The Pittsburgh Steelers are 8-2 and control their destiny in the AFC. At the moment, there isn’t much to complain about. Pittsburgh is winning similarly to the way it always does. Their win against the Baltimore Ravens Sunday was another instance of the Steelers taking part in an ugly game yet still coming away with the win.
The Steelers didn’t score a touchdown and kicked six field goals en route to an 18-16 win. Despite losing, the Ravens actually scored two touchdowns on the day. Winning when scoring two fewer touchdowns than the other team is rare in the NFL. It’s essentially the definition of ‘”winning ugly.”
On Monday’s episode of The Lombardi Line, VSiN analyst and former NFL GM Michael Lombardi summed it up as best he could.
“We said it all week long,” Lombardi said. “Nobody loves ugly more than Pittsburgh.”
It’s hard to argue with Lombardi there. Sunday’s game was Pittsburgh’s seventh this season that’s been decided by one possession. The Steelers have only been involved in two blowouts, including their dominant wins over the Las Vegas Raiders and New York Jets. Even Pittsburgh’s 20-10 win against the Los Angeles Chargers was close late into the fourth quarter.
What’s most important about that stat is the fact that the Steelers have won five of their seven games decided by one possession. They lost by a field goal to both the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. Still, they’ve won five of those close games, most of them being ugly.
Sunday against the Ravens was the Steelers ultimate ‘”ugly win.” The offense moved the ball but stalled in the red zone and even made a rare late-game mistake when Russell Wilson threw an interception in the end zone after the Steelers had driven to the Ravens’ 5-yard line . However, the Steelers promptly intercepted Ravens QB Lamar Jackson on a spectacular play by rookie LB Payton Wilson, and although they gave up a late touchdown, they ended up making the plays they needed to come away with a win.
Pittsburgh will take as many “ugly wins” as it can get. Ugly can be used to describe many AFC North matchups. All wins count the same, and this was an extremely important one for the Steelers to get.
