton recovered in Ravens territory. That play was illustrative of what Pittsburgh has been doing all season–having allowed only 56 fourth-quarter points, the fewest in the AFC and second-fewest in the league behind San Francisco’s 52.
Pittsburgh would take advantage of Edwards’ drop, bleeding a valuable four and a half minutes off the clock before Chris Boswell’s 25-yard field goal with 3:13 to go made it 17-7, sealing the Steelers’ 18th straight win when leading in the fourth quarter.
Now, it’s a waiting game for both teams. The Steelers’ playoff future is in the hands of other teams and players. The Ravens will begin preparing for a home playoff game, wondering if they will meet a foe responsible for two of its four 2023 losses–the Pittsburgh Steelers. If so, “We’ll be ready,” Patrick Queen said.
No doubt he’s right.
