In recent years, there’s been a few constants in the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens rivalry, specifically for the Ravens’ offensive: Lamar Jackson, an elite rushing attack, and standout tight end Mark Andrews holding down the passing attack.
Andrews has emerged as an elite-level tight end in Baltimore, pairing with Jackson to form an outstanding combination through the air.
On Sunday, Andrews will draw the attention of Steelers’ safety Terrell Edmunds, a guy who’s been tasked with covering him in recent matchups. Edmunds has had his struggles in coverage throughout his career and is much better in the box defending the run. However, he’s had some success against Andrews in recent years, helping hold Andrews to just three catches for 32 yards in one game in 2020, and just five catches for 45 yards in 2019.
Despite some success against the standout tight end, Edmunds knows that it will be a tough matchup — one that he’s looking forward to against the Ravens’ “big target” for Jackson.
“Really, he’s just a big target. He got great hands,” Edmunds said about Andrews to reporters Friday, according to video via Steelers.com. “He’s one of the guys that Lamar goes to very often. If it was not him it’s Hollywood Brown. Those are like his two main targets. So we just definitely gotta limit his catches, and when Lamar scrambles, he’s the guy that he’s going for. So it’s just going against them every year, just constantly just competing, really.”
Edmunds is dead-on here with Andrews. He’s easily Jackson’s favorite target, one that the star quarterback targets when he needs a play downfield. To Andrews’ credit, defenses know all about that, yet the Pro Bowl tight end finds ways to create separation and get open, making plays seemingly every week for Baltimore.
The Steelers have seemingly found a way to slow him down in the past, but this is a different defense right now, one that is having trouble stopping anyone and everyone at the moment. We’ll see how they attempt to defend Andrews this week, especially in base – which the Steelers will surely be in a ton due to the Ravens’ personnel and success on the ground.
