Going into the playoffs, things do not look good for the Pittsburgh Steelers. They’re ice-cold, losing their last four games. While their defense looked better in Week 18, their offense still looks lost. Traveling to play the Baltimore Ravens does not seem like an ideal first-round matchup for the Steelers, but former NFL quarterback Matt Ryan actually believes it’s a good thing.
“I feel like this is the best-case scenario for the Steelers, which is a crazy thing to say because the Baltimore Ravens are playing really good football, Lamar Jackson’s been unbelievable,” Ryan said Monday on CBS Sports HQ. “But I think when you’re on a skid, like the Steelers have been, going against an opponent that you know really well, I think that adds to some of this confidence that you need to build.
“They beat them at one point in the regular season. I think if you’re the Steelers, you have to look at it like, ‘We know this team. We know how to beat them. We know the blueprint.'”
It is true that the Ravens are a familiar opponent for the Steelers. They split that series this season, winning in Pittsburgh but losing in Baltimore. It certainly doesn’t feel like the best-case scenario, but maybe there’s some truth to what Ryan is saying.
Once it became clear that the Steelers wouldn’t win the AFC North, they were faced with two different scenarios. Either they’d face the Ravens in Baltimore, or they’d go to Houston to play the Texans. Of those two options, it’s tough to argue that the Ravens provide an easier path to victory.
The Texans may have won the AFC South, but they haven’t exactly been dominant this year. C.J. Stroud, their young quarterback, has not taken the step forward they thought he would. They’re also dealing with a litany of injuries to key contributors.
Meanwhile, the Ravens are red-hot, winning their last four games. Jackson has a good shot at winning the MVP award, and their defense has really turned things around compared to how it started. Drawing them in the first round is brutal, no matter how well the Steelers know the Ravens.
Ryan could be correct that the Steelers, who have been on a downward spiral for weeks, might be better off facing a more familiar opponent. They should have a good idea of what does and does not work against the Ravens. Rather than start from scratch if they faced the Texans, the Steelers should have a good basis for how to defeat the Ravens, especially because they already did that once this year.
Either way, the best-case scenario for a team that lost its final four games probably still isn’t very good. The Steelers have been their own worst enemy for the past few weeks. No matter the opponent, they need to fix themselves first.
