There’s a lot riding on the Pittsburgh Steelers Week Five matchup with the Baltimore Ravens tomorrow. A win would put the Steelers atop the AFC North, while a loss would give the Ravens a two-game advantage over Pittsburgh and give them three divisional wins, all on the road. Former NFL scout and current analyst John Middlekauff touched on the current iteration of the Steelers, and why he thinks a loss could sink Pittsburgh’s season on his 3 & Out Podcast.
“I don’t think the Steelers are any good,” Middlekauff said. If the Steelers lose to the Ravens, he thinks the rest of the season could be rough.
“Not only are you in shambles, but you might just be headed toward the first time of, is this when [Mike] Tomlin actually doesn’t go above .500? Because if they look lifeless, they obviously got some quarterback issues right now. Pickett’s just not playing that well, then he got injured,” he added.
While Pickett is playing on Sunday, he hasn’t been good this season and if he’s hampered at all by his knee injury, it could be a long day for the Steelers. The Ravens secondary is getting reinforcements with the return of Marcus Williams and Marlon Humphrey, and their defense is always solid. If Pickett can’t take a step forward from how he’s been playing most of this season, Pittsburgh is going to struggle.
But defensively, the Steelers have had their issues too. The secondary has struggled and they’ve had issues with run defense. While the Ravens aren’t as run-heavy as they have been in past years, Pittsburgh needs to step up on the defensive side of the ball just as much as they have to do on offense.
They looked lifeless last week in their 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans, and that won’t fly against the Ravens. If they play the way they played last week, the Steelers are going to get smacked and the rest of the season probably won’t be all that pretty.
Recently though, the Steelers have had a lot of success against Baltimore, winning five of the last six matchups and it’s traditionally a close game. So despite how bad Pittsburgh has looked at times this season, it would be a surprise if they came out flat against their division rivals.
But as Middlekauff laid out, a loss would set up a tough road to not only win the AFC North but to have a successful 2023 season. It’s imperative that the Steelers come out and be competitive tomorrow.
Watch the full segment below:
