It wasn’t pretty, but the Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to grind out an 18-16 win over the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. The Steelers are now 8-1 against the Ravens in their last nine meetings. The defense kept both QB Lamar Jackson and RB Derrick Henry in check for the vast majority of the game. And Steelers K Chris Boswell knocked through six field-goal attempts for the win. That earned him AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. The first time? When he kicked six field goals in Week 1 to beat the Atlanta Falcons.
And the Steelers cleared a big hurdle in their quest for an AFC North title. The win moved the Steelers a game and a half clear of the Ravens for the division lead. It also put them halfway to earning the tiebreaker over the Ravens as well.
But is it enough to consider the Steelers truly a Super Bowl contender? Not in Dan Orlovsky’s mind.
“I do not believe the team is a Super Bowl contender,” Orlovsky said on Thursday’s episode of Get Up on ESPN. “I think the defense is Super Bowl caliber. I do not believe this offense can go in[to] the playoffs against Josh Allen and the Bills, Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs, or Lamar Jackson and the Ravens and be good enough.”
“I do not believe the team is a Super Bowl contender.”
—@danorlovsky7 on the Pittsburgh Steelers ✍️ pic.twitter.com/BkEWdELX7g
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) November 21, 2024
From a strictly points-per-game perspective, Orlovsky has a point. The Steelers are averaging 23.3 points this season. The Ravens are averaging 30.4, second-most in the league. The Buffalo Bills are just behind the Ravens at 29.1.
Interestingly enough, the Kansas City Chiefs aren’t even top 10 this season. They’re 11th at 24 points per game. That’s only four spots ahead of Pittsburgh.
But when Orlovsky says that the Steelers aren’t going to be good enough to beat the Ravens in the playoffs days after the Steelers beat the Ravens, it turns a lot of heads. Then you factor in the recent success the Steelers have had, and it’s enough to make people dismiss Orlovsky out of hand.
But Orlovsky has some real thoughts as to why Pittsburgh’s offense is a problem while recognizing the impact QB Russell Wilson has had as a starter.
“It’s been awesome,” Orlovsky said. “Russell Wilson’s played fantastic. But the two issues are one: they’re poor in the red zone. Statistically, Russell’s the worst red-zone quarterback in the NFL right now. That’s not an opinion. It’s statistics. And then the second thing is, in the last three weeks, what was the big concern with Russell Wilson overall when it comes to his play holding onto the football, the sacks, right? He’s got 11 sacks in the last three weeks. That’s third-most in the NFL behind players like Caleb Williams.”
We saw the red zone struggles surface in a big way against the Ravens. That’s why Boswell was the hero. And the reality is that the Steelers’ red-zone performance is the biggest area where the offense has gotten worse under Wilson. He’s struggled in the red zone since taking over against the New York Jets and consequently, the offense is scoring less in the red zone than it was with QB Justin Fields. As for the sacks issue, that was a concern when the Steelers signed Wilson.
But the Ravens weren’t able to punish the Steelers despite both issues rearing their ugly heads. Will the Chiefs or the Bills be able to? We’ll get a good look on Christmas Day when the Steelers host the Chiefs.
However, the Steelers are proving that they cannot be taken lightly, even against teams perceived to be better than them. And they’re in charge of their own destiny for the top seed in the AFC playoffs. But Orlovsky does raise some important points that the Steelers need to address before the postseaon rolls around.
