Going into Saturday’s Wild Card game against the Baltimore Ravens, everyone knew the Pittsburgh Steelers were at a disadvantage on paper. QB Lamar Jackson had an MVP-caliber regular season. RB Derrick Henry still looked like the running back king. And the Steelers were coming off a four-game losing streak. It was a tough game for both the Steelers offense and defense.
There were two points of hope for the Steelers, though. One, divisional games are almost always hard-fought games. And two, the Ravens were without Pro Bowl WR Zay Flowers. That should have allowed the Steelers to focus on slowing the Ravens’ rushing attack led by Henry and Jackson.
If Saturday night’s effort by the Steelers was them focusing on stopping the run, I’d hate to see what ignoring the run looks like. Because the Ravens hammered the Steelers on the ground for 299 yards and two touchdowns. And while the offense failed to score during the first half, the Raven simply had their way offensively with the Steelers.
“Henry’s a beast, but the Ravens don’t have Zay Flowers, their Pro Bowl receiver,” former NFL OL Ross Tucker said Monday on the Ross Tucker Podcast. “And you still allow Derrick Henry and the Ravens to just run right over your face. Extraordinarily bad look for the Steelers’ defense. I don’t know what’s happened to the Pittsburgh defense, but the amount of money that they have in those guys, Cam Heyward and T.J. Watt and Patrick Queen and Minkah Fitzpatrick, to just get run over and through like that. Highly, highly disturbing.”
Tucker isn’t the only one disturbed by the Steelers’ defensive efforts. Steelers S DeShon Elliott said the Ravens simply put “a belt to butt” against the Steelers. And it’s hard to argue otherwise. The most enduring moment of the game will likely be Henry’s stiff-arm of Steelers S Minkah Fitzpatrick. As Tucker said, it’s an extraordinarily bad look.
It was a historic performance on the ground by the Ravens against the Steelers. Henry ran for more yards against the Steelers in a playoff game in franchise history. And the Ravens ran for the most yards as a team against the Steelers in their playoff history. It’s another feather in the cap of Colin Cowherd, who has argued that the Steelers’ extravagant spending on defense isn’t going to get them anywhere.
So where do the Steelers go from here on defense? Do they explore a change at defensive coordinator with Teryl Austin? Does head coach Mike Tomlin need to make a schematic change? And would Tomlin even want to bring in a coordinator who could elevate the defense?
All I know is that the Steelers once again are facing an offseason with a lot more questions than simple answers.
