Things did not go very well for the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday night in their AFC Wild Card round matchup with the Baltimore Ravens. The Steelers started slow, fell behind 21-0, and were soundly defeated 28-14 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated.
Pittsburgh struggled offensively to get going, its defense couldn’t stop the run, and the Ravens did whatever they wanted on either side of the football.
Now, some potential significant changes could be on the horizon for the Black and Gold.
For now, there’s still some final things to put a bow on to end the season, and that includes the five highest-graded Steelers in their Wild Card Loss to the Ravens from Pro Football Focus.
Quarterback Russell Wilson was the highest-graded Steeler on the night, earning a grade of 81.4 to lead all Steelers (minimum of 20 snaps played). WR Mike Williams actually had the highest grade for the Steelers with an 84.9, but he played just nine snaps.
Wilson played 44 of the Steelers’ 46 offensive snaps and put up some decent numbers, completing 20-0f-29 passes for 270 yards and two touchdowns. He came alive in the third quarter, firing touchdown passes of 30 and 36 yards to Van Jefferson and George Pickens, but it was too little, too late.
Wilson was credited with four big-time throws from PFF, good for a big-time throw percentage of 13.4%. Wilson had a Time To Throw of 2.85 seconds and was let down by two drops on the evening, one from TE Pat Freiermuth and another from TE Darnell Washington.
Under pressure in the loss, Wilson was 5-of-8 for 91 yards. When he kept clean, Wilson was 15-of-21 for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Once again, it was 3-pointers or layups from Wilson. He was 5-of-6 for 154 yards and two touchdowns on 20+ yard passes and was 10-of-13 for 72 yards on throws at the line of scrimmage to 9 yards.
He did not attempt a single pass between 10-19 yards. Wilson was also 5-of-5 for 44 yards on passes behind the line of scrimmage.
After Wilson, veteran linebacker Elandon Roberts was the highest-graded Steelers in the loss, checking in with an overall grade of 80.9.
Roberts played 47 out of the Steelers’ 74 defensive snaps. The veteran linebacker, who is a free agent at the start of the new league year, led the Steelers with 14 tackles against the Ravens. While that’s an impressive number, it came on a night when the Ravens ran the football at will, racking up 299 rushing yards while physically dominating the Steelers from start to finish.
Roberts added one QB pressure, six run stops and allowed one reception on one target for nine yards.
The fact that Roberts was the Steelers’ highest-graded defender is rather telling.
WR George Pickens was the third-highest graded Steeler in the loss, grading out at an 80.8 overall. He had a solid night after a quiet start, hauling in five passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. Four of Pickens’ five receptions went for first downs, but he did not have a contested catch.
Every time Pickens was targeted, he hauled in the pass, going 5-for-5. He did have a long catch in the first half wiped out due to an offensive pass interference penalty. But in the end, he had three receptions for 40 yards against Baltimore CB Brandon Stephens, one catch for 11 yards against Marlon Humphrey, and one catch for 36 yards and a score against Nate Wiggins.
Center Zach Frazier was also among the five highest-graded players for the Steelers at 75.0 overall. Frazier checked in with a 72.1 as a run blocker and an 83.2 as a pass blocker. He did not allow a pressure but wasn’t all that good in the run game as the Steelers rushed for a postseason franchise-low 29 yards.
Second-year defensive lineman Keeanu Benton rounded out the five highest-graded Steelers in the Wild Card loss, checking in with a 74.5 overall. Benton had a 66.1 against the run and a 79.8 as a pass rusher. Benton finished the game with four tackles and had one pressure, adding two run stops.
Notably on defense, OLB Alex Highsmith had six pressures and a sack, but graded out at a 69.5, while T.J. Watt had four pressures but had a grade of just 51.5. ILB Patrick Queen graded out at just 45.1 overall.
On offense, left guard Isaac Seumalo graded out at a 49.0, including a 58.6 in pass protection. TE Pat Freiermuth had a grade of 50.2, dropping a pass in the loss.
