Happy Friday, and I hope yinz are doing well.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are limping into the playoffs on a four-game losing streak. Once with dreams of the No. 1 seed and confidence they could win the AFC North and lock up the No. 3 seed, they fell all the way to the No. 6 seed thanks to their Week 18 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals coupled with the Los Angeles Chargers defeating the Las Vegas Raiders last Sunday.
That means Pittsburgh is drawing a familiar foe in the Wild Card Round, travelling to Baltimore to face the Ravens Saturday at 8 PM/EST. The game will be the Prime Video exclusive, though it’ll be televised in local markets (WPXI for those in the Pittsburgh area).
The Steelers split the regular-season series against the Ravens, defeating them 18-16 in Week 11 before falling 34-17 in Week 16. QB Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh’s offense are in a serious rut, held at or under 17 points in four-straight games. Baltimore is red-hot, winning its last four and considered a team peaking at the right time.
Pittsburgh will try to snap its long playoff drought, failing to win in the postseason since 2016. Earning it against Baltimore would be a staple win, but it won’t come easy.
As always, we’re here to bring whatever happens throughout the weekend. Until then, we have five questions for you to answer below.
Most-Read Posts Of The Week
Analyst’s Specific Critique of Mike Tomlin
National Vs. Local Media Perception Of Tomlin
Offense’s Struggles Can’t Continue Against Ravens
Ravens Players Appear To Troll George Pickens
Schefter: One Team Explored Tomlin Trade
Peace and love, peace and love!
1 – Hopefully not the final time we ask but will the Steelers beat the Ravens?
2 – Will Pittsburgh’s defense hold Derrick Henry to under 100 yards rushing?
3 – T.J. Watt has been held without a sack for three-straight games. Will he snap that streak with at least a half-sack against Baltimore?
4 – The Steelers went the entire season without a first-drive touchdown. What will be the result of their opening possession Saturday? Touchdown, FG, INT, Punt, Turnover On Downs, Fumble, or Safety.
5 – Do you want the team to fire OC Arthur Smith? Do you want the team to fire DC Teryl Austin?
Tiebreaker: Number of combined points scored in the Steelers-Ravens game.
Recap of 2024 Week 18 Friday Night Five Questions
This recap covers the final set of questions for the 2024 Steelers Depot Friday Night Five Questions contest. NOTE: I made a scoring error last week. There was a safety in the Bills-Jets game. The revised results made Don2727 the week 17 winner. The final leaderboard reflects the revised points. My apologies for the scoring error. I strive to get things right the first time.
The final weekly winner and the three season placers are announced below.
Question 1: Pittsburgh fell to Cincinnati, 19-17. A lot of Steelers Depot respondents anticipated a Steelers win with just nine of 40 predicting the loss.
Question 2: George Pickens needed 100 receiving yards to reach a thousand for the season. He caught just one of six targets for zero yards. Sixteen of the 40 respondents predicted Pickens not making 100 receiving yards. I doubt any predicted him getting shut out altogether.
Question 3: This is related to Question 1. When the Ravens beat the Browns, the Chargers were eliminated as a potential Steelers playoff opponent. Pittsburgh’s loss meant that its hopes for a trip to Houston to face the Texans relied on the Raiders beating the Chargers. That didn’t happen, so Pittsburgh is destined for Baltimore in the Wild Card Round. Only nine folks predicted the correct opponent.
Question 4: Joe Burrow had at least three touchdown passes in eight straight games before coming to Pittsburgh. So, no surprise that a slight majority (21 to 19) of respondents predicted that the Steelers would not hold him to under three touchdown passes. But after their opening drive, the Steelers kept the Bengals’ high-scoring offense out of the end zone for the remainder of the game. The defense kept Burrow well under three touchdowns.
Question 5: Mike Tomlin and Arthur Smith decided they wanted to run against the Bengals. Nineteen of Wilson’s 31 passes did not occur until the fourth quarter. That included his 19-yard touchdown pass to Pat Freiermuth. The Depot median response was two. Only four respondents, including hoptown (the only one to sweep all five questions this week correctly), predicted just one Russell Wilson touchdown pass.
Here are the consensus answers of Steelers Depot respondents compared to the correct answers:
| Questions | Steelers Win? | Pickens 100+ Receiving Yards? | Steelers WC Round Opponent | Burrow Under 3 TD Passes? | How Many Wilson TD Passes? |
| SD Consensus | Yes | Yes | Texans | No | 2 |
| Correct Answers | No | No | Ravens | Yes | 1 |
| Tiebreaker | Combined First Downs in Steelers game | Median Response: 34 | Actual Result: 37 | Correct: 2 | |
Unusual but Steelers Depot respondents missed all five questions as a group.
Two people missed just one question. However, hoptown swept the board to win the five-point weekly bonus and claim the final weekly winner spot for this season.
The tiebreaker not needed this week. For the record it was the combined first downs for both teams. The Steelers and Bengals combined for 37 first downs in the game. The median response was 34. Two folks pegged the answer to claim bragging rights. Nice prognostication Buckeye Steel and Chris92021.
Kudos hoptown! Please send me a DM (subBurgher on twitter or quarternelson on Instagram or email quarter_nelson@yahoo.com) with your PayPal address to receive your winnings. Alternatively, you can kick your share back towards the next pot or donate it to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Or opt for a Steelers Depot polo shirt in lieu of the cash prize. Entirely up to you, just let me know.
Also, RW Fields (week 5) and Don2727 (week 17) please claim your prize. You’ll have until the Conference Championship weekend to claim it. Any unclaimed prizes will be donated to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
We had 94 folks participate in the contest this season. Drumroll please. Here are the season winners:
Style Points took the lead in Week 4 and held it until the end. He wins the $100 first prize.
Hoptown lingered just behind for most of the season. He leaped into second place and claimed the $75 prize by sweeping the five questions in Week 18.
Jason W surged into the money positions in Week 15. And held on to finish third and win $25.
Congratulations to all of the winners. Please DM me so that I can distribute your prizes.
Here is the final 2024 leaderboard:
| SCREEN NAME | POINTS | PLACE | CHANGE |
| Style Points | 86 | First | |
| hoptown | 80 | Second | +7 |
| Jason W | 75 | Third | |
| Andy N | 73 | Fourth | +1 |
| Mike Bianchi | 70 | Fifth | -3 |
| Chris92021 | 69 | Sixth (tie) | -2 |
| don2727 | 69 | Sixth (tie) | +7 |
| ManRayX | 68 | Eighth | +2 |
| Steelers D | 67 | Ninth | +1 |
| Ratsotex | 66 | Tenth | +2 |
| Sunshine State Steel | 65 | 11th (tie) | -6 |
| Nick Lawrence | 65 | 11th (tie) | -4 |
| GhotiFish | 64 | 13th (tie) | +1 |
| Buckeye Steel | 64 | 13th (tie) | -6 |
| bung | 62 | 15th | -1 |
| SJT63 | 60 | 16th (tie) | +5 |
| Richard Prezel | 60 | 16th (tie) | +1 |
| Agustin-ARG | 60 | 16th (tie) | +1 |
| Beeze | 60 | 16th (tie) | +1 |
| Andi B | 59 | 20th (tie) | |
| Lucky Beagle | 59 | 20th (tie) | +1 |
| Steven Small | 58 | 22nd | +9 |
| Ted Webb | 57 | 23rd (tie) | |
| Peter-Petersen | 57 | 23rd (tie) | +6 |
| Lou Rock | 56 | 25th (tie) | -2 |
| Nick Schultz | 56 | 25th (tie) | +1 |
| ValyrianSteelerJedi01 | 56 | 25th (tie) | -11 |
| Beaver Falls Hosiery | 56 | 25th (tie) | +3 |
| Jesse Logue | 55 | 29th (tie) | |
| Slim Stew | 55 | 29th (tie) | -6 |
| Pghomer | 55 | 29th (tie) | -3 |
| *Drexyl Spivey | 53 | 32nd (tie) | |
| *FlaFan47 | 53 | 32nd (tie) | +2 |
| *Steely McBeam | 52 | 34th (tie) | +5 |
| *Brian Tollini | 52 | 34th (tie) | +2 |
*New to the leaderboard
