Often, the rivalry between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens comes down to whoever makes the last big play of the game, and this one was no different, with a two-point margin of victory for the Steelers. That’s why it was so devastating when Russell Wilson threw an interception in the end zone with under 10 minutes to go in the fourth quarter.
In the moments after the interception, Ben Roethlisberger thought the game was over.
“I’ll be honest, I thought, ‘It’s over,'” Roethlisberger said via his Footbahlin’ podcast on YouTube. “I was nervous.”
I think everybody had that same feeling. Despite dominating the time-of-possession battle all game and having several scoring chances, the Steelers let the Ravens hang around by not scoring a single touchdown. The final failure in the red zone felt like a nail in the coffin.
Fortunately, Payton Wilson saved the day with a crazy interception just a few plays later, getting the Steelers back on track.
Roethlisberger had mixed feelings about Russell Wilson’s end zone interception. He initially said he couldn’t turn the ball over in that situation before changing his mind.
“The issue is that Russ probably shouldn’t have thrown it, to be honest,” Roethlisberger said. “That being said, I need to take that back because he’s giving his guy a chance to make a play.”
It was vintage Wilson, as he escaped pressure with his signature spin out of the pocket to extend the play. I can’t tell you how many times I watched that move result in touchdowns or big plays for the Seattle Seahawks throughout his career. He saw Darnell Washington, a 6-7 tight end, in the end zone and put the ball high in the air to give him a chance to make the play.
The only issue is Washington didn’t make an effort at the ball.
“He didn’t jump,” Roethlisberger said. “He didn’t jump at all.”
I’m not sure if Washington thought Wilson was just throwing the ball away or if he was mid-stride and not in a collected position to leap into the air. Whatever it was, it resulted in an easy interception for Marlon Humphrey.
“Whether he can jump or not, if he puts one arm up, he’s 13 feet in the air,” Roethlisberger joked. “It’d be one thing if Russ threw that jump ball to Calvin Austin. He saw a big guy. He threw it up. Did Mount Washington think it was outta play? Did he think there was a guy behind him? Like, what was the thought? I don’t know, I wasn’t there. You just don’t want to turn it over in the red zone…I can’t put all the blame on Russ because I didn’t see Mount Washington make a play.”
Below is the end zone view of the interception.
It looked like Wilson could have potentially placed it a little further inside to be safe, but I have a hard time believing that Washington didn’t have a chance at the ball. He was essentially in the exact same place as Humphrey and had the same vision of the play. At the very worst, you box him out and either force an incompletion or take an offensive pass interference penalty.
A field goal would have made it an 8-point game with a very safe one-possession lead. The turnover was bad all around.
Wilson told the media that he was simply trying to make a play because the Steelers struggled to punch it in throughout the game. Mike Tomlin told the media he wished Wilson hadn’t thrown it in that situation.
I think I lean towards Roethlisberger’s point of view. He took a calculated risk to the tallest eligible receiver on the roster, but Washington didn’t try to make the play for whatever reason. I would love to hear Washington’s thoughts on the play as the final puzzle piece. Fortunately, the Steelers won, so this is looked back on with a little less urgency.
