DOWN AND OUT IN BALTIMORE
It was a dark, dreary ending in Baltimore as the offense proves once again it can’t produce more than 10 points for third week in row
Steelers quarterback Devlin Hodges tries to recover his fumble against the Baltimore Ravens in the second quarter Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore. In a sloppy game that they had to win to keep any playoff hopes alive, the Steelers lost, 28-10, to the Ravens’ backups and will miss the postseason for the second year in a row.
BALTIMORE — It was more of the same for the Steelers, everything from an offense that can’t produce more than one touchdown to watching another season end in disappointing fashion.
In a span of three weeks, they went from a team that was surprising and overachieving to one that lost its grip on the postseason and stumbled to the finish line with three closing defeats.
When it was all over on a dark and dreary Edgar Allan Poe-type of Sunday at M&T Bank Stadium, the Steelers had nobody to blame but themselves and a meager offense for a 28-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens that ended their season and kept them from the playoffs for the second year in a row.
“It’s tough,” said defensive end Cam Heyward. “Three weeks ago I thought we had a real shot. It just hurts.”
“We had it in front of us and had it in our control,” guard David DeCastro said. “That makes it hard to swallow.”
“We were trying to figure out what seed we were going to be,” said cornerback Joe Haden. “And now to not make it kind of sucks.”
Of course, even if the Steelers had beaten the Ravens (14-2), the AFC’s No. 1 seed, they would not have not qualified for the postseason because the Tennessee Titans (9-7) beat the Houston Texans, 35-14, to grab the final AFC wild-card spot.
But it was the manner in which the Steelers (8-8) closed the season that was most disturbing.
It was the third game in a row the Steelers managed only 10 points and the eighth time in the past nine games they scored just one offensive touchdown. The honor on this day went to rookie Benny Snell, who scored on a 4-yard run in the second quarter that gave the Steelers a 7-6 lead.
The only other points came from Chris Boswell’s 26-yard field goal in the third quarter that cut the Ravens lead to 16-10. It was the first time since 1971 the Steelers failed to score at least 30 points in any game this season.
“The worst thing is not the fact that we came up short, it’s how we came up short — not improving week to week, not making the necessary plays, the adjustments,” left tackle Alejandro Villanueva said. “That’s the part that hurts the most. I think we all know we could have gone a lot better on offense. It’s probably the worst I’ve seen the team play.”
For a change, it wasn’t just the offense.
Not only was it the most points the Steelers allowed since a Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, their No. 4ranked defense gave up a season-high 223 rushing yards to the Ravens, who lead the NFL in rushing. Running back Gus Edwards had 130 yards on 21 carries, the first 100-yard rusher allowed by the Steelers this season.
It was the ninth time the Ravens rushed for at least 200 yards in a game while setting an NFL record for most rushing yards by a team in a season (3,296). And they did it with two 1,000yard rushers — quarterback Lamar Jackson and running back Mark Ingram — resting on the bench.
“We know what kind of defense we have,” Haden said. “We can’t be giving up stuff like that if we want to win.”
Snell had a season-best 91 yards on 18 carries for the Steelers, who had only one 100-yard rusher all season. The running game was so ineffective that James Conner, who missed his sixth game in the past eight weeks, became the first Steelers player in 52 years to lead the team with fewer than 500 yards rushing (464).
On a day fit for ducks, quarterback Devlin Hodges played the entire game and completed just 9 of 25 passes for 95 yards. His longest completion was 21 yards to rookie Diontae Johnson. Sadly, his most impactful play came at the end of the first half when he fumbled after being sacked by linebacker Matthew Judon and defensive tackle Michael Pierce recovered the fumble at the Steelers 23 with 45 seconds remaining. It was the 23rd consecutive game in which the Steelers had committed at least one turnover.
Four plays later, running back Justice Hill scored on an 8-yard run with 21 seconds remaining to give the Ravens a 16-7 halftime lead. That’s when the game started to get away from the Steelers, even though linebacker T.J. Watt forced his NFL-best eighth forced fumble that led to Boswell’s field goal early in the third quarter.
“It was significant, no doubt,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said.
But none of that really mattered anyway. When the Titans beat the Texans to secure the No. 6 seed in the AFC, it rendered moot any outcome against the Ravens.
Three weeks ago, the Steelers were 8-5 and in position to be the fifth seed in the AFC, if they could beat the Buffalo Bills at Heinz Field. All they had to do was win two of their final three games to get into the postseason.
Even though they lost to the Bills, the game that doomed their fate was the Week 16, 16-10 loss to the New York Jets. That took the Steelers playoff hopes out of their hands.
“For us to have the opportunity to be in the playoffs and be a seed and not be in the same position we were last year, it’s kind of tough,” said receiver JuJu SmithSchuster, who was targeted six times but had two catches for 6 yards. “It sucks but it happens. We were missing some key players out there, but at the end of the day we hurt ourselves.”
The Steelers lost four of their final six games in 2018 to miss the postseason. They followed that by losing their final three in 2019, soiling what had been an incredible run to even get into playoff position with an extensively depleted lineup.
“Not only losing this game, but to know this season is over hurts,” Heyward said. “We put a lot into the season and we come up short. It doesn’t leave a good taste in your mouth.”