A unit that’s prided itself on being tough, physical, and able to stop the run for the last 50 years, the Pittsburgh Steelers hit a new low in Saturday night’s playoff loss to the Baltimore Ravens. And they’re taking their lumps for it. Reacting to the Ravens running early, often, and to great success against a Steelers’ defense waving the white flag, ESPN’s NFL Countdown panel ripped Pittsburgh for a poor plan and even worse execution.
“Pittsburgh, though, schematically has to change,” former Ravens’ defensive coordinator Rex Ryan said. “They’ve gotta change. You can’t let him run zone-read all over the place. And [linebacker Fred Warner], you and I were talking about it last night. They’re forcing from a deep safety has gotta take the force on these zone reads. That ain’t gonna happen.”
The Steelers had no answer for the Ravens’ zone read, and Lamar Jackson happily pulled and kept the ball when needed as the EDGE players often crashed down on the back. He even extended the mesh and carried out a fake to mess with the Steelers’ eyes and keys, leading to RB Derrick Henry’s dagger touchdown run that officially put the game away.
By game’s end, Ravens rolled their way to 299 rushing yards, top-ten in postseason history of any team against any opponent, and briefly hit 300 before a final kneel-down took away that milestone.
Defending their running game is difficult and leads to hard choices. But Pittsburgh couldn’t take away Henry, Jackson, or anything the Ravens did offensively. By halftime, they allowed over 300 yards. By the game’s end, that number flirted with 500, and had the game been more competitive, the Ravens would’ve gotten there.
All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner didn’t understand the Steelers’ plan.
“I don’t know what the game plan was to try to stop the zone read with Lamar Jackson, but it just wasn’t right,” Warner told the show as this week’s guest analyst. “They weren’t on point.”
It wasn’t right in Week 16 when Baltimore produced similar results, finishing that game with 220 rushing yards as a team while Henry went for over 160. Yesterday, the Ravens exceeded those already gaudy marks. Henry posted an all-time playoff record against Pittsburgh, crushing Curtis Martin’s nearly 30-year record for postseason rushing yards in a game.
Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith couldn’t understand why the Steelers failed to sell out and stop the run at all costs, especially against a Ravens’ offense missing No. 1 receiver Zay Flowers.
“I don’t know how you weren’t sending the house at some point trying to stop this time just sitting there and taking it,” he said, calling the Steeler’s game plan “conservative” on both sides of the football.
And ex-NFL linebacker Tedy Bruschi offered similar commentary.
“Straight-up, you got beat, you got hit in the mouth. End of story for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Whether it’s former coaches, players, or current ones, the conclusion was the same: Whatever semblance of a plan Pittsburgh thought they had wasn’t working. They stuck to it, and it resulted in one of the least prideful showings in the Steelers’ playoff history, a high bar given recent outcomes.
