Soaked Steelers can’t produce a stop
IBALTIMORE t seemed impossible when the Steelers took the field at M&T Bank Stadium Sunday afternoon in the pouring rain to play the Baltimore Ravens JV team.
There was no way their defense could play as badly as their toothless offense, right?
Wrong.
“We played out of character,” Cam Heyward said.
The defense played a terrible game, actually.
In the end, the 28-10 loss really didn’t matter to the 8-8 Steelers, losers of their final three games. The Tennessee Titans snuffed out their playoff hopes by beating the Houston Texans, 35-14, to earn a trip to New England this weekend to play the Patriots in the first round. But it still was an awful performance by the Steelers’ proud defense, which had been so stout since Minkah Fitzpatrick joined the group after the second game.
You knew what you were going to get from a Duck Hodges-led offense that was playing without Maurkice Pouncey and James Conner — nothing. For the eighth time in the past nine games, the offense scored just one touchdown. “That’s no way to win football
games,” guard David DeCastro said.
But who saw the defense, which came in at full strength, playing so poorly against a Ravens offense that sat out a virtual all-star team? Taking the day off to avoid the risk of injury before they open the post-season at home in two weekends as the AFC’s top seed were NFL MVP favorite Lamar Jackson, second-leading rusher Mark Ingram II, leading receiver Mark Andrews and Pro Bowl linemen Marshal Yanda and Ronnie Stanley.
The Ravens still ran for 223 yards, averaged 5.1 yards per rush and had a possessiontime edge of 39:27-20:33. Their rushing yards were the most this season, by far, against the Steelers, who were 2-7 when they allowed 99 or more rushing yards and 6-1 when they didn’t. Ravens reserve back Gus Edwards had 21 carries for 130 yards, the first runner to top 100 yards against the Steelers this season.
“It was an avalanche,” Heyward said. “We didn’t tackle well, especially me.”
The Ravens have won 12 games in a row and are used to this sort of dominance. It was their ninth 200-yard rushing game this season and helped them break the NFL’s season rushing record with 3,296 yards. “That’s like Joe DiMaggio’s record. That’s the record that would never be broken,” beaming Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. The Patriots rushed for 3,165 yards in 1978.
The Ravens also became the first team in NFL history to average 200 rushing yards and 200 passing yards per game. They averaged a league-best 33.2 points per game. The Steelers averaged 18.1, by comparison.
“It’s crazy, being able to go out there and do what we do, week in and week out,” Ravens tackle Orlando Brown Jr. said.
But Jackson was the biggest part of that Baltimore success, throwing for 3,127 yards and 36 touchdowns and running for 1,206 yards and seven touchdowns. Ingram ran for 1,018 yards and 10 touchdowns. Andrews had 64 catches for 852 yards and 10 touchdowns.
The Ravens emasculated the Steelers defense with quarterback Robert Griffin III, Edwards and wide receiver Willie Snead IV, who had just three catches for 22 yards. The defense did produce a significant turnover; T.J. Watt forced a third-quarter fumble by Edwards that led to a Chris Boswell field goal that cut the Ravens’ lead to 16-10. But it wasn’t nearly enough.
“We couldn’t find a way to stop them,” Joe Haden said.
“This is going to be with us all offseason,” Heyward said.
It was hard to tell what bothered team captain Heyward more — that his defense had such a miserable day or that there will be certain changes to it in the months ahead. Bud Dupree and Javon Hargrave are unrestricted free agents and appear to be the most likely to leave.
“This team won’t be the same,” Heyward said. “That’s just the nature of the business. It sucks because I have a lot of great teammates. I grew with a lot of guys this year. It hurts to close the book on this season.”
Especially like this. Being embarrassed by a division rival.
In the unrelenting rain.