Following each game in the 2024 Pittsburgh Steelers season, I will highlight the event, or string of events, in the game that was the turning point. Not all turning points will be earth-shattering but are meant to give a unique look at how we arrived at the outcome of the game, one that may be hard to see during the live watch.
On a 10-play drive in the fourth quarter, which could have essentially sealed the victory for the Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens, Russell Wilson took an unnecessary risk by putting a ball in play to Darnell Washington in the end zone that Marlon Humphrey intercepted.
The Steelers had a five-point lead at the time, so a field goal would have ensured a safe one-possession lead to force a two-point attempt by the Ravens. They got the ball back with 9:23 on the clock, and it felt like a real turning point in the game. I had actually jotted it down in my notes as the turning point to write about if the Steelers ended up losing.
Just a couple plays later, rookie ILB Payton Wilson made one of the Steelers’ best defensive plays of the season and immediately swung the momentum back in Pittsburgh’s favor.
Very few inside linebackers would be capable of making this play, but Wilson called upon every last bit of his 4.43-second 40-yard dash to keep up with Ravens RB Justice Hill on the wheel route to be in position for the play. He didn’t have time to get his head around, so he timed his punch based on Hill’s eyes and hands. Once he had an arm on the ball, he wrestled the ball away for the interception in mid-air.
It doesn’t get a whole lot better than that for a rookie making his debut in the Steelers-Ravens rivalry. Wilson’s snap totals have been dropping a bit in recent weeks with Elandon Roberts getting more playing time, but he sure made the most of this one. The Steelers would go on to get that field goal to make it an eight-point game and the rest is history with the Ravens failing on their two-point attempt.
